Stemming the water crisis in the western US will require cities and rural areas to work together to make water use on farms – the largest source of demand – more efficient. Let's have cities pay farmers to install more efficient irrigation systems.
The Washington Post traveled along the river, from its start to its finish, to examine how people and places are coping with a shrinking lifeline in a hotter and drier landscape.
With drought and growth taking a toll on the Colorado River, the source of 90 percent of the region’s water, a new law mandates the removal of turf, patch by patch.
The anticipated decision will keep more water in Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border, instead of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead. Both reservoirs are at their lowest points.
Federal officials say it may be necessary to reduce water deliveries to Colorado River users to prevent the shutdown of a huge dam on the Arizona-Utah border.
The power politics of the Colorado River have long pitted families like Paul Bruchez’s against big cities. Under pressure from climate change, they might be finding a path out.
