Budget raids on mineral severance trust funds have diverted millions of dollars from community water projects in Colorado. “We need to make sure the most water goes to the hottest fires," said Reeves Brown, executive director of the Colorado Department of Local Affairs.

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee, which handles the federal budget process, approved a fiscal year 2013 spending bill with significant cuts for water infrastructure and water quality programs. Overall spending for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of the Interior, the U.S.

An innovative investment strategy is providing nearly $230 million more for low-interest loans and grants for local drinking water and wastewater projects. The state Environmental Facilities Corp. saved money over the last four years by more aggressively investing revenue from fees and by tweaking management practices. The strategy could soon be duplicated elsewhere.

Somewhere in the murky depths of Colorado water, a pot of gold lurks. There have been plenty of private-interest attempts to wrest it free with the development of private water projects to serve growing municipal needs.

While lawmakers in Washington lurched toward a government shutdown Friday, their counterparts in the Colorado Senate crunched through the state budget during a long afternoon and evening. Like the national showdown, Colorado’s budget was stalled earlier last week as Democrats and Republica

The Colorado Division of Wildlife is announcing a five-year goal to prioritize investments in water projects that benefit wildlife and wildlife recreation.  The Division owns 104 dams and has a program to maintain existing facilities for safety, storage, and release. The Division has identified 17 dams and associated infrastructure in need of repairs and improvements and is seeki