A wildfire burning southwest of Denver forced the evacuation of thousands of residents and destroyed more than 160 structures as erratic winds pushed the blaze across two Colorado counties.

Federal officials are considering cool water releases for the third consecutive year at Glen Canyon Dam in Northern Arizona this summer to safeguard the humpback chub, a federally protected fish.

The seven Western states that depend on the Colorado River have missed a deadline for the second time to agree on a plan addressing record drought and water shortages.

Researchers have completed a full accounting of water uses and losses in the Rio Grande-Bravo basin as it faces severe shortages throughout its range in the United States and Mexico.

Over the next 24 hours, parts of Victoria, especially near the Guadalupe River gauge in Bloomington, are expected to see minor flood stages.

Federal water officials have made public what they call “necessary steps” for the seven states and multiple tribes that rely on the Colorado River to meet an August 2026 deadline for deciding how to manage the waterway in the future.

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will continue to live with less water next year from the Colorado River after the U.S. government Thursday announced water cuts preserving the status quo.

The federal government is expected to announce water cuts soon that would affect some of the 40 million people reliant on the Colorado River.

A plan to help shore up the Colorado River by cutting off water to alfalfa fields in California’s crop-rich Imperial Valley is finding support among water managers and farmers.

The first tropical system of 2024 is starting to impact the Texas coast.

The Navajo Nation Council has unanimously approved a proposed water rights settlement that carries a price tag larger than any such agreement enacted by Congress.

Plumbing problems at the dam holding back the second-largest reservoir in the U.S. are spurring concerns about future water delivery issues to Southwestern states supplied by the Colorado River.

Southern California's Imperial Irrigation District supplies water to farmers who grow most of the nation’s winter vegetables.

A Native American tribe with one of the largest outstanding claims to water in the Colorado River basin is closing in on a settlement.

A company’s plan in southeast Utah to extract lithium is adding to an anxiety familiar in this part of the arid American West: how the project could affect water from the Colorado River.

Federal officials said Tuesday they will ease water cuts for Western states reliant on the Colorado River next year.

A Supreme Court ruling this week will make it harder for the Navajo Nation to get water from the Colorado River.

The Supreme Court has ruled against the Navajo Nation in a dispute involving water from the drought-stricken Colorado River.

Arizona, California and Nevada on Monday proposed a deal to significantly cut their water use from the drought-stricken Colorado River over the next three years.

Scientists say nearly half of the American West has emerged from drought following a winter marked by heavy snow and several massive rainstorms.

The Biden administration floated two ideas this week for how Western states and Native American tribes could reduce their water use from the dwindling Colorado River.

A Native American tribe in Arizona has reached a deal with the U.S. government not to use some of its Colorado River water rights in return for $150 million and funding for a pipeline project.

The Supreme Court appears to be split in a dispute between the federal government and the Navajo Nation over water from the drought-stricken Colorado River.

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide a critical water rights case in the arid Southwest.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation granted $2.4 million Thursday for cloud seeding in the Upper Colorado River Basin.

Record snowfall and rain have helped to loosen drought’s grip on parts of the western U.S., even pushing it out altogether in California after consecutive dry years.

Nevada lawmakers are considering a significant shift in water use for Las Vegas, one of the driest major metropolitan areas in the U.S. The water agency managing the city's Colorado River water supply is seeking authority to limit what comes out of residents' taps.

With drought, climate change and overuse of the Colorado River leading to increasingly dire conditions in the West, the federal Bureau of Reclamation is looking at fallowing as a way to cut water use.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to investigate allegations that the state is failing to enforce the Clean Water Act. Environmentalists say the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s system of issuing permits has made it too easy for industries to contaminate rivers, lakes and estuaries.

California has released a plan outlining how it thinks states should reduce their reliance on the Colorado River.

More than 10% of the water carried by the Colorado River evaporates, leaks or spills as the 1,450-mile powerhouse of the West flows through the region’s dams, reservoirs and open-air canals.

Competing priorities, outsized demands and the federal government's retreat from a threatened deadline all combined to thwart a voluntary deal last summer on how to drastically cut water use from the parched Colorado River.

More questions than answers are surfacing at a conference in Las Vegas about what to do about projected shortages of Colorado River water relied upon by seven U.S. states, Native American tribes and Mexico.

Living with less water in the U.S. Southwest is the focus this week for a conference in Las Vegas about the drought-stricken and overpromised Colorado River.

The federal government says it will spend $250 million over four years on environmental cleanup and restoration work around a drying Southern California lake that's fed by the depleted Colorado River.

Thirty water agencies that supply cities across the western United States are pledging to rip up lots of decorative grass to conserve water in the over-tapped Colorado River.

The Supreme Court will hear a water dispute involving the U.S. government and the Navajo Nation.

Communities around California's shrinking Salton Sea are at the center of the latest spat between Arizona and California over how to conserve Colorado River water.

California water agencies that rely on the parched Colorado River say they're willing to cut their use by about one-tenth.

The consequences of drought and efforts to funnel billions of dollars toward securing water supplies in the West are becoming larger issues in two of the most consequential races for the U.S. Senate.

Hualapai tribal land in northwestern Arizona borders 100 miles of the Colorado River, but the tribe can't draw from it.

California's Imperial Valley, which provides many of the nation’s winter vegetables and cattle feed, has one of the strongest grips on water from the Colorado River, a critical but over-tapped supply for farms and cities across the West.

A small fraction of the Colorado River manages to reach Northern Mexico to irrigate its fields and provide for the daily needs of millions of residents.

In November 1922, seven land-owning white men brokered a deal to allocate water from the Colorado River, which winds through the West and ends in Mexico.

Dire consequences could result if states, cities and farms across the American West cannot agree on how to cut the amount of water they draw from the Colorado River.

People in Arizona and Nevada won’t face bans on watering their lawns or washing their cars despite more Colorado River water shortages.

For the second year in a row, Arizona and Nevada will face cuts in the amount of water they can draw from the Colorado River as the West endures more drought.

Seven Western U.S. states face a deadline from the federal government to come up with a plan to use substantially less Colorado River water in 2023.

Authorities say another body has surfaced at Lake Mead — this time in a swimming area where water levels have dropped as the Colorado River reservoir recedes because of drought and climate change.

Confirming their worst fears for record-low lake levels, National Park Service fisheries biologists have discovered that a non-native predator fish has made its way through Glen Canyon Dam to the lower Colorado River, where it can prey on ancient native fish they have been working to reestablish.

Drought-prone cities in the U.S. West are mapping snow by plane to refine their water forecasts.

Federal water officials have announced that they will keep hundreds of billions of gallons of Colorado River water inside Lake Powell instead of letting it flow downstream to southwestern states and Mexico.

Las Vegas police believe a body found inside a barrel on the newly exposed bottom of Lake Mead is that of a man who had been shot.

A body inside a barrel was found over the weekend on the newly exposed bottom of Nevada’s Lake Mead as drought depletes of the largest U.S. reservoirs.

The water supply for Las Vegas has marked a milestone, with a water intake breaking the surface of drought-depleted Lake Mead and the activation of a new pumping facility to draw water from deeper in the crucial Colorado River reservoir.

Federal officials say it may be necessary to reduce water deliveries to Colorado River users to prevent the shutdown of a huge dam on the Arizona-Utah border.

A critical Colorado River reservoir has fallen to a record low level, raising new concerns about a power source for millions of people in the U.S. West.

Water leaders in California, Arizona and Nevada have signed an agreement to further reduce their take of Colorado River water to help stave off wider, mandatory cuts in the future.

More places around the U.S. are eyeing the practice of recycling wastewater for reuse in homes and businesses as tap water.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reclassified a rare Colorado River Basin fish called the humpback chub from endangered to threatened status after a decades-old effort to stabilize its populations.

The U.S. government has released projections that indicate an even more troubling outlook for a river that serves 40 million people in the American West.

Federal scientists are launching an effort to better understand the hydrology in the U.S. West.

U.S. officials have declared the first-ever water shortage from a river that serves 40 million people in the West.

The Colorado River has been a go-to source of water for cities, tribes and farmers in the U.S. West for decades.

Large swaths of Arizona have been inundated by flooding this week.

Lawmakers in Congress have introduced a bill that would pump tens of billions of dollars into fixing and upgrading the country's dams.

A key Colorado River reservoir is at its lowest level since it was filled in the 1930s.

The body of Jacob Langley, the central Texas student who went missing in the Colorado River near Matagorda on Saturday, was discovered Monday evening, according to Tim Miller with Texas Equusearch.

Water officials in Arizona say they are prepared to lose about one-fifth of the water the state gets from the Colorado River in what could be the first mandated cut.

The six members of the Colorado River Authority of Utah would oversee the state's negotiations on the drought plan and other rules that expire in 2026. Other states, such as Colorado and Wyoming, also are pursuing projects to shore up their water supply. The lower basin states — Arizona, California and Nevada — get specific amounts that are subject to cuts. The Arizona law doesn't affect the Colorado River but could boost water in other streams and rivers for wildlife habitat, recreation or city use. The 29 tribes in the Colorado River basin collectively hold rights to about 20% of its flow.

(Mohave County Sheriff's Office via AP)DOLAN SPRINGS, Ariz. – A Las Vegas-based tour bus heading to the Grand Canyon rolled over in northwestern Arizona on Friday, killing one person and critically injuring two others, authorities said. “A lot of them were saying the bus driver was driving at a high rate of speed,” he said. The bus was heading to Grand Canyon West, about 2 1/2 hours from Las Vegas and outside the boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park. Before the pandemic, about 1 million people a year visited Grand Canyon West, mostly through tours booked out of Las Vegas. Rafters who are on trips through the Grand Canyon also can get on and off the river on the reservation.

The energy and climate provisions, supported by lawmakers from both parties, were hailed as the most significant climate change law in at least a decade. “Make no mistake,'' he said, the new legislation "will soon be some of the most significant climate solutions to pass out of Congress to date.'' Marty Durbin, a senior vice president at the Chamber of Commerce, called the package — the first major energy bill in more than a decade — “truly historic” and among the most significant action Congress has ever taken to address climate change. The bill will not only address climate change, but also "promote American technological leadership and foster continued economic growth,'' Durbin said. The dramatic if gradual reduction of HFCs in particular “will bring significant climate relief relatively quickly,'' said Matt Casale, director of environment campaigns for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

(AP Photo/John Locher,File)CARSON CITY, Nev. – There's a chance water levels in the two largest man-made reservoirs in the United States could dip to critically low levels by 2025, jeopardizing the steady flow of Colorado River water that more than 40 million people rely on in the American West. After a relatively dry summer, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released models on Tuesday suggesting looming shortages in Lake Powell and Lake Mead — the reservoirs where Colorado River water is stored — are more likely than previously projected. Compared with an average year, only 55% of Colorado River water is flowing from the Rocky Mountains down to Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona line. Scientists use what's called the Colorado River Simulation System to project future levels of the two reservoirs. When projections drop below 1,075 feet (328 meters), Nevada and Arizona will face deeper cuts mandated by the plan.

That is not a recipe for creating the kind of meaningful and positive change needed to sustain the Colorado River in the coming decades, they wrote. The Lake Powell Pipeline project would divert 86,000 acre-feet (106 billion liters) of water to Washington County, Utah. Under the agreements between the seven states, cuts would hit Arizona, California and Nevada before affecting Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Although the project isolates Utah from the other states that rely on the river, it would keep pushing for the pipeline, said Todd Adams, director of the Utah Division of Water Resources. The states are contending with a drier future as they renegotiate agreements that detail how Colorado River water is doled out.

FILE - In this Sept. 10, 2019, file photo government contractors erect a section of Pentagon-funded border wall along the Colorado River, in Yuma, Ariz. The federal Bureau of Land Management said on Tuesday, July 21, 2020, it's transferred over 65 acres of public land in Arizona and New Mexico to the Army for construction of border wall infrastructure. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)PHOENIX The federal Bureau of Land Management said on Tuesday that it has transferred over 65 acres of public land in Arizona and New Mexico to the Army for construction of border wall infrastructure. The agency says its now handing over 53 acres in Yuma County, Arizona, that is needed to install power and other utilities around the border wall there. This marks the second time in the past year that the agency has transferred public land to the military for border wall-related construction.

I’m not going to get eaten by anything.”Apparently, our visit to Matagorda Bay Nature Park had made an impression on the girl. Matagorda Bay Nature Park sits on a peninsula separated from the mainland town of Matagorda by bays and wetlands. At Matagorda Bay Nature Park, we’d discovered both a rich sanctuary for wildlife and a new perspective on survival. —Matagorda Bay Nature Park offers campsites starting at $40 per night and two Airstreams for $225 per night. Matagorda Bay Nature Park - 6420 FM 2031, Matagorda.

Bastrop, TexasDistance from downtown Houston to Bastrop: 134 milesYou may pass by Bastrop every time you take the drive up to Austin. Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort & SpaAround 23 miles outside Austin, The Hyatt Regency Lost Pines is nestled along the Colorado River located on 405 acres. Bastrop State ParkLocated 32 miles east of Austin, Bastrop State Park has been attracting visitors for over 70 years. Different downtown attractions include the Bastrop Opera House, Dinosaur Park and Lost Pines Art Center. El Camino Real Paddling TrailPaddle the El Camino Real Paddling Trail.

MATAGORDA COUNTY – One person is dead and another is missing Saturday after a boat capsized near Colorado River in Matagorda County, Coast Guard officials said. A good Samaritan reported seeing a 16-foot pleasure craft carrying four boaters without lifejackets on capsize at 10:30 a.m.Coast Guard officials rescued two boaters and later recovered the body of the third boater near the capsized boat, officials said. Crews are searching offshore of the mouth of the Colorado River for the fourth boater. "We will continue to aggressively search throughout the night for the missing boater," said Lt. Cmdr. "This is currently the top priority of Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi."