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The Water Desk
Atmospheric rivers over California’s wildfire burn scars raise fears of deadly mudslides – this is what cascading climate disasters look like
Rivers of muddy water from heavy rainfall raced through city streets as thousands of people evacuated homes downhill from California’s wildfire burn scars amid atmospheric river storms drenching the state in early January 2023. The evacuations at one point included all of Montecito, home to around 8,000 people –...
Cash for Grass: Colorado to pay for turf removal, boost water conservation
A new turf replacement program, set to roll out in Colorado in 2023, will pay to convert some of the grass in urban areas and residential yards into more water-efficient landscaping. This is the first time the State of Colorado has dedicated funds expressly to turf replacement. It’s an important step to increase water conservation and get it closer to where it needs to be, said state officials and conservation leaders at a confab earlier this month. But this version of cash for grass will be just one of many tools — and maybe not the most influential one — that will transform landscaping in the state in response to climate change and reduced water availability.
What is a flash drought? An earth scientist explains
Many people are familiar with flash floods – torrents that develop quickly after heavy rainfall. But there’s also such a thing as a flash drought, and these sudden, extreme dry spells are becoming a big concern for farmers and water utilities. Flash droughts start and intensify quickly, over...
Environmental justice board eyes new coordinating entity, better community outreach tools
To better protect low-income, non-English speaking communities from environmental harm caused by industrial contamination and air and water pollution, the state should create an entity to coordinate environmental justice work among state agencies, according to recommendations from a special task force. It should also use new community outreach tools, such...
The Great Drenching
The La Niña threepeat wasn’t supposed to turn out like this. The third La Niña winter in a row was expected to drive rain and snow away from much of California, significantly worsening an already brutal drought. Instead, nine atmospheric river storms battered the state from Dec....
Colorado water users, environmentalists brace for changes as EPA, Supreme Court weigh wetland rules
A race is on to determine which wetlands and other waters will be protected under the Clean Water Act, the law that regulates the discharge of pollutants into the nation’s water. At issue is not only the protection of water bodies but also clarity for farmers, ranchers, developers, and others who question whether the actions they take on their lands require a federal permit.
White River call ‘significant’ for water users
A water conservancy district has put a call on the White River, an action that has the potential to alter the system for other water users. On Dec. 1, the Rangely-based Rio Blanco Water Conservancy District placed a call for its water right of 620 cubic feet per second at the Taylor Draw Dam hydroelectric plant, which the district owns and operates. It is only the second-ever call on the White River. A call occurs when a water rights holder isn’t getting the full amount of water to which they are entitled and upstream water users are shut off or “curtailed” so that the downstream user can get their full amount.
Recreation groups ask for more inclusion in state Water Plan
Colorado’s river recreation community is asking for more recognition in the update to the state’s Water Plan. In a Sept. 30 comment letter addressed to the Colorado Water Conservation Board Director Rebecca Mitchell and Gov. Jared Polis, a group of recreation, environmental conservation organizations and local businesses ask for river recreation to play a more prominent role in the roadmap for Colorado’s water future.
Farms use 80% of the West’s water. Some in Colorado use less, a lot less
At Spring Born, a greenhouse in western Colorado near Silt, you see few, if any, dirty fingernails. Why would you? Hands never touch soil in this 113,400-square-foot greenhouse. You do see automation, long trays filled with peat sliding on conveyors under computer-programmed seeding devices. Once impregnated, the trays roll into...
One crop uses more than half of Utah’s water. Here’s why.
This story was supported by the Water Desk’s grants program. This article is the first in a series supported by The Water Desk, an independent journalism initiative based at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism. This story was originally published by the Salt Lake Tribune on Nov. 24, 2022 and is republished with permission.
Colorado OKs drinking treated wastewater; now to convince the public it’s a good idea
Colorado regulators, after years of study, negotiations and testing, approved a new rule that clears the way for drinking treated wastewater this week, one of only a handful of states in the country to do so. The action came in a unanimous vote of the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission...
Four things to know about the lower Colorado River basin
Staff and board members from the Glenwood Springs-based Colorado River Water Conservation District, along with other water managers from across western Colorado, this month visited the lower basin states — Nevada, Arizona and California — on what they called a fact-finding trip. The tour took participants by bus...
Which wetlands should receive federal protection? The Supreme Court revisits a question it has struggled in the past to answer
The U.S. Supreme Court opens its new session on Oct. 3, 2022, with a high-profile case that could fundamentally alter the federal government’s ability to address water pollution. Sackett v. EPA turns on a question that courts and regulators have struggled to answer for several decades: Which wetlands and bodies of water can the federal government regulate under the 1972 Clean Water Act?
Public: New Colorado Water Plan needs more urgency and accountability
Coloradans want the state’s top water road map to mandate faster action, be more accountable, require equitable drought responses between the East and West slopes, and include the crisis on the rapidly drying Colorado River in its estimates of future water shortages. More than 1,300 individuals and agencies submitted...
How to steer money for drinking water and sewer upgrades to the communities that need it the most
By Andrian Lee, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Melissa Scanlan, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. When storms like Hurricane Ian strike, many people have to cope afterward with losing water service. Power outages mean that pumps can’t process and treat drinking water or sewage, and heavy stormwater flows can damage water mains.
Water Desk supports journalists covering the Colorado River Basin
The Water Desk is excited to announce the recipients of new grants to support water journalism connected to the Colorado River Basin. The grantees will be reporting on a range of critical water issues facing the region, including climate change, pollution, growth, biodiversity, agriculture, energy and water rights. Many of the journalists will be exploring equity issues in the water sector.
Stream restoration projects focused on beavers present ‘unsettled’ issue
State officials are working to address a tension that has arisen alongside the growing popularity of stream restoration projects that aim to keep water on the landscape by mimicking beaver activity. There’s no doubt that North America’s largest rodent is good for riparian ecosystems. By building dams that pool water,...
$500M in new federal funds to give thousands of Coloradans freedom from lead, PFAS tainted drinking water
Hundreds of thousands of Coloradans exposed to drinking water tainted by lead from aging, corroded city pipes or so-called “forever chemicals,” will see clean water faster thanks to a historic infusion of $500 million from the federal government. The money, largely from the new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is...
In New Mexico, Partners Collaborate to End Siege from Megafires
This story was originally published by Circle of Blue on October 12, 2022. This story was supported by the Water Desk’s grant programs. EL RITO, New Mexico – The drying American West needs all the high-quality water it can get. It also needs adequate funds to protect its forests, the wellsprings of the region’s rivers.
Maybell project addresses problems for irrigators, boaters, fish
The Maybell Ditch is the largest diversion on the Yampa River and irrigates about 2,500 acres of grass and alfalfa in northwest Colorado. But the remote and antiquated headgate, along with a hazardous diversion structure and 18 miles of nearly flat canal, create problems for irrigators, boaters and endangered fish alike.
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