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The Outstanding Waters designation can be awarded to streams with high water quality and exceptional recreational or ecological attributes, and the intent is to protect the water quality from future degradation. Water samples are being collected on upper reaches of Woody, Hunter, Avalanche and Thompson creeks in the Roaring Fork basin.

Savanah Wolfson doesn鈥檛 mince words as she describes what some people in her small hometown of Oak Creek think of joining a new congressional district stretching all the way to Boulder County. 鈥淭hey are mad as hell. They are mad as hell,鈥� Wolfson says. 鈥淓specially the ranchers.鈥�

Kari Williams owns Snow-Capped Cider outside of Cedaredge, Colorado, where she crafts hard ciders exclusively from Colorado grown apples. She has a unique advantage as a local producer of hard cider: her family grows all of the apples that go into her brew. But as the climate changes, more extreme temperature swings are impacting fruit growers on the Western Slope.

About 80% of Colorado鈥檚 water falls on the western side of the state. But about 80% of Colorado鈥檚 people live on the east side of the mountains. Because of gravity, that water doesn鈥檛 flow to them naturally. Instead, Colorado鈥檚 heavily-populated Front Range relies on a massive plumbing system to keep drinking water flowing to its taps.

Another dry year has left the waterway that supplies 40 million people in the Southwest parched. A prolonged 21-year warming and drying trend is pushing the nation鈥檚 two largest reservoirs to record lows. For the first time this summer, the federal government will declare a shortage.

As the Western U.S. steels itself for another summer of dry, fire-prone conditions, some are turning their attention to recovering from last season鈥檚 blazes.

The conversation around water speculation has been heating up in Colorado in recent months. At the direction of state lawmakers, a work group has been meeting regularly to explore ways to strengthen the state鈥檚 anti-speculation law.

Changing irrigation methods is something more and more Western Slope producers are doing, from small to large. With help from federal funding, they鈥檙e able to apply less water to grow their crops and make their land more resilient to drought.

The Pine Gulch Fire north of Grand Junction has grown to over 18 square miles in hot and dry conditions that are expected to continue through Friday.

Saturday, Aug. 1 is Colorado Day, the anniversary of Colorado becoming a state in 1876. And it's also the day that Duane Vandenbusche becomes Colorado鈥檚 new state historian.