Water in the West

The latest study from the Bureau of Reclamation shows how a wet winter in 2023 helped boost Lake Powell and Colorado River water supplies. But experts say more cuts to demand for the water supply are needed.

Two classrooms in Colorado are learning about water by connecting pen pals between Basalt and Aurora.

KDNK's News Director Morgan Neely has Wednesday's updates, including a preview of tonight's Roaring Fork Schools Board of Education meeting. And, Rifle Police recapture an escaped convict who's decked out in white power and Nazi tattoos.

KDNK’s reporter Hattison Rensberry brings you local and regional news from the Mountain West

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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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