Western Water

Carollo Engineers' integrated water resource plan, which accounts for the effects of climate change and an increased population in Aspen, was presented to the City Council on Monday. Aspen Public Radio reporter Halle Zander sat down with Aspen Journalism’s managing editor, Heather Sackett, to discuss details of this plan.

Drought in the Colorado River basin continues into its second decade. Scientists say it's driven high temperatures, low precipitation, and dry soil and streams. Climate change means they're likely to get worse.

After another long, dry summer across the West, reservoirs in the region remain at record-low levels. It will take years of wet winters to climb out of drought, and La Niña conditions mean this winter is unlikely to bring one.

Deep in the Cameron Peak burn scar, nestled among charred hills, there’s an oasis of green — an idyllic patch of trickling streams that wind through a lush grass field. Apart from a few scorched branches on the periphery, it’s hard to tell that this particular spot was in the middle of Colorado's largest-ever wildfire just a year ago. This wetland was spared thanks to the work of beavers.

It’s been almost exactly a year since the Cameron Peak Fire tore through the foothills outside of Fort Collins on its way to becoming the largest fire in state history. Now, restoration efforts are underway.

The federal government declared a water shortage for much of the Southwest last week, resulting in the first ever mandatory cutbacks for some who draw from the Colorado River. As two decades of drought, increased demand and climate change cut deep into the West’s water supply, the region is looking ahead to a future where supplies might drop further still.

Federal officials declared a first-ever water shortage for the lower Colorado River, triggering mandatory cutbacks for some users. Ongoing drought across the West, increased demand and the wide-reaching effects of climate change have steadily reduced water levels in the nation’s largest reservoirs. Usage restrictions will begin in January, and are expected to be felt most sharply by farmers in Arizona.

The massive reservoir on the Colorado River hit a new historic low on July 24, dropping below 3,555.1 feet in elevation. The previous low was set in 2005. The last time the reservoir was this low was in 1969, when it first filled.

About 80% of Colorado’s water falls on the western side of the state. But about 80% of Colorado’s people live on the east side of the mountains. Because of gravity, that water doesn’t flow to them naturally. Instead, Colorado’s heavily-populated Front Range relies on a massive plumbing system to keep drinking water flowing to its taps.

Emergency water releases from reservoirs upstream of Lake Powell have begun to preserve the nation’s second-largest reservoir’s ability to generate hydroelectric power.