water

New research shows that in much of the world, water supplies for drinking, bathing and farming are being threatened. That includes sections of the Mountain West.

Federal officials say many parts of the West continue to see “massive” drought improvements, with some of the most significant changes in the Mountain West.

For 40 years, the Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico has been working to access the water they feel they’re owed by the federal government. And those efforts are more urgent than ever as climate change and development continue to affect their water supplies.

The Great Salt Lake reached record lows this year and Utah lawmakers are scrambling for solutions. One key factor will be preserving the largest river that feeds the lake. But solutions aren’t easy to find.

The Colorado River's foundational agreement is 100 years old this month. And while the document among seven western states was groundbreaking for its time, it's currently left the southwest to grapple with a massive gap between water supply and demand.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs held a hearing on Nov. 16 on a variety of tribal water rights settlement bills, including two that would impact Indigenous communities in the Mountain West.

A new report reveals that 91% of the nation’s coal plants are heavily contaminating groundwater, and some of the most polluted sites are in the Mountain West.

Colorado River water managers are facing a monumental task. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has asked seven western states to commit to an unprecedented amount of conservation and do it before a deadline later this summer. This comes amid shrinking water levels in the nation's largest reservoirs.

Beavers create messy wetlands as safe places to live, and a new paper explains how their engineering is also a powerful tool in fending off the harms of climate change. Their dams, channels and ponds have positive side effects that reduce the damage caused by flood, drought and wildfire.

Airborne Snow Observatories flies planes over watersheds and beams masses of laser pulses each second to the snowpack below to create elevation maps. The maps help calculate snow depth and the water supply forecast across the West.