Lake Powell

Farmers and ranchers face rising debt, high input costs, weaker exports and drought as Colorado’s rural economy slows and Colorado River supplies remain strained.

Farmers face projected crop losses, higher diesel costs and persistent drought, while states debate foreign ownership of agricultural land and Colorado officials address produce safety.

Water negotiators, river enthusiasts, Native tribes and lots of lawyers convened at the University of Colorado Law School on Thursday to take stock of the future of the dwindling Colorado River.

A special mid-year West Slope Water Summit brought together water managers and community leaders to address a dire water year. Projected inflows into Lake Powell are expected to be well below half of normal — and negotiations over the river's future remain unresolved.

Widespread drought and fears of a power crisis is forcing the Interior Department to start sending billions of gallons of water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir downstream to prop up Lake Powell.

The seven states that rely on the Colorado River need to figure out who will take cuts to water usage as climate change worsens drought in the basin. The federal government needs to start an environmental review process in order to have any new operating guidelines in place by October.

Leaders of environmental groups are issuing fresh warnings this week about the impacts the ongoing gridlock could have in the river basin.

The Fetcher ranch in northwest Colorado is on the frontlines this year of record-low snowpack across the West. It's adding a sense of urgency among seven states to finalize a plan for how to conserve the dwindling Colorado River.

Four days of negotiations in a Salt Lake City conference room earlier this month did not appear to have sparked a breakthrough.

Experts say the federal government does not want to be the decision maker, and is pushing states to come to an agreement on future water use that will inform the river's post-2026 operating guidelines. CU Boulder's Chris Winter weighs in on the Interior's draft environmental impact statement.