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Colorado Faces an estimated water deficit of 560,000 acre-feet by 2050, due in part to an expected population increase. But it has a long-term plan to address that looming shortage. The Colorado Water Plan – the first-ever statewide water strategy in Colorado – was ordered up by Gov. John Hickenlooper in 2013 and finalized at the end of 2015. This May, the state legislature allocated a first slug of dedicated funding to meet objectives in the plan. The goal is to bring water demand into balance with supply while maintaining existing urban and agricultural values and also improving stream health throughout the state.

It’s been decades since a major water storage reservoir has been built in California. Now the August deadline for the Sites Reservoir Project is closing in. As feet of snow melt under intense heat, supporters of the Sites Reservoir are pushing for a way to save more water. “We feel prepared to submit an application and all the documentation that goes along with it,” said Thad Bettner of the Glenn Colusa Irrigation District.

The heat wave is melting snow in the Sierra, which is bringing freezing cold water into the valley’s lakes, streams and rivers. The effects of the snowmelt can also be deadly and proved so on Tuesday. “With this fast moving water it does not take long for someone to get in trouble,” said State Parks Ranger Scott Liske. Liske says a group of friends from Sacramento was swimming in the main channel of the North Fork when one of them drowned.

In Death Valley, the heat brought even the roadrunners to a stop. They stood arched to the sky with their beaks wide open, as if in a stupor, or indignant at what the sun was up to. The landscape blurred and undulated. People moved as if they were walking through glue. When a light breeze came in the afternoon, it stung their faces so badly they had to turn away from it. Water mains burst in the baking dirt, while the “cold” tap water came out of faucets the temperature of a Jacuzzi.