Desert farming, wasteful irrigation and the profoundly thirsty crop is bringing the critical river to the brink.
Water
Posted inArticles
The Supreme Court just made it easier to destroy wetlands and streams
The decision strips federal protections from the ephemeral streams that are crucial for life in the arid West.
Posted inJune 1, 2023: Seen and Unseen
In search of answers at the Salton Sea
To protect air and water quality, shoreline residents become community scientists.
Posted inArticles
Can retiring farmland make California’s Central Valley more equitable?
Planning for the future of groundwater also offers an opportunity to plan for climate justice.
Posted inArticles
Supreme Court shrinks definition of the Clean Water Act
In a ruling siding with an Idaho couple, justices removed protections from waters they said were non-navigable, like wetlands.
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The breakdown on the Colorado River ‘breakthrough’ water deal
The agreement isn’t the sustainable, permanent one that’s necessary.
Posted inJune 1, 2023: Seen and Unseen
How the tiny brine shrimp can help protect the Great Salt Lake
A conversation with the sixth-grade activists behind Utah’s new state crustacean.
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This year’s record-breaking snowpack is pouring into the dried-out Salt Lake
Snowmelt is replenishing depleted ecosystems and flooding communities.
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Can the Dolores River be saved?
A beleaguered Colorado waterway garners new attention.
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Fire retardant kills fish. Is it worth the risk?
A lawsuit could change how the Forest Service fights fires.
Posted inMay 1, 2023: Reemergence
The artist and the harpooner
In Micah McCarty’s art, the past and future are one, and the whales never left.
Posted inMay 1, 2023: Reemergence
The spirit of the Rillito
‘New animism’ seeks a connection to nature’s pulse.
Posted inArticles
As the West’s epic snow melts, flood danger rises
How do 2023’s atmospheric rivers compare to past extremes and what can be expected in the future?
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Atmospheric rivers ease Western drought
Record-breaking rain and snow bring salvation — and destruction — to a drought-parched West.
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Most drinking water in the U.S. is contaminated by PFAS; here’s what you can do about it
The EPA just proposed new rules on toxic ‘forever chemicals.’
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Q&A: The Diné worldviews in the SCOTUS water rights case Arizona v. Navajo Nation
What would it look like to interpret the treaties as tribes understood them?
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Could Arizona’s new governor shift Colorado River politics?
There’s a historic reckoning in the Colorado River Basin — and Katie Hobbs is here to play hard ball.
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The Salinas River and the foretold flood
Agriculture beat the river into submission. It’s back.
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What happens when an affluent Arizona suburb’s main water supply is cut off?
As the Colorado River crisis worsens, an unregulated housing development faces a reckoning.
