As cities grow in population and economic activity, they reach further and further out to find water to meet their needs. Now, a new study has estimated that collectively the world’s large cities, defined as those with at least 750,000 people,...
After coursing through its delta for nearly eight weeks, the fresh waters of the Colorado River have touched the high tides of the salty sea. It is the first time in sixteen years that the Colorado River, which flows...
As the December deadline approaches for New Mexico to decide whether or not it will proceed with a controversial diversion of the Gila River, a former director of the state’s Interstate Stream Commission (ISC) testified on April 30 to the ISC...
The four largest cities that get their drinking water from the Colorado River are gearing up to pilot an innovative conservation scheme that pays farmers, industries and municipalities to reduce their use of the river’s water. The main aim...
When the Las Conchas Fire scorched some 151,000 acres of northern New Mexico in 2011, it wasn’t just the direct fire damage that was cause for worry. Striking as it did in the midst of a persistent drought, but just before...
The Bartlett Rod Shop Company Dam, built in 1820 on Amethyst Brook in western Massachusetts was removed in November 2012, opening up habitat for trout and creating spawning grounds for sea lamprey. Photo by Alex Hackman/MA Dept of Fish...
Nearly half of the wells hydraulically fractured (indicated by black dots) in the United States are located in areas of high or extremely high water stress (shown in red and dark red). Graphic courtesy of Ceres Even as concerns...
It’s a cruel irony for the 300,000 West Virginians forced to turn off their taps for five to ten days earlier this month after a chemical spill contaminated their drinking water supply that their inconvenience and, for some, illness and suffering,...
Engrossed: A young girl “reads” ice-book text comprised of Fremont cottonwood seed (Populus fremontii) beside the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Basia Irland is a sculptor, poet, and installation artist who has focused her creativity on rivers for thirty...
The dry Colorado River Delta against the Cucapá Mountains. Photo by Erik Rochner/National Geographic Once written off as dying of thirst and beyond revival, the delta of the Colorado River is slated to get a rejuvenating flood that for scientists...