Drought is upon the American West — with major implications for human health, biodiversity, agriculture, food security, supply chains, cities, land use, and the most very basic of human rights.
This is a story now only worsened by a climate emergency, which has brought higher temperatures, more extreme conditions, and heightened risks.
Fires, droughts, power outages, competition over water, and ecosystem collapse all result. Western droughts are becoming longer, more intense, and more frequent.
But as water scarcity sweeps the West, many see this as the imperative moment for rapid innovation in agriculture, technology, nature-based systems, and policy to manage dwindling supplies.
Interactive Broadcast
Watch Drought in the American West, a special convening of journalists, experts, and others on the front lines in this interactive broadcast and Q&A.
Including Bidtah Becker, Navajo Tribal Utility Authority; Giulio Boccaletti, Author, Water: A Biography; Heather Cooley, Pacific Institute; Dr. Peter Gleick, Pacific Institute; Cody Pope, Vector Center; Susana De Anda, Community Water Center; Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times; Hon. Dan Glickman, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture; Andre Fourie, Anheuser-Busch InBev; J. Carl Ganter, Circle of Blue and Vector Center.
Multimedia
Drought Coverage

Constant, Compounding Disasters Are Exhausting Emergency Response

Drought, The Everything Disaster

As a Hot, Dry Summer Begins in California, More Water Wells Are Failing

Toxin Levels Spike, Prompting Drinking Water Emergency in Northern California

‘Eyes in the Sky’ Help Police California Water Use

Colorado River Forecasts Not a ‘Crystal Ball’

Shrinking Reservoirs Trigger Deeper Water Cuts for Lower Colorado River

The Colorado River Basin’s Daunting New Math

Dry Wells in Northern California Bring Home the Costs and Stresses of Drought

Amid Dire Colorado River Outlook, States Plan to Tap Their Lake Mead Savings Accounts


Innovative Partnerships and Exchanges are Securing the Gila River Indian Community’s Water Future


