Western Water Coverage
Stories about the Colorado River, drought, snowpack, and areas dependent on scarce water resources. Coverage is supported through a Walton Family Foundation grant.
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Scott Franz/KUNCInvasive zebra mussels have now infested at least 135 miles of the Colorado River, from the Utah border to Dotsero in western Colorado. And if these tiny pests flow into narrow irrigation pipes and tubes, they threaten to spoil the harvest of Colorado's sweetest crops. -
Alex Hager/KUNCThe personhood designation for the riveris part of a broader "rights of nature" movement that aims to bestow new legal protections on threatened natural resources around the globe. -
Alex Hager/KUNCDrought and steady demand along the Colorado River are draining the nation's second-largest reservoir. Land that was once submerged is now full of beavers and thriving ecosystems. -
Alex Hager/KUNCA group of nonprofits is calling for reductions to water demand, changes at Glen Canyon Dam and more transparent negotiations.
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Ted Cooke had been tapped to run the Bureau of Reclamation, but withdrew as some Upper Basin states worried about potential bias. -
The move, by the Colorado River Indian Tribes in Arizona and California would give rights of nature to the water, marking a historic first. -
New data from the Bureau of Reclamation puts the river and its reservoirs in formal shortage conditions. Policymakers are stuck on ways to fix that in the years to come. -
Steamboat Springs can close the Yampa River — a hotspot for tubing, swimming and fishing — when it's too low and hot. -
States that use Colorado River water need to agree on new rules for sharing it by 2026. If they don't, they will likely end up in messy court battles. -
Colorado River states appear to be coalescing around the early makings of a new plan to share water in a way that accounts for climate change. -
Cooke is the former manager of the Central Arizona Project. The region's water experts regard him as a qualified expert. -
Water experts gathered at the University of Colorado, Boulder for talks about the future of the Colorado River. Top policymakers were notably absent. -
Researchers found massive depletion of the region's groundwater, adding more stress to the drought-stricken Colorado River. -
Top water negotiators declined to speak at an upcoming conference amid closed-door meetings about the future of the water supply for 40 million people.
