Colorado River Basin

Over 150 scientists will research snow and water for two years near Crested Butte, Colorado. The project tracking weather patterns from ‘atmosphere to bedrock’ is the first of its kind.

Two recent moves aim to benefit water access for tribal communities in the Colorado River basin. And the League of Women Voters of Utah is standing by its lawsuit challenging the state’s new congressional maps.

Warmer days are here, and the snow that supplies most of the water to the Colorado River is melting. Our drought-stricken region needs all the water it can get. So as the last traces of winter come to a close in the mountains, KUNC’s Alex Hager tells us what we can expect for a summer in the Colorado River basin.

Colorado has been collecting more taxes than it can legally spend in recent years. And the seven states in the Colorado River basin are giving their approval to a proposed set of water cutbacks from the federal government.

Lake Powell is in crisis. So reports KUNC’s Alex Hager, who covers the Colorado River. Just last month, water in the nation's second largest reservoir dipped below the target elevation. Now, the federal government is moving forward with emergency cutbacks for several states.

A new plan will release water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir, a measure designed to boost dropping levels in Lake Powell. The releases come as a response to record lows, which are on course to drop too low to generate hydropower at the Glen Canyon dam. The Drought Response Operations Plan brings together the four states of the upper Colorado River basin – Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico – and the federal government.

America’s largest homebuilder is buying a water resources company with holdings throughout the Colorado River Basin. And the city of Moab has hired a new police chief after eight tumultuous months.

A new report from the United Nations’ panel on climate change lays out a grim picture of the future that includes more shortages for the already-dry Colorado River basin. A republican bill in Utah banning pornographic materials in schools passed the state’s House on Tuesday. And, the Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 School Board appointed Harry Tom Burrus as the district’s interim superintendent.

At the same time a group of Colorado River users gathered in Las Vegas last month to discuss the future of water in the Southwest, another group was having a similar discussion. And Coloradans can now compare health-care costs for services at more than 100 hospitals and facilities across the state.

The Bureau of Land Management will reassess its policies on oil- and gas-rich lands near the Navajo Nation, surrounding Chaco Canyon National Historical Park. And the new year has brought plenty of snow to the Mountain West, pushing snowpack totals above average across most of the region.