Supreme Court hears Navajo water rights case with potentially big impact
WASHINGTON - When the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in Arizona v. Navajo Nation, it will be considering fairly technical legal questions, but the answers could have a large impact on water allocation in the Colorado River basin.
California to store more rainwater as it vies with Arizona for flow from Colorado River
LOS ANGELES – California is taking advantage of extreme weather with a new approach: Let it settle back into the earth for use another day. As the latest batch of storms lashed the Golden State, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order this week to hasten projects that use rainwater to recharge aquifers, reversing decades of an emphasis on channeling it into drains and out to sea.
Annual count shows Mexican wolf population reaches record numbers
PHOENIX — The 2022 annual Mexican wolf count shows the population reaching record numbers, with 241 wolves for the first time since the beginning of the program.
‘Where’s the River?’ event calls attention to Arizona’s depleted waterways
PHOENIX — “Where’s The River?” an environmental event hosted by the Sustainable Water Network, aims to spread awareness about Arizona’s depleting rivers and what people can do to help conservation efforts
Paid not to farm? Expanded Colorado River program divides farm community
With water levels in Lake Powell and Lake Mead at record lows, federal officials are ready to spend tens of millions of dollars to get farmers and other water users to conserve in 2023 and keep the reservoirs from falling farther.
Colorado River senators meet quietly to facilitate states’ water talks
Senators from the seven Western states in the Colorado River basin have been quietly meeting "for about a year," to facilitate difficult discussions between the states over the future of the river.
Feds pause Flaming Gorge releases amid snowy winter for Colorado River
The federal government has halted releases from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir that were meant to prop up water levels at Lake Powell downstream, as heavy snows allowed the Bureau of Reclamation to end releases two months earlier than originally planned.
Rockies’ snowy winter may not mean enough runoff to replenish the Colorado
New data show a snowy start to 2023 for the Colorado River basin, with heavy winter precipitation in the Rocky Mountains projected to boost spring spring runoff into Lake Powell to 117% of an average year's flows.
Desert Botanical Garden nurtures endangered monarchs and native butterflies at Majestic Mariposas exhibit
PHOENIX – Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix is opening its spring butterfly pavilion to show off native butterfly species, including the endangered monarch. The garden’s ongoing Great Milkweed Grow Out lets visitors buy milkweed for their home gardens to help increase the monarch population. Milkweed is essential for monarchs to lay their eggs and for caterpillars to eat.
Upper Colorado River Basin states want to pause releases from Flaming Gorge
Four states in the upper basin of the Colorado River have asked the federal government to pause water releases from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir that were aimed at propping up falling water levels downstream at Lake Powell.
Conservation groups, highway advocates square off on proposed Interstate 11
TUCSON — Four conservation groups have sued the Federal Highway Administration over a proposed corridor for Interstate 11, saying there hasn’t been enough consideration of how it would affect the pristine Sonoran Desert and animals in the area.
EPA proposal would stop SRP from dumping coal ash into existing evaporation pond at Coronado Generating Station
PHOENIX — The EPA is proposing to reject an SRP application which argues that the utility should be allowed to dump coal ash into an evaporation pond at its Coronado Generating Station in St. Johns.
