Casually surveying the urban landscapes in much of Colorado’s Front Range, you’d never know that the Colorado River — the source for roughly half the water of the cities — has deteriorated to its most pitiful shape of perhaps the last century. Oh, yes, some utilities — notably Denver Water and Aurora Water, which together serve 1.9 million residents — have imposed rigorous stage-one drought watering restrictions. Outdoor irrigation is allowed twice per week and never during the heat of day. Other water utilities that tap Colorado River water, however, have asked only for voluntary cutbacks, if any at all. Jeff Lukas, a water consultant with several decades invested in climate change work, says this seeming aloofness of some cities will not persist indefinitely. 

Other Colorado River Basin drought news:

• KQED (San Francisco): What the Colorado River drought means for California
• KJZZ (Phoenix): What a bad winter’s snowpack means for the West this summer
• Arizona’a Family (Phoenix): Scottsdale faces water challenge as Colorado River agreements expire
• FOX10 (Phoenix): Arizona water supply: Roosevelt Lake hits 43% capacity after record-low runoff
• Snow.news: Blog: How this snow drought rewrote the record books
• Arizona State University: News release: ASU-led study sharpens Colorado River forecasts as Arizona faces deepening water cuts