Colorado is one of the only states in the West that doesn’t allow the domestic use of graywater, but that may soon change. Rep. Randy Fischer (D-Fort Collins) has reintroduced a graywater bill allowing homeowners and businesses to reuse dish-washing, shower, and other graywater. Current Colorado water law allows just one use of water before it goes down the drain, through a wastewater treatment plant, and back into the river for others to use. Lawmakers defeated a similar bill in a 5-4 vote last year, but Fischer thinks it stands a better chance of drawing bipartisan support this year. It is estimated that Colorado could save enough water for 170,000 new suburban families if all new construction included systems to recycle bath and laundry water. Colorado State University Prof. Larry Roesner has been pushing Colorado to expand its graywater use for 10 years. He said graywater makes up 30 percent of household water use. If new homes and businesses all used graywater systems, the state could save 85,000 acre-feet a year, he said.

According to a recent Denver Post article, an annual aerial survey of forest health in Colorado shows the mountain pine beetle epidemic is slowing dramatically, but the spruce beetle outbreak is expanding. The mountain pine beetle epidemic has spread by 31,000 acres, down from an increase of 140,000 acres reported last year, the U.S. Forest Service and Colorado State Forest Service said. Since the first signs of the outbreak in 1996, the infestation has grown to nearly 3.4 million acres, or roughly 5,300 square miles. The infestation remains active from Estes Park to Leadville. Meanwhile, the spruce beetle outbreak spread to 183,000 new acres in 2012, bringing the total infestation since 1996 to about 924,000 acres. The most significant spruce beetle activity has been in southern Colorado in the San Juan and Rio Grande national forests, forest officials said. Spruce beetles typically attack spruce trees downed by high winds, then move into the surrounding trees as the insects' numbers grow. Beetle activity has increased as trees have been stressed by factors including dense stands of trees, ongoing drought, and warmer winters that haven't been killing off as many insects. 

You’ve heard about acid mine drainage and ocean acidification, but the problems don’t end there.

According to a Pueblo Chieftain article, former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter is promoting a campaign to substantially reduce water use in the Colorado Riv

According to a Los Angeles Times report, investigators at the Center for Disease Control recently found the amoeba, naegleria fowleri, when they swabbed the plumbing in the houses of two people who died of primary

According to a recent Science Daily article, researchers have invented a new toilet system that turns human waste into electricity and fertilizers. It also reduces the amount of water needed for flushing by up to 90 percent compared to current toilet systems. Dubbed the No-Mix Vacuum Toilet, it has two chambers that separate the liquid and solid wastes.

In May the Norwood Water Commission and the Town of Norwood posted water restriction notices asking customers to begin saving. In the Telluride area, the Town of Mountain Village also set limits on residential water usage.

According to a Telluride Watch article, after nearly 20 years of inaction, the creation of a Good Samaritan policy with regard to the cleanup of abandoned mine drainag

Colorado is proposing to control nutrients in water for the first time. Nutrients, mainly nitrogen and phosphorous, are essential for plant and animal growth, but they can create algae blooms that steal oxygen from aquatic life.