The nonprofit group American Rivers has released its annual list of the country’s 10 most endangered rivers, and Arizona’s Santa Cruz River ranks fourth.

Before a developer can record plats of land or sell parcels in certain areas, they must show Arizona real estate officials that the water supply is assured for 100 years. The state Department of Water Resources says it's holding a series of informal meetings on a possible new way to satisfy the requirement.

According to a recently published study by researchers from Northern Arizona University, the Colorado River loses more than 19 million acre-feet of water to cities, farms and evaporation every year. That’s roughly the same amount of water used by the 50 largest cities in the country.

These new federal funds, made available through the Inflation Reduction Act, are solely eligible for tribes residing in the 17 western states served by Reclamation.

For most of its 6 million-year existence, the Colorado River ran from the Continental Divide, high in the Rocky Mountains, downward and west, through forest and red rock, to a lush delta at the northernmost tip of the Gulf of California. Its winding descent carved, among other wonders, what people now call the Grand Canyon.

When Valley cities pump groundwater in their area, they are not required to recharge the aquifer in the same place. So supply is being depleted in some areas faster than others.

While most of the focus in Arizona recently has been on last week’s presidential preference election, there’s another election going on that could have wide-ranging effects on many residents’ everyday lives.

HB 2014 would exempt all communications and information gathered related to Water Infrastructure Finance Authority's water augmentation from all provisions of the state's Public Records Law.

Michael Kotutwa Johnson is conducting new agricultural research at the University of Arizona to find solutions and combat cenvironmental trends, affecting even some of the most resilient Hopi dry farmers due to climate change.