A drought plan in one of the West’s most forward-thinking watersheds reconciles salmon and agriculture.
Water
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How Arrowrock Dam is supporting corporate farming
Water runs uphill toward money from Arrowrock Dam on the Boise River, where the Bureau of Reclamation first pioneered high-rise concrete dams that transformed the face of the West. Thanks to Arrowrock, the wealthiest 10 percent of its water users control 75 percent of the water. Mostly large corporations, they pay about a dime for […]
Posted inOctober 12, 2015: The Rise of Lisa Murkowski
How 2013’s Front Range floods changed the face of the region
Two years after floodwaters swept through, many immigrant families are still struggling to rebuild.
Posted inOctober 12, 2015: The Rise of Lisa Murkowski
The Colorado River’s desalination plant is on its last legs
The obscure Paradox Valley Unit keeps the Colorado River’s salinity levels in check for farmers, but causes quakes upstream.
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Fresno, California, aims to recharge its dwindling groundwater
Surface water projects give groundwater a break, in the state’s fourth year of severe drought.
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Can herbicides keep Tahoe blue?
A new chemical weed management plan has the lake’s water suppliers nervous.
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Anatomy of a flash flood
After a series of deaths, a writer considers his own close calls in canyons.
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Does optimism have a place in Western water politics?
Writer John Fleck wants us to abandon our dried-up narratives of doom.
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Fracking has a big water footprint, but that’s not the whole story
A new study finds other energy extraction methods have a bigger impact.
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Big ruckus over little streams
A new EPA rule to regulate US waterways has provoked a pile of lawsuits.
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Mapping fish die-offs in warming waters
Help High Country News identify trouble spots for West Coast fish runs.
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Five Western waterways worse than the orange Animas
Colorado’s Animas River has gotten the most attention — but it’s hardly alone.
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Scientists strengthen link between climate change and drought
How much of California’s dry spell can be traced to climate change?
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Animas River spill: only the latest in 150 years of pollution
Mapping the other threats to the Animas and San Juan Rivers.
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Wild Science: Migratory birds on the Great Salt Lake
Scientists explore how phalaropes respond to less water and increased salinity.
Posted inAugust 17, 2015: Little Big Bird
The man behind the monumental aqueduct
Review of ‘Water to the Angels’ by Les Standiford.
Posted inAugust 17, 2015: Little Big Bird
The Silicon Valley of marijuana
Local officials want Pueblo County, Colorado, to be the best place to grow, but not everyone’s high on the idea.
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When our river turned orange
Nine things you need to know about the Animas River mine waste spill.
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California drought renews push for water storage projects
A long-standing proposal to enlarge Shasta Dam gets a boost from the Bureau of Reclamation.
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Drought damages trees’ ability to store carbon
How long-term forest health is compromised years after dry-spells.