Staging version updated 12/5/2023

An initiative of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder

Site Features

PFAS, often used in water-resistant gear, also find their way into drinking water and human bodies. CasarsaGuru via Getty Images

What are PFAS, and why is the EPA warning about them in drinking water?...

A dangerous chemical, known as PFAS, is found in everything from nonstick cookware to carpets to ski wax.

Blue Mesa is threatened by a two-decade-long drought and downstream obligations

Experts say it will take a lot more than one snowy winter to refill the reservoir. 
Crystal River rancher Bill Fales stands at the headgate for the Helms Ditch photo

Crystal River rancher, Water Trust again try to boost flows

A Crystal River Valley rancher and a nonprofit organization are teaming up for the second time to leave more water in a parched stream.

Photos: Fishing on the Green River

This page features fishing on the Green River in Utah. The Green River flows through Wyoming, Utah and Colorado, running 730 miles downriver before connecting with the Colorado River. About...

Advocacy and science work together to improve water quality in Coal Creek

Two non-profit groups in Crested Butte work to clean up waters still polluted from the Keystone and Standard mines.
Low-tech irrigation on a cattle ranch near Whitewater, Colo., June 30, 2021. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

A water strategy for the parched West: Have cities pay farmers to install more...

Robert Glennon, professor at the Univeristy of Arizona, proposes a two-pronged approach to help agriculture and the water shortage.

60 days and counting: Colorado River cutbacks achievable, experts say, as long as farm...

Colorado River Basin states have 60 days to come up with a water reduction plan.
This photo from December 2021 shows one of the intake towers at Hoover Dam. Federal officials said basin states must conserve 2 to 4 million acre-feet to protect reservoir levels in 2023. CREDIT: HEATHER SACKETT/ASPEN JOURNALISM

Race is on for Colorado River basin states to conserve before feds take action

Seven states in the West have been given until August 15th to implement new strategies and tools to conserve the Colorado River.

Photos: Boulder Creek and Gross Reservoir

This page features photos of Gross Reservoir, Boulder Creek and the creek’s 2013 floods on Colorado’s Front Range. Located in Boulder County, Gross Reservoir was created as a water storage...

Scientists in the East River watershed collect ‘mountains of data’ to understand water in...

In a first-of-its-kind project, scientists will trace snow from where it arrives in the atmosphere, to where it melts into the ground.