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The Water Desk
Colorado River farm fallowing pilot moves forward, with approvals slated for next month
To help restore the dwindling Colorado River, farmers and ranchers in Colorado have submitted 36 proposals which, if approved, will authorize them to temporarily stop irrigating their land this year in return for federal cash payments, allowing more water to stay in the river. The effort is known as the...
Fines for breaking US pollution laws can vary widely among states – that may violate the Constitution
It’s expensive to pollute the water in Colorado. The state’s median fine for companies caught violating the federal Clean Water Act is over US$30,000, and violators can be charged much more. In Montana, however, most violators get barely a slap on the wrist – the median fine there is $300.
Is the Western drought finally ending? That depends on where you look
After three years of extreme drought, the Western U.S. is finally getting a break. Mountain ranges are covered in deep snow, and water reservoirs in many areas are filling up following a series of atmospheric rivers that brought record rain and snowfall to large parts of the region. Many people...
Little information released on conservation-program proposals
Upper Colorado River Basin water managers have released little information so far about the Colorado proposals submitted for a conservation program, raising concerns about the approval process of the program, which aims to dole out $125 million in federal taxpayer money. The Colorado Water Conservation Board on March 22 posted...
Urban Water Conservation Success in the Colorado River Basin
Nevada lawmakers are considering a bold step to ensure that Las Vegas’s basic water needs will continue to be met in the near future. The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), which manages the city’s water, is seeking authority, through a sweeping omnibus bill, to cap a single family’s residential water use in southern Nevada to about 160,000 gallons (600,000 liters) annually.
Colorado places 9th in national water conservation ranking
As Western states prepare to double down on saving water, in part to help save the Colorado River, a new ranking shows Colorado in ninth place nationwide for its water-saving laws and policies, and in fourth place among states in the Colorado River Basin. The ranking, produced by the Chicago-based...
As climate change and overuse shrink Lake Powell, the emergent landscape is coming back to life – and posing new challenges
As Western states haggle over reducing water use because of declining flows in the Colorado River Basin, a more hopeful drama is playing out in Glen Canyon. Lake Powell, the second-largest U.S. reservoir, extends from northern Arizona into southern Utah. A critical water source for seven Colorado River Basin states, it has shrunk dramatically over the past 40 years.
Calls grow for statewide water conservation standards; some cities skeptical
With the Colorado River crisis deepening and the warming climate continuing to rob streams and rivers of their flows, talk in Colorado has resumed about how to limit growing water demand statewide for residential use. A new report commissioned by the Common Sense Institute and written by Colorado water veterans...
State officials draft bill on stream restoration
Colorado officials have drafted a bill aimed at addressing a tension between stream restoration projects and water rights holders. The draft clarifies that restoration projects do not fall under the definitions of a diversion, storage or a dam and do not need to go through the lengthy and expensive water court process to secure a water right.
Why rain on snow in the California mountains worries scientists
Another round of powerful atmospheric rivers is hitting California, following storms in January and February 2023 that dumped record amounts of snow. This time, the storms are warmer, and they are triggering flood warnings as they bring rain higher into the mountains – on top of the snowpack. Professor...
A new strategy for western states to adapt to long-term drought: Customized water pricing
By Matthew E. Kahn, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and Bhaskar Krishnamachari, University of Southern California. Even after heavy snow and rainfall in January, western states still face an ongoing drought risk that is likely to grow worse thanks to climate change. A whopping snowpack is good news, but it doesn’t reduce the need for long-term planning.
Water Desk offers support for coverage of New Mexico and Rio Grande water issues
The Water Desk is now accepting applications for awards of $2,500 to $10,000 to support media outlets and individual journalists covering water issues related to New Mexico and the Rio Grande. The deadline for applications is Monday, April 17, 2023, at 11:59 pm Mountain. This program is only open to...
A Colorado River flows drop and tensions rise, water interests struggle to find solutions that all can accept
When the Colorado River Compact was signed 100 years ago, the negotiators for seven Western states bet that the river they were dividing would have ample water to meet everyone’s needs – even those not seated around the table. A century later, it’s clear the water they bet...
Can the Ancient Humpback Chub Hang On in Today’s Grand Canyon?
A cold, wet heart beats delicately in the palms of my hands. A flick of the fish’s tail subtly curves the arc of its glossy body with the grace of a dancer. Mark Cantrell, a fisheries biologist with US Fish and Wildlife, heckles me. “If you love the chub, then you gotta kiss ’im!” I lift the humpback chub to eye level before pressing its body to my lips. A thin film from the fish kiss rests on my mouth. I don’t wipe it off as I release the chub back into the muddy water. “That was the thrill of that chub’s life,” Cantrell chuckles.
Human actions created the Salton Sea, California’s largest lake – here’s how to save it from collapse, protecting wild birds and human health
The Salton Sea spreads across a remote valley in California’s lower Colorado Desert, 40 miles (65 kilometers) from the Mexican border. For birds migrating along the Pacific coast, it’s an avian Grand Central Station. In midwinter tens of thousands of snow geese, ducks, pelicans, gulls and other species forage on and around the lake. Hundreds of other species nest there year-round or use it as a rest stop during spring and fall migration.
Scientists studying water supply focus on weeks following peak snowpack
Water managers in the Colorado River basin are gaining a better understanding that what happens in the weeks after peak snowpack — not just how much snow accumulated over the winter — can have an outsize influence on the year’s water supply. Water year 2021 was historically...
Cheap sewer pipe repairs can push toxic fumes into homes and schools – here’s how to lower the risk
Across the U.S., children and adults are increasingly exposed to harmful chemicals from a source few people are even aware of. It begins on a street outside a home or school, where a worker in a manhole is repairing a sewer pipe. The contractor inserts a resin-soaked sleeve into the buried pipe, then heats it, transforming the resin into a hard plastic pipe.
Hard water: In these metro neighborhoods, few drink the tap water. Can trust in safe water make a comeback?
In the halls of the Colorado State Capitol drinking fountains are in easy reach, and grabbing a quick drink of cool, clear, odorless water is an automatic act. But just minutes away, in dozens of industrialized neighborhoods in North Denver, Commerce City and unincorporated Adams County, many homeowners and apartment dwellers never drink their tap water.
A treasure hunt for wild springs in Arizona’s desert
This story was supported by The Water Desk, an independent, nonprofit journalism initiative based at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism. As Sarah Truebe scrambles up a dry stream-bed on Mount Lemmon, she points out a single willow tree, leaves golden with autumn’s arrival. Rooted...
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