Roger Hill’s landmark lawsuit fizzled out in court. What happens now?
Water
A dizzying look back from Phoenix’s future
A sci-fi scenario from 2008 offers insight into present day news.
How Arizona squeezes tribes for water
A High Country News/ProPublica investigation shows that Arizona goes to unusual lengths in water negotiations to extract restrictive concessions from tribes.
Hay – yes, hay – is sucking the Colorado River dry
Desert farming, wasteful irrigation and the profoundly thirsty crop is bringing the critical river to the brink.
The Supreme Court just made it easier to destroy wetlands and streams
The decision strips federal protections from the ephemeral streams that are crucial for life in the arid West.
In search of answers at the Salton Sea
To protect air and water quality, shoreline residents become community scientists.
Can retiring farmland make California’s Central Valley more equitable?
Planning for the future of groundwater also offers an opportunity to plan for climate justice.
Supreme Court shrinks definition of the Clean Water Act
In a ruling siding with an Idaho couple, justices removed protections from waters they said were non-navigable, like wetlands.
The breakdown on the Colorado River ‘breakthrough’ water deal
The agreement isn’t the sustainable, permanent one that’s necessary.
How the tiny brine shrimp can help protect the Great Salt Lake
A conversation with the sixth-grade activists behind Utah’s new state crustacean.
This year’s record-breaking snowpack is pouring into the dried-out Salt Lake
Snowmelt is replenishing depleted ecosystems and flooding communities.
Can the Dolores River be saved?
A beleaguered Colorado waterway garners new attention.
Fire retardant kills fish. Is it worth the risk?
A lawsuit could change how the Forest Service fights fires.
The artist and the harpooner
In Micah McCarty’s art, the past and future are one, and the whales never left.
The spirit of the Rillito
‘New animism’ seeks a connection to nature’s pulse.
As the West’s epic snow melts, flood danger rises
How do 2023’s atmospheric rivers compare to past extremes and what can be expected in the future?
Atmospheric rivers ease Western drought
Record-breaking rain and snow bring salvation — and destruction — to a drought-parched West.
Most drinking water in the U.S. is contaminated by PFAS; here’s what you can do about it
The EPA just proposed new rules on toxic ‘forever chemicals.’
Q&A: The Diné worldviews in the SCOTUS water rights case Arizona v. Navajo Nation
What would it look like to interpret the treaties as tribes understood them?
Could Arizona’s new governor shift Colorado River politics?
There’s a historic reckoning in the Colorado River Basin — and Katie Hobbs is here to play hard ball.