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.
-
Alex Hager/KUNCTed Cooke had been tapped to run the Bureau of Reclamation, but withdrew as some Upper Basin states worried about potential bias. -
Alex Hager/KUNCThe move, by the Colorado River Indian Tribes in Arizona and California would give rights of nature to the water, marking a historic first. -
Alex Hager/KUNCNew 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. -
Alex Hager/KUNCSteamboat Springs can close the Yampa River — a hotspot for tubing, swimming and fishing — when it's too low and hot.
-
California officials say the state was not consulted as others that use water from the Colorado River drafted a six-state agreement to propose cutbacks. Representatives from Arizona, Utah and Colorado disagree. -
The Bureau of Reclamation is responding to a state request and suspending ramped up releases from a major reservoir along the Colorado River. -
The System Conservation Pilot Program was recently rebooted with $125 million in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to fight shrinking water levels in Lake Powell. -
Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico are asking the Bureau of Reclamation to pause water releases at Flaming Gorge Reservoir, which has been used to help prop up Lake Powell. -
Lake Powell is shrinking as climate change and steady demand cause trouble for states that rely on the Colorado River. The Bureau of Reclamation is scrambling to keep hydropower generators running in Glen Canyon Dam. -
Senators from the seven states that use water from the Colorado River are convening to discuss its future. Colorado Democrat John Hickenlooper created the group as climate change and steady demand are shrinking supplies. -
Six of the seven states that use water from the Colorado River proposed a way for the federal government to cut back on water use and protect dropping water levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell. -
Heavy rain and snow could provide a boost to the Colorado River, where the nation's largest reservoirs are shrinking due to 23 years of drought and steady demand. But climate scientists warn that it will take more than one wet winter to end the drought. -
Policymakers from the seven states that use water from the Colorado River gathered in Las Vegas to discuss its future as climate change shrinks supply. -
As drought and steady demand shrink the Colorado River and Lake Powell, Glen Canyon Dam faces an existential threat. It's a rare example of the Southwest's water crisis made visible.
