Reservoirs

Swirls of green algae sit on top of the water near a dirt shoreline. Trees on the opposite shoreline reflect off of the water in the distance.

Toxic algae is on the rise as summer heat bakes Northern Colorado

Alex Hager

Toxic blue-green algae has forced Colorado Parks and Wildlife to close swimming areas at some lakes and reservoirs in the area.

Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico are asking the federal government to pause some releases from Flaming Gorge Reservoir, which straddles the border between Wyoming and Utah. The reservoir, pictured here in 2021, is the third-largest in the Colorado River system.

Environment

Upper Basin states want to pause some releases from a major Colorado River reservoir

Alex Hager

Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico are asking the Bureau of Reclamation to pause water releases at Flaming Gorge Reservoir, which has been used to help prop up Lake Powell.

Water levels in Lake Powell, seen here in May 2021, are dipping dangerously low. The federal government has proposed an unprecedented plan to cut back on water supplies for Arizona, Nevada and California. The measure aims to keep water levels high enough to generate hydropower at the Glen Canyon Dam.

Environment

Lake Powell is critically low, and still shrinking. Here鈥檚 what happens next

Alex Hager

Lake Powell is is strained by more than two decades of drought, and its water levels are dipping dangerously low. The reservoir passed an important threshold. Water levels went below 3,525 feet 鈥� the last major milestone before a threat to hydropower generation at the Glen Canyon Dam. What's next for the nation's second-largest reservoir?

An excavator moves dirt while building the new Chimney Hollow reservoir, part of an effort to move about two million cubic yards of earth. The project will take four years to complete, then three more years to fill with water. It's designed to help store water for homes in rapidly-growing cities along Colorado's Front Range.

Environment

What does it take to build a massive new reservoir? A lot of time, trucks, and rock

Alex Hager

The Chimney Hollow reservoir will include the tallest dam built in the U.S. in 25 years, but critics ask if there will be enough water to keep it filled.

Science

How Wildfires May Muck Up The West鈥檚 Reservoirs

Rae Ellen Bichell

Reservoirs can get messy after a big wildfire. The issue isn鈥檛 the fire itself, it鈥檚 what happens after. Ash deposits can make the ground repel water鈥�

Environment

Colorado River Reservoirs Start Water Year At Lowest Point Since Filled

Luke Runyon

Key reservoirs along the Colorado River are collectively at their lowest point at the start of a new water year since the last one filled nearly 40 years鈥�

A river winds past sandy banks with dried grasses.

Environment

Flood Waters Fundamentally Changed The Front Range -- In Landscape And Human Tragedy

Luke Runyon

Five years ago flood waters caused immense damage along Colorado鈥檚 northern Front Range and foothills, killing nine people, upending the lives of鈥�

Environment

Environmental Groups Sue In Attempt To Halt Windy Gap Water Diversion

Luke Runyon

In an attempt to halt the construction of Chimney Hollow Reservoir outside Loveland, and the diversion of Western Slope water to the Front Range,鈥�

Environment

As Climate Change Pushes Runoff Earlier, Water And Colorado Ag No Longer Cleanly Overlap

At Ollin Farms in Longmont, Mark Guttridge is transitioning from spring crops to vegetables that will ripen in late summer and early fall. Having water鈥�

Reservoir caretaker Doug Billingsley tests water levels at windswept Chambers Lake near Cameron Pass, Colo.

NPR 暗黑爆料

As Technology Marches On, Reservoir Caretakers Stay At Their Posts

Grace Hood

When it comes to dam safety, human eyes are still one of the best tools to recognize problems 鈥� so in some areas, workers live in remote locations to watch over the water supply.