Drought Archives - Inside Climate News

As Water Levels Drop, the Risk of Arsenic Rises

In Colorado's famed San Luis Valley, residents who rely on well water are grappling not only with a shortage amid drought, but questionable quality of the water coming out of the ground.

By Melissa Bailey, KFF Health News

Angie Mestas, a schoolteacher, used a lifetime of savings to drill a drinking well on her land in Los Sauces, Colorado. But she won't drink from it until she tests for arsenic and E. coli, which are common in the area. Credit: Melissa Bailey for KFF Health News

Preserving the Cowboy Way of Life

By Emma Peterson

A pontoon boat is tied up at the shore of a recently-revealed beach in one of Lake Powell's side canyons on April 10, 2023. The evening sunlight casts a reflection of the canyon's "bathtub rings" on the still water. Credit: Alex Hager / KUNC

At Lake Powell, Record Low Water Levels Reveal an ‘Amazing Silver Lining’

By Alex Hager, KUNC

$A large fracking operation becomes a new part of the horizon with Mount Meeker and Longs Peak looming in the background on Dec. 28, 2017 in Loveland, Colorado. Credit: Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images$

Colorado Frackers Doubled Freshwater Use During Megadrought, Even as Drilling and Oil Production Fell

By Liza Gross

Warming and Drying Climate Puts Many of the World’s Biggest Lakes in Peril

By Bob Berwyn

Amid Continuing Drought, Arizona Is Coming up With New Sources of Water—if Cities Can Afford Them

By Wyatt Myskow

An Agricultural Drought In East Africa Was Caused by Climate Change, Scientists Find

By Georgina Gustin

Texas Eyes Marine Desalination, Oilfield Water Reuse to Sustain Rapid Growth

By Martha Pskowski

Two patches of land sit in a dried up lake bed in 2022. These were once islands in Laguna de Aculeoa, a popular freshwater lake for fishing, boating and swimming, just an hour from Santiago, Chile. The lake dried up completely in 2018 due to the ongoing megadrought.

More Than a Decade of Megadrought Brought a Summer of Megafires to Chile

Story and Photos by James Whitlow Delano

California Snowpack May Hold Record Amount of Water, With Significant Flooding Possible

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

California, Battered by Atmospheric Rivers, Faces a Big Melt This Spring

By Bob Berwyn

Eric Balken, executive director of Glen Canyon Institute, walks along a sandbar once submerged by Lake Powell. As the reservoir drops to record lows, areas that were underwater for decades have begun to emerge. Credit: Alex Hager

Lake Powell Drops to a New Record Low as Feds Scramble to Prop it Up

By Alex Hager, KUNC

Confronting California’s Water Crisis

By Liza Gross

More than two thirds of the Colorado River begins as snow in Colorado. However, warm temperatures and dry soil are steadily reducing the amount of snowmelt that makes its way into the river, which supplies 40 million people across the Southwest. Credit: Alex Hager/KUNC

This Winter’s Rain and Snow Won’t be Enough to Pull the West Out of Drought

By Alex Hager, KUNC

Arizona’s New Governor Takes on Water Conservation and Promises to Revise the State’s Groundwater Management Act

By Wyatt Myskow

A Hospital Ward for Starving Children in Kenya Has Seen a Surge in Cases This Year

By Georgina Gustin

When the State Cut Their Water, These California Users Created a Collaborative Solution

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

John Entsminger, who runs the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said states will probably come up with an "imperfect alternative" to last until 2026, when current rules for managing the Colorado River expire and states are expected to draw up a "longer-term, more durable solution." Credit: Alex Hager/KUNC

‘It Is Going to Take Real Cuts to Everyone’: Leaders Meet to Decide the Future of the Colorado River

By Alex Hager, KUNC

In a Famed Game Park Near the Foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, the Animals Are Giving Up

By Georgina Gustin

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