Alex Hager

Four Western states are paying farmers and ranchers tens of millions of dollars this year to conserve water as part of a short-term plan to save water from the Colorado River.

Mobile homes are uniquely vulnerable when natural disasters hit, and face challenges when trying to get recovery money. Some in Colorado are still grappling with the effects of flooding in 2013.

Direct potable reuse technology, which lets cities pump treated wastewater back into pipes, is picking up steam from Colorado to California.