Regulation
Featured Stories
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To Protect Its Drinking Water, This City Has to Appeal to the Oil Regulators That Put It at Risk
Oklahoma restricts oil field wastewater injection within a half-mile of public water wells. Regulators have let companies do it anyway. But in the city of Enid, officials are pushing back against one of the state’s biggest industries.
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Native American Tribes Came Together to Secure Their Rights to Colorado River Water. Four States Are Stalling the Deal.
Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are resisting the deal because it would allow the Navajo and Hopi to lease water to cities downstream, likely the growing towns around Phoenix.
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An Oregon Law Lets One Wealthy Region Turn the Desert Green. When Drought Hits, Farmers Pay the Price.
In the high desert of Central Oregon, the Deschutes River is a lifeline for farmers and landowners — but a century-old water law entitles just a few thousand people to more than half of its volume.
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Oregon Leaders Are Trying to Save the Deschutes River. Here’s Why That’s So Hard.
By law, one irrigation district has rights to most of the water from the Deschutes, forcing farmers to fallow their land in times of scarcity. Oregon has pushed three main solutions to deliver water more efficiently and sustainably.
551 stories published since 2009
