Southwestern Colorado’s rivers are unique in that many of the rivers and tributaries flow from north to south and are administered as independent river systems. This is due to the fact that many, such as the Navajo, Blanco, Piedra, Pine, Florida, Animas, La Plata, and Mancos Rivers, are tributary to the San Juan River in New Mexico or just upstream of the state line.

Fall is here, and winter is right around the corner. During this time of year, the river isn’t expected to be rushing. The San Juan River normally winds leisurely through Pagosa Country being adorned by the falling golden leaves — a perfect backdrop for a lovely photo. Or possibly the river might take on another meaning for those looking to catch fish.

A study by the federal government shows that New Mexico is expected to see the local population that uses the Colorado River Basin for water grow from nearly 1.5 million people today to between 2 and 3 million by 2060. That’s according to the latest data from a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation study.

Federal, state and tribal officials gathered Saturday in western New Mexico to break ground on the massive Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project. The 280-mile, $1 billion pipeline project will serve more than 43 Navajo communities in New Mexico and Arizona, the city of Gallup and a portion of the Jicarilla Apache Nation in northern New Mexico.

A University of Arizona study says megadroughts – multidecade periods of drought – may be a recurring feature of the Southwest’s climate. The study to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters revealed a previously unknown decades-long drought period in the secon

A new study at the the University of Arizona's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research has revealed a previously unknown multi-decade drought period in the second century A.D. The findings give evidence that extended periods of aridity have occurred at intervals throughout our past. Almost 900 years ago, in the mid-12^th century, the southwestern U.S.

The Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe received approval this week from the federal government to regulate water quality on its reservation lands in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. The tribe is among fewer than 40 Native American tribes nationwide to be granted such approval, according to a news release from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Known by early Spanish explorers as El Río de las Animas Perdidas del Purgatorio (The River of Lost Souls of Purgatory), the Animas River slices through 126 miles of diverse terrain from its source in alpine tundra north of Silverton to mixed conifer forests at the New Mexico state line.

A proposed project that would divert hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water from the San Juan River is the focus of a series of public meetings in northwestern New Mexico. The first meeting about the Navajo water-rights settlement was scheduled for Wednesday in Shiprock. More meetings were planned over the next several days in Aztec, Farmington and Bloomfield.