The Colorado River comes to an end at the U.S.-Mexico border. The entirety of its flow, already heavily tapped upstream in the U.S., is sent into an irrigation canal to grow crops in the Mexicali Valley and to flow through faucets in Tijuana and Mexicali. The river’s final hundred miles have been mostly dry for decades. Environmental groups on both…

Tribes in the southwest hold significant rights to the Colorado River’s water. But they’ve been left out of nearly every major agreement to manage the river. Leaders across the region are debating how to use less water amid the region’s warming climate. Tribes say they never got the chance to use their water in the first place, and that everyone in…

Las Vegas is known as a city of excess. But not when it comes to water. The desert metropolis relies on the Colorado River to keep its iconic casinos bustling. The short supply has caused city leaders to enforce some of the tightest water conservation measures in the West. Green lawns are enemy number one. This episode features interviews with Kurt…

Lake Powell is a boater’s dream. The nation’s second largest reservoir on the Colorado River is a maze of sandstone canyons teeming with houseboats. But climate change and unchecked demand for water sent the lake’s levels to a new record low this year. In this episode we explore changes to recreation in this popular vacation hotspot.…

Farmers and ranchers use the vast majority of the Colorado River’s water. Getting them to voluntarily use less is difficult. The West’s water rights system incentivizes farmers to use all of their water to prevent their rights from losing value. Trying to balance the region’s water supply and demand will require farmers to use less. In this episode…

The Colorado River’s current crisis traces its roots back to 1922. That’s when leaders from the rapidly-growing southwestern states that rely on the river traveled to a swanky Santa Fe mountain retreat to divvy up the river’s water. Growing populations in some of the West’s burgeoning cities and sprawling farmlands, and the anxieties tied to that g…

The Colorado River is in trouble. Its biggest reservoirs are at record lows. Shortages are likely to get worse. Demands from cities and farms are outstripping supply across seven U.S. states, 30 Native American tribes and northern Mexico. The river’s foundational, yet flawed, legal agreement -- the Colorado River Compact -- turned 100 years old in …