Groundwater

A decision on nonrenewable groundwater well permits is expected before the end of the year.

Cities and agriculture across the West put intense pressure on groundwater supplies. In some regions, there are few rules governing how and when people can pump. That’s true in rural Southern Arizona. Residents there are seeing their wells dry up as big farms move in.

Little to no water flows from the Republican River's South Fork in southeast Yuma and northern Kit Carson counties into Kansas and Nebraska, where it merges with the main river. Officials have a plan that could cost about $40 million to save the fork.

Part one of KUNC's Republican River series showed how dropping river flows and groundwater levels are impacting farmers and ranchers in northeastern Colorado. From a 1930s flood to extended drought today, the river has been managed by three states, sometimes cooperatively and sometimes combatively. To meet the terms of a decades-old compact, 25,000 irrigated acres of Colorado farmland must soon be shut down. Part two looks at part of the history that got the basin to this point.

The Colorado River gets a lot of attention, but it’s not the only multi-state river that starts in Colorado. And it’s definitely not the only one facing a water shortage. On the eastern side of the continental divide is the Republican River. It flows through the cropland of Yuma County and feeds into Kansas and Nebraska. In the first of a three-part series, KUNC explores the economic and environmental challenges the Republican River basin faces.

In Arizona, fields of crops and a growing sprawl of suburban homes mean a increased demand for water in the middle of the desert. Meeting that demand includes drawing from massive stores of water in underground aquifers. But some experts say groundwater is overtaxed, and shouldn’t be seen as a long-term solution for a region where the water supply is expected to shrink in the decades to come.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments for a complicated groundwater case this week, which could have implications for the Mountain West. The case involves Mississippi alleging that Tennessee takes too much water from an aquifer that runs beneath both states. Several western states have argued against the suit, not wanting to further complicate water law between their states.

Patrick Johnson closed on 2,500 acres in Pinal County over five years ago. The property, just off Interstate 8, is mostly farm fields right now. Johnson’s…

Wells built to bring underground water supplies to the surface are being dug deeper to tap into dwindling aquifers, according to a new study. By compiling…

Groundwater pumping is causing rivers and small streams throughout the country to decline, according to a new study from researchers at the Colorado…