Colorado
Crazy or genius? A nuclear-powered solution to the West’s water crisis
Can desalinization plants solve the Colorado River problem?
For over 100 years, the Colorado River has powered the economies of 7 western states. As climate change makes winters drier, that’s no longer feasible.
PAGE, Arizona ‒ In the middle of the desert sits a sign: “Caution docks may be slippery.”
They are not.
In fact, there’s not a drop of water to be seen at Antelope Point Marina, which once sat near the shore of Lake Powell, the nation’s second-largest reservoir. The sparkling Colorado River now laps at the Glen Canyon walls about 180 feet below, completely invisible from a dock that once floated atop the water.
Instead of reflecting the bright blue Arizona sky near the Four Corners region of the Southwest, the lake’s water level reflects the dire reality that the Colorado River is running out of water. And the dock with the sign dangles off a 100-foot cliff, waiting for a refill that climatologists say will likely never come.
“Things are really, really rough on the Colorado River. It’s ugly,” said Eric Balken, the executive director of the Glen Canyon Institute. “Everybody is at a place right now where we’re all asking, ‘what the heck happens now? What are we doing?’”
Now, a public lands access group has proposed an eye-poppingly ambitious plan to build eight massive desalination plants off the California coastline, turning ocean water into fresh for farming, and reducing demand on the ailing Colorado River. To meet the energy demand, the plants might have to be powered with nuclear reactors.
Although desalination plants are widely used in the Middle East, they consume huge amounts of electricity to generate a relatively small amount of water. No country has ever tried something on this scale before.
The Colorado River basin ‒ and the seven states that depend on the river for water ‒ is facing significant shortfalls this summer following an unusually hot and dry winter. The plan’s authors at the Idaho-based BlueRibbon Coalition say their $40 billion proposal offers a viable long-term solution at a time when President Donald Trump is slashing environment-based regulatory delays and encouraging the country to think big.
“At some point we’re going to hit a hard reality there’s no more water in the Colorado River,” said Ben Burr, the coalition’s executive director. “You can only squeeze so much more juice out of it.”
Some critics say the plan is both utterly unaffordable and potentially catastrophic for the environment.
The BlueRibbon Coalition is undeterred, deliberately invoking the massive federal efforts that built the Glen Canyon and Hoover dams and filled Lake Powell and Lake Mead with Colorado River water. Those reservoir projects allowed the United States to flourish in Arizona, Nevada and California, supercharging economic growth, powering cities and turning dusty desert into fertile farmland.
The group’s plan is the newest ambitious idea to solve western water woes. Other proposals floated over the decades included towing icebergs from Alaska or Antarctica, diverting rivers from the rainy Pacific Northwest or even piping Great Lakes water thousands of miles west across the Continental Divide.
Peter Goble, the assistant state climatologist for Colorado, said the ongoing drought is increasing pressure on western states to find a solution. The West is warming faster than the country overall, which ultimately means even less water available for farmers, businesses and residents, he said.
“There’s no way to look at the numbers and think the Colorado River is doing well right now,” Goble said. “In a world that’s warmer, all signs point to droughts that will be more intense and more frequent.”
Drought, squabbles among states threaten river’s future
Seven states ‒ Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming ‒ collaboratively manage and use the Colorado River.
But the amount of water flowing downstream has been dropping due to a long-term drought at the same time, causing squabbles among the states over who gets how much for farming, drinking and industrial uses. And a certain amount of water must constantly flow out of the two dams so they can produce power for millions of households and businesses. Mexico and Native American tribes also have water-use rights and have a say in the management.
Although it’s at the end of the river, California legally has the right to use more water than any of the other states, primarily to grow alfalfa to feed cattle. And although he has not endorsed this specific plan, California Gov. Gavin Newsom in a Feb. 11 letter to fellow Colorado River governors suggested that desalination and other “advanced technologies” may ultimately be necessary. Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for comment specifically on the BlueRibbon plan.
“We welcome shared investments in infrastructure, from water reuse to desalination, that can reduce pressure on precious water supplies in Lake Powell and Lake Mead,” Newsom wrote. “Our reality is clear. We need to manage with less rain and snow to provide water for our communities and farms each year. It is a shared reality that requires a shared solution.”
Burr said the plants could generate 7 million acre-feet of water. An acre foot of water, which is 325,851 gallons, is equivalent to about what two or three U.S. homes use annually. In comparison, growing a single acre of alfalfa consumes as much as 6 acre-feet of water each year, according to University of Arizona’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
What’s in the $40 billion plan?
The BlueRibbon plan envisions:
- Eight large desalination plants off the coast of California and Mexico, powered potentially by small nuclear generators of the kind championed by the White House. Electricity could also come from solar or wind farms, although President Donald Trump has repeatedly tried to kill such projects. Building the plants would cost about $40 billion, Burr estimated.
- The plants would potentially be built in the Sea of Cortez and in federal enclaves on California’s Pacific coast. Doing so would limit environmental roadblocks, speeding their construction. Desalination plants work by removing salt from ocean water, creating extra-salty water that would have to be diluted before being dumped back into the ocean, otherwise it might be toxic to aquatic life.
- Fresh water would be pumped at least 100 miles inland to reach California’s Imperial Valley, a vast desert that today is irrigated with Colorado River water to grow crops from alfalfa to lettuce and onions. The “new” water would allow California to give up some of its Colorado River allocations to other states to use.
Burr said he believes the plan, which could be privately or publicly funded, is being offered at the right time. He said the pendulum against over-regulation and environmentalism is swinging back in favor of ordinary Americans and business owners, and against the environmental groups that would otherwise have prevented the construction of Lake Powell or Lake Mead.
The BlueRibbon group’s supporters include companies that would benefit from increased water levels in Lake Powell, and that have fought to maintain higher water levels.
“I think you’re seeing that we’re realizing as a country we have to be building real infrastructure and not just jobs programs for environmental lawyers,” Burr said. “We need a new real water system.”
Throwing seawater at the problem: ‘That’s just crazy,’ one expert warns
Aaron Weiss, the deputy director of the Denver-based Center for Western Priorities, considers the BlueRibbon plan laughable. The center advocates for increased land and water conservation across the West, but is nonpartisan.
Weiss said the infrastructure necessary to move fresh water from the coast back uphill for farmers would be staggeringly expensive, likely adding tens of billons of dollars to the overall cost.
“Their solution to the problem is throw seawater at it. And that’s just crazy,” Weiss said. “No one has ever considered desalinating water on this scale. It’s not audacious. It’s just stupid. Just based on what we know that it costs to desalinate water and move water, there’s no way $40 billion is anywhere close to the actual price tag.”
Among other countries, Israel depends heavily on desalination to meet its drinking and farm water needs. But that also consumes about 5% of the country’s overall electricity, according to a study by Tel Aviv University.
Weiss said there’s also significant uncertainty on how the desalination plants would handle the extra-salty water created by the process. Israel’s plants mix that water back into the Mediterranean, where it’s diluted enough to not endanger aquatic life.
Like Burr, Weiss said the low snowpack levels across the West this winter are putting pressure on states to find some kind of solution. During the Biden presidency, the federal government paid farmers billions of dollars to stop growing crops like alfalfa, freeing up water for other uses. That funding was temporary, however, and the Trump administration has been pushing states to find a longer-term solution.
Federal forecasters are warning this could be one of the worst years on record for Lake Powell water levels, due to the poor snowpack and warm winter. As of mid-March, the lake’s surface stood at 3,529 feet above sea level, down from 3,587 feet in 2024, its most recent high. Some forecasters worry the lake could lose so much water this year that it will reach what’s known as “power pool,” the minimum level necessary to continue generating hydroelectricity.
The lake reached its highest-ever level of 3,708 feet above sea level in 1983, and has never been full since. A white “bathtub ring” remains visible from that high-water mark.
Forcing farmers to use less water could raise food costs for Americans, although some environmental groups say the solution is to grow less alfalfa, which is often sold to China, Japan and Saudia Arabia for their herds, according to the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources service. Burr said it’s silly to pay farmers not to grow crops – wouldn’t that money be better spent creating more water to use? he asked.
Weiss, however, said conservation is the fastest, easiest way to reduce water use. He said the BlueRibbon plan would take decades to complete ‒ and the Colorado River is in crisis now.
“At the end of the day, basic physics takes over,” Weiss said. “Our only solution is to conserve our way out of this aggressively.”
Balken, who runs the Glen Canyon Institute, has been pushing a plan to completely remove the 710-foot-tall Glen Canyon dam, or at least modify it so all the water in Lake Powell can flow downstream into Lake Mead. The institute ultimately wants to see the Colorado River returned to its natural state through the Glen Canyon.
“Given the low snowpack and given the heatwave that’s about to zap the snowpack, we’re probably looking at one of the worst runoffs in history, at one of the worst times. It’s almost certain we will see some sort of crash soon at Lake Powell,” Balken said. “This may be unprecedented, but it is the most predictable disaster of all time. We have known this moment has been coming for 20 years.”
Colorado
Two arrested after Colorado deputy sees panhandler get into
A man and a woman allegedly begging for money to fund their cross-country travels in a stolen car were arrested this week in Colorado.
Their journey came to an end Tuesday in Craig. There, employees of a grocery store called 9-1-1 to complain about a young woman who was repeatedly asking people for money. Staff believed she was disturbing the store’s customers.
A lieutenant with the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office responded to the call. He drove to the store and spoke with the woman. The 21-year-old woman claimed she had “fallen on hard times and just needed help getting home to her mother,” according to a Moffat County Sheriff’s Office press release.
The lieutenant gave her “a few dollars,” as stated in the press release.
He then watched her walk across the store’s parking lot and get into the passenger seat of “a very expensive sports car.”
The lieutenant called in the car’s license plate and learned it had been reported stolen out of Oregon “under allegedly violent circumstances,” per the press release.
The car was pulled over after leaving the parking lot. A police K9 alerted to the scent of drugs, and paraphernalia was located during a search. It tested positive for fentanyl, per the press release.
The car’s driver, Neo Gabrielsen, also 21, was taken into custody along with his passenger, Fallon Frederick.
The search of the car also located a diary in which Frederick had documented the couple’s travels through multiple states in the stolen car. In it, she described how the pair took advantage of people along the way by begging for money.
The press release described the diary as “one of the more helpful pieces of evidence we’ve seen in a while.”
The make and model of the sports car were not provided. But Moffat County did state it was reported stolen in Washington County, Oregon. Moffat County is working with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office to get the car returned to its owner.
Gabrielsen and Frederick remain jailed in Moffat County, according to MCSO Sheriff Chip McIntyre. Both face auto theft charges locally but are also awaiting extradition back to Oregon to face charges there.
Colorado
Fort Collins-area girls soccer stars set to shine in 2026 CHSAA season
Watch postgame mayhem as Fossil Ridge celebrates 5A soccer state title
Watch the Fossil Ridge girls soccer team celebrate the program’s first state title with fans and the Colorado 5A championship trophy.
If last spring was any indication, this is going to be another phenomenal high school girls soccer season in Northern Colorado.
Three Fort Collins-area teams (Fossil Ridge, Windsor, Timnath) made state championship games, with the SaberCats winning their first-ever title in Class 5A.
There are several returning all-state players, meaning the local talent pool is rich again.
Here are more than a dozen of the top Fort Collins-area girls soccer players to watch in the 2026 CHSAA spring season:
Lily Wale, Fossil Ridge
The two-sport star helped the SaberCats win 5A soccer and track and field state titles in the same week last spring.
Now the senior returns after that sensational junior campaign on the pitch. Wale led Fossil with a dozen goals and over 25 points as the team’s top offensive threat and a 5A first team all-state selection.
While the reigning champions are solid at every position, Wale is most often the attack’s finishing touch.
Tatum Gentry, Windsor
The Wizards lose some great players in the defensive half, but all the top scorers return for the reigning 4A runner-ups.
That is highlighted by the quick-twitch Gentry, who uses her blazing speed and short stature to run right by defenders and win balls in the box.
The junior was already a 4A first team all-state player last season, posting a whopping 44 points on 18 goals. Expect those numbers to stay high on another Windsor contender.
Gentry’s soccer future is also local as she’s committed to Colorado State.
Lily Eisbrener, Timnath
The multi-sport standout returns to the pitch after helping the Timnath girls basketball team reach a second straight Final Four.
Eisbrener was already among the top players in Colorado last season, scoring 17 goals with 13 assists despite missing several early-season matches for the reigning 3A runner-ups.
The first team all-state selection may find even more scoring chances with senior Natalie Washburn gone to graduation. The junior’s scoring ability will be key for a possible Cubs’ return to the title game.
Reese Morgan, Fossil Ridge
The SaberCats’ secret weapon is the solid formation coach Cyrus Salehi brings to the back line and midfield.
Morgan is a prime example of that, working seamlessly between the attacking third and dropping back into midfield defense, winning headers and controlling the ball.
The senior is a pretty good scorer too, posting 10 goals last season as a first team all-state pick.
Isabel Guerrero, Fort Collins
The forward made a big freshman impression last season, tallying up six goals and five assists on a senior-laden Lambkins squad that made the 5A playoffs.
Guerrero should be a far more featured offensive option this season with every other top scorer graduating.
The sophomore is a likely all-conference player and could post a possible all-state caliber season after already scoring two goals in an early game vs. Fairview.
Ella Crotts, Windsor
The midfielder is perhaps the Wizards’ most versatile player, a high-level defender and strong scorer who also kicks on set pieces and wins balls in the air.
The junior was a 4A first team all-state player last year, scoring 12 goals and dishing out five assists. Crotts may not need to take on a heavier scoring role, but don’t be surprised if she sets up a ton of Windsor goals this spring.
Miriam Huffsmith, Liberty Common
Talk about prolific. The Eagles junior is one of the state’s most electric offensive players, compiling 29 goals and 69 total points last season.
The forward is a microwave scorer, capable of heating up fast with 11 hat-trick games in her first two seasons.
A 2A all-state honorable mention last season, Huffsmith should be a premier scorer again after already producing a four-goal in an early-season win over Regis Groff.
Maggie Pletcher, Timnath
The junior doesn’t make much of a dent on the stat sheet, but she leaves her mark on opposing offenses as a shutdown defender.
Pletcher is adept at breaking up scoring chances, heading out corner kicks, clearing through balls and being in the right position.
A first team all-state selection last season, Pletcher should help the Cubs lock down defensively against the top 3A teams come May.
Shay Masters, Fossil Ridge
A dominant defense always needs its last line of defense.
Fossil Ridge has that in spades with Masters, a brick wall in front of the net even if opposing strikers make it through an iron back line.
The senior has championship experience after allowing a ridiculous 13 goals in 20 matches last year, including just one in five postseason games.
Expect a lot of clean shots from Fossil again this spring.
Gwennie Dow, Windsor Charter Academy
The Firebird junior is back after a breakout campaign that saw her score 14 goals with five assists on a playoff squad.
Dow is going to get plenty of scoring chances this season after top scorer Dillan Brown’s graduation. She’s off to a strong start, posting eight goals in two March matches.
Expect the forward and the Firebirds to compete for the Patriot League title and be one of Northern Colorado’s most improved squads.
Mia Thomas, Rocky Mountain
The Lobos forward is back after an all-conference junior year with eight goals on a Rocky squad that plays plenty of defense.
Thomas usually scores more goals off her left foot, leading both her club and high school teams in scoring last season.
The senior is poised for a great final season and could help the Lobos get back to the 5A postseason after a one-year absence.
Jacqui Wilson, Poudre
The University of Denver signee is one of NoCo’s top players at the club and prep level, making an impact at all three levels.
Even as a defensive midfielder, Wilson scored eight goals with a pair of assists last season while spearheading a solid Poudre defense that limits clean looks at the net.
The senior could have an all-state level impact as the Impalas chase a third straight playoff appearance.
Braely Martinez, Windsor
Windsor will have its pick of scorers this season and Martinez will be a dynamic attacking duo with Gentry.
The forward brings some ankle-breaking moves and can finish off both feet from different angles, making her a scoring threat anywhere near the box.
Martinez already had eight goals and eight assists as a junior and she could easily up both marks into the double digits this season.
Sara Swenson, Timnath
Another goalkeeper on the list and it’s well-deserved recognition.
Swenson was sensational last season and especially in the playoffs, surrendering just one goal in the first four postseason matches and saving over a dozen shots against a relentless Colorado Academy offense in the finals.
That earned the then-junior 3A first team all-state honors as the final line of a Cubs defense that allowed just 19 goals in 20 matches.
Bonus names to know:
- Fort Collins: Keira Gill, Judy Bridge, Brighlee Reynoso
- Fossil Ridge: Maddie Kubat, Anna Rogers, Mia Lorenzen, Jordan Killion, Makenah Salas
- Liberty Common: Zoey Davis, Joelle Knowles, Alexa Kent
- Poudre: Payton Lockman, Brennen Decamillo, Kami Ball, Riley Smith
- Rocky Mountain: Hannah Smith, Alicyn Martinez, Grace Radcliff
- Timnath: Addie Clemmer, Gracyn Redmon, Skylar Merrill, Maia Kub, Ella Benedict, Sage Raymond
- Wellington: Anna Grace Schultz, Ryann Goodman
- Windsor: Ambry Plate, Rylinn Bernhardt, Raegan Lewis, Macy Isom
- Windsor Charter Academy: Olivia Wallace, Ella Hennen
Chris Abshire covers high school and community sports for the Coloradoan.
Colorado
Dozens of trails remain closed at major Colorado ski mountains as spring break kicks off amid hot, dry winter
Kit Geary/Summit Daily News
As the spring break holiday kicks into high gear, most of Colorado’s major ski resorts have yet to open all of their terrain.
With week-long vacations at schools around the country and Colorado’s snowpack nearing its peak, March is usually one of the busiest times of year for the state’s ski resorts. But this year, the state is headed into the busy season with a record-low snowpack and dozens of trails closed at its ski resorts.
Vail Mountain, Beaver Creek Resort, Breckenridge Ski Resort, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area and Winter Park Resort all had 25 or more trails listed as closed on their websites as of Friday. None of the major ski resorts in Colorado that are accessible on the Epic or Ikon passes have opened 100% of their terrain this season.
At Steamboat Resort, only 77% of the skiable terrain was open on Friday, according to the ski resorts website. Steamboat director of communications Maren Franciosi said that while the Mahogany Ridge and Pony Express lifts typically open around or just after the New Year, those lifts have yet to open this season.
Winter Park, meanwhile, had about 69% of its skiable terrain open on Friday, according to its website. The website showed 146 of 171 trails open, with mostly black diamond and double-black diamond trails closed.
At Vail, the Back Bowls opened later this year than they ever have and, at Breckenridge, the Imperial Express also had its latest opening since the lift was installed in 2005, Vail Resorts Chief Executive Officer Robert Katz told investors earlier this week. Katz reported that skier visits to the ski giant’s North American resorts were down 13% due to the poor winter for snow in the West.
Vail Resorts spokesperson Emily Kowalenko noted that Breckenridge is “really rocky up high, and our high-Alpine terrain at Breck has been some of the slower and more challenging terrain to open.”
Still, Breckenridge has opened all five of its peaks, including high-Alpine areas like Imperial Bowl, the Lake Chutes and hike-to terrain at Peak 6, Kowalenko said. The main zone that remains closed at Breckenridge is the upper part of Peak 7, she said.
Thanks to the ski resorts’ snowmaking and grooming teams, Kowalenko noted that Keystone was the first ski resort in Colorado to open this year. She said Keystone has opened all of its beginner and intermediate trails and about 75% of its expert terrain. At Keystone Resort, 122 of 142 trails were open on Friday.
Copper Mountain communications manager Olivia Butrymovich noted that last year the ski resorts saw major winter storms early in the season that brought record-breaking amounts of snow, including more than 100 inches by the end of November.
“Winters in Colorado are naturally variable,” Butrymovich said. “We experienced a nearly record-breaking early season last winter, while this season has unfolded differently. As a ski resort, we understand that variability is part of the business, and we do not expect every winter to look the same.”
While this winter has not been on par with others, Copper has been able to open the vast majority of its terrain. Only seven runs remain closed on Friday. Butrymovich said those runs rely entirely on natural snowfall.
Most winters, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area communications manager Shayna Silverman said the entire mountain would usually open by this point in the season.
After opening the Montezuma Bowl on the first weekend of March, A-Basin now has all its lifts running. Silverman noted that what remains closed is A-Basin’s “most extreme terrain,” like the East Wall and the Steep Gullies. She said the ski area isn’t ruling out that those zones could still open.
“There’s no denying that our snowpack has affected our terrain offerings this season and it’s been a difficult winter to get more of our mountain open,” she said. “But that being said, we never give up on skiing and riding here.”
The Steep Gullies have opened every winter since they were incorporated into the bounds of the ski resort starting in the 2017-18 season, according to A-Basin. Meanwhile, the East Wall has only remained closed all season once in its more than 50 year history, during the 2011-12 winter, when Colorado also experienced abysmal snowpack conditions.
With about 120 inches of snow so far this season, Silverman said this year is tracking ahead of the 2011-12 season at A-Basin. To start looking at opening the East Wall, the ski area typically needs a base of 50 inches or more, she said. Right now, the base is at 43 inches.
Aspen-Snowmass communications manager Janelle Sohner noted that while other ski resorts struggled to open terrain, the four Aspen peaks bucked the trend and were able to open significant amounts of the terrain for much of the season.
“Despite broader coverage about warm and dry conditions across the West, Aspen-Snowmass has delivered an excellent season for our guests,” Sohner said. “Across our four mountains, we’ve consistently had more than 98% of terrain open.”
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