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The Water Desk
Does Arizona have enough water? Phoenix-area cities are spending big to make sure it does
Brett Fleck does not have an easy job. He manages water for a city in the desert. He has to keep taps flowing while facing a complicated equation: The city is growing — attracting big business and thousands of new residents every year — but its main source of water is shrinking.
“Thirst Gap” Podcast, Hosted By The Water Desk’s Luke Runyon, Garners Journalism Awards
“Thirst Gap: Learning to Live with Less on the Colorado River,” a podcast produced by The Water Desk co-director, Luke Runyon, earned multiple awards in recent regional and national contests. Runyon reported the six-episode narrative series for KUNC, the NPR station for northern Colorado, before joining The Water Desk...
Using less of the Colorado River takes a willing farmer and $45 million in federal funds
Wyoming native Leslie Hagenstein lives on the ranch where she grew up and remembers her grandmother and father delivering milk in glass bottles from the family’s Mount Airy Dairy. The cottonwood-lined property, at the foot of the Wind River Mountains south of Pinedale, is not only home to Hagenstein,...
The Other Border Dispute Is Over an 80-Year-Old Water Treaty
This story was reported with a grant from The Water Desk at the University of Colorado Boulder. EL PASO—Maria-Elena Giner faced a room full of farmers, irrigation managers and residents in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas on April 2. The local agricultural community was reeling. Reservoirs on the...
Join us for a webinar on new Colorado River podcast
The Colorado River is in the midst of one of the worst water crises in recorded history. Climate change and overuse are taking a significant toll. Leaders from seven U.S. states must compromise and reach a solution to prevent the river from collapsing. To understand how negotiators from those states...
10 visuals that show how climate change is transforming the West’s snow and water supply
A recent federal synthesis of climate change research paints a grim portrait of snow’s future in the American West and warns that the fast-growing region’s water supply is vulnerable. “Climate change will continue to cause profound changes in the water cycle, increasing the risk of flooding, drought, and...
In $100 million Colorado River deal, water and power collide
Colorado’s Glenwood Canyon is as busy as it is majestic. At the base of its snowy, near-vertical walls, the narrow chasm hums with life. On one side, the Colorado River tumbles through whitewater rapids. On the other, cars and trucks whoosh by on a busy interstate. Pinched in the...
What is an atmospheric river? A hydrologist explains the good and bad of these flood-prone storms and how they’re changing
A series of atmospheric rivers is bringing the threat of heavy downpours, flooding, mudslides and avalanches to the Pacific Northwest and California this week. While these storms are dreaded for the damage they can cause, they are also essential to the region’s water supply, particularly in California, as Qian Cao, a hydrologist at the University of California, San Diego, explains.
Water flux and toxic wells – Water Buffs Podcast ep. 12 – Kathy James
On this episode of Water Buffs, we examine how drought can harm human health, specifically how dramatic fluctuations in water availability can lead to increasingly toxic water supplies. Dr. James is an award-winning epidemiologist and engineer specializing in environmental and climate risk factors and their connection to health in vulnerable...
Staying safe with the Winter Storm Severity Index
A version of this post originally appeared on Snow News on December 12, 2023. When snow is incoming, I turn to the Winter Storm Severity Index (WSSI). WSSI is a helpful, pragmatic, and relatively new forecast product that’s meant to communicate weather-related risks to the general public and illustrate the threat that snow, ice, and wind pose for transportation, infrastructure, homes, and businesses.
What to watch on the Colorado River in 2024
After years of dry conditions throughout the West, 2023 gave the region’s water managers the greatest gift of all: a hefty snowpack. This year’s winter snow eventually melted and boosted the Colorado River’s beleaguered reservoirs. The Hail Mary winter storms came just in time. Without the savior snows, the river’s second-largest reservoir, Lake Powell, was on a glide path toward losing the ability to produce hydropower at Glen Canyon Dam, not to mention the harm to the long-term ecological health of the river and its main tributaries.
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