PHOTOS: How drought is changing the Colorado River and the lives of the people who depend on it

By Hart Van Denburg
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Hoover Dam, less than an hour’s drive from the Las Vegas Strip, holds back water from the 242,000 square miles of the Colorado River Basin to form the 248 square miles of Lake Mead. The reservoir’s level has been dropping steadily because of aridification, and over-allocation of the lake’s water, exposing rock known as the “bathtub ring” not seen since the 1930s.

Why we made 'Parched,' a podcast about the Colorado River crisis

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A blanket of snow covers the Kawuneeche Valley and the headwaters of the Colorado River in Rocky Mountain National Park, March 31, 2023. Snowpack in the Headwaters is 130 percent above average this winter; what that means for the over allocated river water and the 7 states that depend on it remains to be seen.
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A blanket of snow covers the Kawuneeche Valley, the headwaters of the Colorado River, and trees burned in the East Troublesome fire, in Rocky Mountain National Park, March 31, 2023. Snowpack in the Headwaters is 130 percent above average this winter; what that means for the over allocated river water and the 7 states that depend on it remains to be seen.
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A blanket of snow covers the Kawuneeche Valley, the headwaters of the Colorado River, and trail marker signs in Rocky Mountain National Park, March 31, 2023. Snowpack in the Headwaters is 130 percent above average this winter; what that means for the over allocated river water and the 7 states that depend on it remains to be seen.
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Buoys mark the intake of Colorado River water from Grand Lake at the Alva B. Adams tunnel, March 31, 2023, in tow town of Grand Lake. By the time the river tumbles out of nearby Rocky Mountain National Park here, between 20-40 percent of its flow has already been diverted by the Grand Ditch catching water off the Never Summer Mountains, and siphoned off over Las Poudre Pass and into the Cache La Poudre River, bound for customers on the Front Range. The Adams tunnel sends water into the Big Thompson River on the Eastern side of the mountains, also destined for the Front Range.
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Paddleboarding and rafting on the Colorado River in Glenwood Canyon on Friday, July 8, 2022.
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The Colorado River, rail lines for BNSF freight and AMTRAK at left, and Interstate 70 on the right, all squeeze together in the river’s valley downstream of Glenwood Springs on Monday, Sept. 5, 2022.
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James Eklund, a former member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, with a photo of his grandfather and its shared background, at the family’s Norse Sky Ranch near Colbran, Colorado, Oct. 22, 2022. Eklund’s family were among the first white settlers here in the Plateau Creek Valley - the creek is a tributary of the Colorado River. He’s is a proponent of a voluntary “demand management” approach to the Colorado River - paying farmers not irrigate and instead use that saved water to meet downstream obligations.
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Cattle on the Norse Sky Ranch along Plateau Creek on the Western Slope, during bright fall colors, near Colbran, Colorado, Oct. 22, 2022. The Eklund family owns the ranch and were among the first white settlers in the valley. - the creek is a tributary of the Colorado River. James Eklund, a former member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, is a proponent of a voluntary “demand management” approach to the Colorado River - paying farmers not irrigate and instead use that saved water to meet downstream obligations.
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Traffic on Interstate 70 in De Beque Canyon passes by the Cameo Diversion Dam, also known as the Grand Valley Diversion Dam, on the Colorado River.The Government Highline Canal carries water from the diversion further west to Palisade and the Grand Valley beyond. It’s the main source of water for 33,000 acres in tthe Grand Valley Project and the Orchard Mesa, Mesa County, and Palisade Irrigation Districts.
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GRAND JUNCTION - A tree swing on the bike path that winds through the Two Rivers area of Grand Junction, with the Colorado River in the background. The area, once home to a car junkyard with thousands of wrecks, is about to be redeveloped.

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Navajo Dam in New Mexico impounds water from the San Juan, Piedras and Los Pinos rivers, creating the Navajo Reservoir, which supplies water to the Jicarilla Apache Nation, and provides boating and fishing. Below the dam, the San Juan River flows into the Colorado River. March 5, 2023.
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Jicarilla Apache Water Administrator Daryl Vigil, who is also the former Chairman of the Colorado River Basin Ten Tribes Partnership, at Lower Mundo Lake, a recreational fishing area on the Jicarilla Apache Nation, near Dulce, N.M.
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The Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River outside of Page, Arizona, Feb. 20, 2023. Completed in 1964, the structure created a reservoir, named Lake Powell, designed to help guarantee water delivery to states in the Lower Colorado River Basin in years of low flow. But now Lake Powell itself is depleting and silting up.
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Lines carrying hydroelectric power generated by Colorado River water flowing through Glen Canyon Dam turbines outside of Page, Arizona, Feb. 20, 2023.
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Wahweap Marina, squeezed by the dropping and encroaching shoreline of Lake Powell on the Colorado River behind the Glen Canyon Dam, Page, Arizona, Feb. 20, 2023. Completed in 1964, the dam created a reservoir designed to help guarantee water delivery to states in the Lower Colorado River Basin in years of low flow. But now Lake Powell itself is depleting and silting up.
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Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
The Colorado River flows south below the Glen Canyon Dam outside of Page, Arizona, Feb. 20, 2023. Completed in 1964, the dam created a reservoir, named Lake Powell, designed to help guarantee water delivery to states in the Lower Colorado River Basin in years of low flow. But now Lake Powell itself is depleting and silting up.
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Lees Ferry, south of Page and the Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona, is now the traditional launching point for Colorado River trips down the Grand Canyon, Feb. 21, 2023. Indigenous peoples lived in this region for centuries before white settlers began to arrive. One of them was John D. Lee, who established the first commercial river crossing here on January 11, 1873. A plaque commemorates Lee, and a few of the original buildings, partially restored, still stand.
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Heading out for a day’s fishing from Lees Ferry, south of Page and the Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona, Feb. 21, 2023.
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Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Hoover Dam, less than an hour’s drive from the Las Vegas Strip, holds back water from the 242,000 square miles of the Colorado River Basin to form the 248 square miles of Lake Mead. The reservoir’s level has been dropping steadily because of aridification, and over-allocation of the lake’s water, exposing rock known as the “bathtub ring” not seen since the 1930s.
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Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Cars and RVs parked on the Arizona side of Hoover Dam show the scale of depleted water levels on Lake Mead. The white rock known as the bathtub ring is created by minerals from lake water drying as the level drops.
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Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Hoover Dam, less than an hour’s drive from the Las Vegas Strip, holds back water from the 242,000 square miles of the Colorado River Basin to form the 248 square miles of Lake Mead. The reservoir’s level has been dropping steadily because of aridification, and over-allocation of the lake’s water, exposing rock known as the “bathtub ring” not seen since the 1930s.
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Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Fishermen drain their boats on the ramp at Boulder Beach. Hoover Dam, less than an hour’s drive from the Las Vegas Strip, holds back water from the 242,000 square miles of the Colorado River Basin to form the 248 square miles of Lake Mead. The reservoir’s level has been dropping steadily because of aridification, and over-allocation of the lake’s water, exposing rock known as the “bathtub ring” not seen since the 1930s.
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The Las Vegas Boat Harbor in Lake Mean National Recreation Area, October, 2022. Hoover Dam, less than an hour’s drive from the Las Vegas Strip, holds back water from the 242,000 square miles of the Colorado River Basin to form the 248 square miles of Lake Mead. The reservoir’s level has been dropping steadily because of aridification, and over-allocation of the lake’s water, exposing rock known as the “bathtub ring” not seen since the 1930s.

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Southern Nevada Water Authority’s Low Lake Level Pumping Station, near Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam, Oct. 3, 2022. It enables water to be taken from the lake from below what’s known as "dead pool" elevation, 895 feet - the point at which there’s not enough water to pass through the dam. The facility came on line in April 2022, at a cost of more than $550 million.
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The Fountains of Bellagio draw nighttime visitors on the Las Vegas Strip, October 2022. The fountains do not use Colorado River water; the Bellagio accesses ground water, which it then recycles over and over, to power the fountains outside and inside the casino and hotel.
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A dive crew works daily to maintain the water cannons that power the choreographed fountains at the Belaggio on the Las Vegas Strip, October, 2022. While the display might appear to be a waste of water at a time when the city’s water supply from Lake Mead on the Colorado River is in dire straits, the hotel points out that the fountain’s source is recycled ground water, and that the system actually returns water to Lake Mead.
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Approximately 60 percent of Southern Nevada's water is used outdoors, a lot of it on residential landscaping, and is counted against the state's Colorado River water allowance. The region's water authority patrols neighborhoods looking for properties where sprinklers and irrigation systems violate the law.
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Cameron Donnarumma of the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s water waste patrol Monday, Oct. 3, 2022, in the Summerlin neighborhood of Las Vegas. Approximately 60 percent of Southern Nevada's water is used outdoors, a lot of it on residential landscaping, and is counted against the state's Colorado River water allowance. The region's water authority patrols neighborhoods looking for properties where sprinklers and irrigation systems violate the law.
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A landscape crew tears out the grass of a small front yard in a residential area of Las Vegas, Oct. 4, 2022. Once the grass removal is complete, in this case they’ll lay down a spread of artificial turf in its place. At other homes they create desert landscapes of rock, sand and climate-appropriate plants. Las Vegas has adopted a law that all decorative residential grass must eventually be removed, and provides rebates too homeowners to cover the cost.
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Jeannie Zei holds two of her puppies while standing on her home’s treasured front-lawn grass Oct. 6, 2022. Both the city and state have enacted stringent new laws designed to sharply reduce the amount of water Las Vegas and its environs use as water levels continue to fall in nearby Lake Mead on the Colorado River, including tearing out decorative grass on front lawns, and forbidding new housing developments from planting any grass at all. She caused some home owners association drama over those laws. Grass is a matter of homeownership pride for her.

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Water for the Central Arizona Project Aqueduct begins its journey east and south from the Mark Wilmer Pumping Plant on Lake Havasu, a reservoir created by the Parker Dam impounding the Colorado River, 150 miles south of Hoover Dam.
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The Central Arizona Project’s aqueduct near Vicksburg, Arizona, February, 2023. The CAP delivers Colorado River water impounded behind the Parker Dam at Lake Havasu to more than 60 customers to the east and south, including the cities of Phoenix and Tucson.
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TUCSON, ARIZONA - Margot Garcia sits in her Tucson home’s dining room, January 2023. She was among city council members in the 1970s who passed tiered pricing system for city water, charging more for water going to homes further from, and higher than the central city. She was recalled, but the system remains in place.
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TUCSON, ARIZONA - Tucson Water’s Natalie DeRoock pauses for a photo while explaining who the city channels part of its Colorado River water allotment via the Central Arizona Project into recharge basins like the one b behind her, that effectively bank water in underground aquifers. January 2023.
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TUCSON, ARIZONA - The sun sets behind the mountains of Tucson, January, 2023. The city began using Colorado River water via the Central Arizona Project in 1992. Up until then, it relied on water from local rivers and groundwater, and in the 1970s developed what many consider to be the first tiered pricing system for its water, charging more for water going to homes further from, and higher than the central city. The city council members who crafted that law were recalled, but the system remains in place.
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Horizon Farms owner John Hawk in his pickup truck east of El Centro, California, on Jan. 27, 2023. Hawk farms about 3,000 acres of vegetables and alfalfa, all of which are irrigated solely by Colorado River water delivered to his Imperial Valley operation via the All American Canal. Like many growers in the Imperial Valley, he’s switching from flood irrigation to sprinklers, cutting his water use by as much as 50 percent, but also greatly increasing his costs.
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Sprinklers irrigate a field of onions canal on Horizon Farms, east of El Centro, California, on Jan. 27, 2023. John Hawk farms about 3,000 acres of vegetables and alfalfa, all of which are irrigated solely by Colorado River water delivered to his Imperial Valley operation via the All American Canal. Like many growers in the Imperial Valley, he’s switching from flood irrigation to sprinklers, cutting his water use by as much as 50 percent, but also greatly increasing his costs.
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A contract lettuce harvesting crew at work at Horizon Farms, east of El Centro, California, on Jan. 27, 2023. John Hawk farms about 3,000 acres of vegetables and alfalfa, all of which are irrigated solely by Colorado River water delivered to his Imperial Valley operation via the All American Canal. Like many growers in the Imperial Valley, he’s switching from flood irrigation to sprinklers, cutting his water use by as much as 50 percent, but also greatly increasing his costs.
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A truck on Interstate 8 passes over the All American Canal east off El Centro, California, on Jan. 27, 2023. The canal delivers the only source of water to the Imperial Valley between the US-Mexico border and the Salton Sea.
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Sand Hill Cranes take flight on the Colorado River Indian Tribes Farm south of Parker, Arizona, February, 2023. The Big Maria Mountains Wilderness is in the distance, on the other side of the California state line.
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Irrigation pipes and sprinklers on the Colorado River Indian Tribes Farm south of Parker, Arizona, February, 2023. The federal government created the reservation 1865 originally for the Mohave and Chemehuevi, who had lived in the river valley for centuries before white settlers. Hopi and Navajo people were forced to relocate to the reservation in later years. Under law, CRIT is entitled to divert 719,248 acre-feet of the Colorado River annually.
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Colorado River Indian Tribes Farm Manager Joshua Moore shores up a berm next to a field flooded with irrigation water ahead of spring cotton planting, south of Parker, Arizona, February, 2023.
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Moving sheep on the Colorado River Indian Tribes Farm south of Parker, Arizona, February, 2023. The federal government created the reservation 1865 originally for the Mohave and Chemehuevi, who had lived in the river valley for centuries before white settlers. Hopi and Navajo people were forced to relocate to the reservation in later years. Under law, CRIT is entitled to divert 719,248 acre-feet of the Colorado River annually; most of the water is used for agriculture, and CRIT Farms sells to customers across the globe.

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Surfing the tap water: Riding waves on the shoreline in Carlsbad, Calif., Jan. 25, 2023, not far from the seawater intakes for the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant on Pacific Coast Highway. The plant supplies about 15 percent of San Diego County’s drinking water.
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Maintenance work in the reverse osmosis building at the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, where dissolved salt and other minerals are separated from the water, in more than 2,000 pressure vessels containing 16,000 reverse osmosis membranes, Jan. 25, 2023.
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Clear, pure drinking water gets pumped through these pipes at Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, Jan. 25, 2023. The plant went into service in 2015 and produces 50 million gallons per day, supplying drinking water for 400,000 people, or about 10 percent of San Diego County's population.
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Clear, pure drinking water, the finished product, at the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, Jan. 25, 2023. The plant went into service in 2015 and produces 50 million gallons per day, supplying drinking water for 400,000 people, or about 10 percent of San Diego County's population.
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Justin Fox, owner of Carlsbad Solar in Carlsbad, California, on the deck of his backyard swimming pool, Jan. 24, 2023. Fox says the pool will be fed by a refrigerator-sized appliance in his garage made by Hydraloop, that recycles gray water. He’s a salesman for the units.
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A refrigerator-sized appliance, made by Hydraloop, that recycles gray water, stands next to the washer and dryer in the garage of Justin Fox, in Carlsbad, California, Jan. 24, 2023.
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At a Carlsbad, California, community garden, the purple containers denote access to recycled water used for irrigating plants. Jan. 23, 2023.
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South Platte River water arrives at the Peter D. Binney Purification Plant near Aurora Reservoir in Aurora, Colorado, March 23, 2023. The water is pumped from 17 wells along the South Platte River Banks, 34 miles away, into the holing bay pictured here, where floating plastic devices help minimize algae from growing. pipeline to the three pumping stations. It is further sent to the Peter D. Binney Purification Facility located near the Aurora Reservoir. From there it's pumped into the purification process, advanced ultraviolet light oxidation, filtration, and activated carbon absorption. The purified water is then pumped into the Aurora water supply.
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Swirvine Nyirenda, who works in strategic and long-range planning for Aurora Water, at the Peter D. Binney Purification Plant near Aurora Reservoir in Aurora, Colorado, March 23, 2023. The water there is pumped from 17 wells along the South Platte River Banks, 34 miles away, into a purification system that uses ultraviolet light oxidation, filtration, and activated carbon absorption.
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Aurora Water’s Greg Baker stands near a frame of ultraviolet light tubes that will be inserted into the pipe behind, where the light is used as part of the water purification process at Peter D. Binney Purification Plant near Aurora Reservoir in Aurora, Colorado, March 23, 2023. The water there is pumped from 17 wells along the South Platte River Banks, 34 miles away.

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A branch of the Colorado River flows through the Sonoran Institute's Laguna Grande Restoration Area, south of Mexicali in Mexico's Baja California state. The surrounding farmland and desert was once lush wetlands before the United States constructed dams north of the border. Feb. 1, 2023.
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Francisco Zamora, senior director of programs for the Sonoran Institute, photographs wildlife on the institute's Laguna Grande Restoration Area south of Mexicali, Mexico. Feb. 1, 2023.
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Antonia Torres González holds a photo of her mother inside Museo Comunitario Cucapah, the museum about northern Mexico's indigenous tribes that she runs south of Mexicali, in Mexico's Baja California state. Feb. 2, 2023.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Green and fallow fields south of Mexicali, in Mexico's Baja California state, on Feb. 2, 2023. Some of these brown tracts were not irrigated to preserve water in the area.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
XXX rides to an irrigation channel on the Sonoran Institute's Laguna Grande Restoration Area outside of Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico. Feb. 2, 2023.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
A branch of the Colorado River flows through the Sonoran Institute's Laguna Grande Restoration Area, south of Mexicali in Mexico's Baja California state. The surrounding farmland and desert was once lush wetlands before the United States constructed dams north of the border. Feb. 1, 2023.

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