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In the Colorado River basin, agriculture accounts for about 80% of all the water used. As the river’s supply shrinks, and some farms start to make cutbacks, many are wondering if new technology can help with water conservation. Research suggests that it may not.
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In Arizona, fields of crops and a growing sprawl of suburban homes mean a increased demand for water in the middle of the desert. Meeting that demand includes drawing from massive stores of water in underground aquifers. But some experts say groundwater is overtaxed, and shouldn’t be seen as a long-term solution for a region where the water supply is expected to shrink in the decades to come.
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The Colorado River supplies drinking water for some of the West’s biggest cities, but a lot of them lie outside the watershed. Canals, tunnels, and pipelines from the river keep water flowing to their taps. And the infrastructure also puts pressure on the fragile river, especially in dry times.
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A question has bothered climatologist Park Williams during the decade he’s been probing drought in the Southwest.
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The Colorado River is tapped out.Another dry year has left the waterway that supplies 40 million people in the Southwest parched. A prolonged 21-year warming and drying trend is pushing the nation’s two largest reservoirs to record lows. For the first time this summer, the federal government will declare a shortage.
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Fish and wildlife leaders say they have their eye on potential closures of the Animas and San Juan rivers as well.This story was originally published in…
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Colorado River water managers could be pulled back to the negotiating table as soon as next year to keep its biggest reservoirs from declining further.
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Water supplies are so tight in the West that most states keep close watch over every creek, river, ditch and reservoir. A complex web of laws and rules is…
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Declining levels at the second-largest reservoir in the U.S. have spurred officials in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico to search for ways to prop it up.
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The conversation around water speculation has been heating up in Colorado in recent months. At the direction of state lawmakers, a work group has been meeting regularly to explore ways to strengthen the state’s anti-speculation law.