Water in the West

Eric Balken, executive director of Glen Canyon Institute, walks along a sandbar once submerged by Lake Powell. As the reservoir drops to record lows, it draws out of areas that were underwater for decades.

Lake Powell drops to a new record low as feds scramble to prop it up

Alex Hager

Lake Powell is shrinking as climate change and steady demand cause trouble for states that rely on the Colorado River. The Bureau of Reclamation is scrambling to keep hydropower generators running in Glen Canyon Dam.

Skiers cruise down the slopes at Snowmass ski area in Colorado. While this winter has already delivered snow totals above 130% of average, climate scientists say it will take more than one wet winter to pull the Southwest out of a 23-year drought.

Water in the West

This winter’s rain and snow won’t be enough to pull the West out of drought

Alex Hager

Heavy rain and snow could provide a boost to the Colorado River, where the nation's largest reservoirs are shrinking due to 23 years of drought and steady demand. But climate scientists warn that it will take more than one wet winter to end the drought.

A pack of wolves in Yellowstone National Park are spotted from a wildlife tracking plane

Local News

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Hattison Rensberry

KDNK's Hattison Rensberry has the news, including wolf reintroduction planned for the Roaring Fork Valley, meth in the air in the Boulder Library, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife listing the Whitebark Pine as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Plus, a look at Paonia's water moratorium four years in. And ... will it be a white Christmas in the Mountain West?

Susheera Pochiraju sips tap water from a selection of samples at the American Water Works Association Rocky Mountain meeting. A panel of judges compared water from six different Colorado cities to pick the best-tasting.

Water in the West

From ‘rubbery’ to ‘grassy,’ we tasted Colorado tap water like fine wine

Alex Hager

Colorado cities competed to see which has the best-tasting tap water. KUNC's Alex Hager was invited to judge, but found that it's hard to pick up on "grassy, earthy and rubbery" flavors in a famously bland beverage.

As water levels in Lake Powell keep dropping, some say they could fall too low to pass through Glen Canyon Dam at sufficient levels. Activists are calling for changes to the dam's plumbing to keep enough water flowing to the states that depend on it downstream.

Water in the West

Feds want the ability to cut back on Colorado River reservoir releases over the next two years

Alex Hager

The Bureau of Reclamation filed a Notice of Intent to propose changes to the amount of water released from Lake Powell and Lake Mead.

Water from the Colorado River is used to irrigate crops near Yuma, Arizona. Agriculture uses about 80% of the Colorado River’s water, and that sector is under mounting pressure to reduce its demand.

Water in the West

Feds are putting a price tag on water in the Colorado River basin to spur farmers to conserve

Alex Hager

The Department of the Interior designated $4 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act for drought mitigation in the Colorado River basin.

From 1990 to 2019, an average of 0.67% of Native American households in Nevada were without either piped water, a shower or a flush toilet.

Mountain West News Bureau

Native American households in Nevada more likely to face ‘plumbing poverty’

Kaleb Roedel

A new study shows that a large number of Native American households in the Mountain West lack indoor plumbing.

Local News

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Morgan Troy Neely

KDNK's news team brings you local and regional news from the Mountain West.

RF students for sustainabilityGREEN.jpeg

Public Affairs

My Own Two Hands | Water in the West Part 2

Adele Craft

Colorado Mountain College sustainability studies students, Sierra and Camden, discuss water issues in their watershed: the Yampa River Valley. They learn about problems and solutions to this sustainability issue by talking with Madison Muxworthy with the Yampa Valley Sustainability Council, and Ben Beall of Friends of the Yampa.

Public Affairs

My Own Two Hands | Water in the West

Adele Craft

Adele Craft talks with Colorado Mountain College (CMC) sustainability students, James Ring and Christina Matzl, about water issues in the west.