The solution to a basin-wide problem may fall to individual irrigators.
Colorado River
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Denver to get more water from the Colorado River
Colorado’s largest water supplier makes a big ask — and a bold promise — with demand for water.
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How collaboration can save the Colorado River
Different interests must align for a successful restoration.
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The Colorado River is shrinking because of climate change
A long-term drought threatens Western cities’ water supplies.
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Can private money solve public water problems?
As facilities age and public funding declines, private companies may step in.
Posted inJune 12, 2017: The Big Swing
Climate change is shrinking the West’s water supply
Three new studies show dry times ahead.
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Technology is cropping up in our lettuce fields
In Yuma, Arizona, agriculture has embraced technology to increase yield.
Posted inApril 3, 2017: Firestorm
Have we underestimated the West’s super-floods?
Scientists warn that enormous floods may be more likely than we thought — and the Oroville Dam and others weren’t built to withstand them.
Posted inNovember 14, 2016: The Long View
15 books every well-versed Westerner should read
A reading list for understanding the region.
Posted inOctober 31, 2016: A Monumental Divide
The fading grandeur of the Glen Canyon Dam
Silt and erosion threaten to clog up the enduring structure.
Posted inOctober 31, 2016: A Monumental Divide
War and peace on the Colorado River
A new book makes a case for optimism in the basin, but the threat of water battles will always be around.
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‘These big dreams to have everyone prosper’
A conversation with Renae Yellowhorse about the proposal to build a tram to the Colorado River.
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What is a chub, really?
In Arizona, three native chub species were reclassified as one, raising concerns about the management of the species.
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Legislation revives Grand Canyon development question
Escalade bill leaves opponents scrambling for support, and tribal members divided.
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New documentary offers a sharp look at the West’s water crisis
In ‘Killing the Colorado,’ people, not nature, are responsible for shortages.
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The Colorado River’s unexpected carbon footprint
Flooding a dry riverbed restored vegetation, but released significant amounts of methane and carbon dioxide.
Posted inJuly 25, 2016: Salmon Power
New measures could reduce Glen Canyon Dam’s impact on the Grand Canyon — a bit
As long as the dam remains in place, impacts are inevitable.
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Why is an Estonian energy giant trying to revive failed Utah oil dreams?
There’s a new proposal to extract oil from shale, at great cost to the Colorado River Basin.
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Don’t just save the Grand Canyon. Save the wider region, too.
We think we’ve saved the Grand Canyon. We established a national park that is supposed to remain “forever unimpaired,” as the Park Service’s enabling legislation put it. But the Grand Canyon is so deeply enmeshed in a spider web of connections to its watershed that a lot of work needs to be done to keep […]
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Study finds surprising source of Colorado River water supply
More than half of the rivers in the Upper Colorado Basin originate as groundwater, USGS says.