In this video, Assistant Attorney General Kate Ryan from the Colorado Supreme Court gives an overview of water rights across the Western US and the Prior Appropriation Doctrine. Learn why this doctrine is important for learning about water in the west. This video is part of the Water in the Western US project.

In this video, Dr. Anne Gold from CU Boulder explains the importance of infrastructure for the storage and delivery of water in the dry Western United States. Learn all about the history of this infrastructure and how it has helped societies in the Western United States. This video is part of the Water in the Western US lecture series.

In this video, Julie Nania from the High Country Conservation Advocates discusses tribal water uses in the Western United States. Learn more about the historical cultural relationship between Native American tribes and natural water. This video is part of the Water in the Western US lecture series.

Dr. Paul Lander from the University of Colorado Boulder gives a lecture on the history of water resources in the Western United States, from the pre-colonial time period onward. This video is part of the Water in the Western US lecture series.

In this video Dr. Anne Gold and Eric Gordon give a brief review on the different processes involved in the water cycle, specifically in the Western United States.

Eric Gordon and Dr. Anne Gold give an overview on the geographic features that define the Western United States, both physical and political.

Eric Gordon and Dr. Anne Gold give an overview on the basics of the various subjects covered in the Water in the Western US lecture series.

This video serves as an introduction to the Water in the Western US lecture series. The instructors Dr. Anne Gold and Eric Gordon explain the importance of learning about water in the Western United States.

In Lab 4, students take a journey to the Colorado River Basin near Lees Ferry. They explore aspects of the Colorado River Basin using a variety of resources, interactive maps, and tools such as Google Maps. This journey give them perspective on the scope of the watershed and how various stakeholders have siphoned the water from the river to serve…

This is a StoryMap on the Colorado River. The story map details the history of the Colorado River, water resources, river management, and tools for managing in the future.

This resource includes 3 videos that are animations of drought data. The first is an animation of the US Drought Monitor drought index snapshots from 2010-2018. The second is an animation of global drought data from satellites from 2013-2018. The third is an animation of drought projections for the US from 1950-2095.

This is a real-time map of current drought conditions in the US, which can be zoomed to the state level, with access to many more resources at that level. Some of these include the National Drought Regional Summaries and animations of historical data.

This is a extensive collection of maps, data, and tools that students can use to research drought and its impacts on agriculture, wildfires, water supply, vegetation, soil moisture, temperature and precipitation.

This video describes the joint NASA-JAXA GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) satellite mission and why it is necessary for monitoring precipitation around the Earth. It also discusses the science around issues of having too much or too little precipitation such as landslides and drought. It emphasizes the need for data to fill in gaps, and why…

This easy-to-understand video animation describes drought and explains the different categories of drought used by the drought monitor. It discusses the effects of and contributions to drought, what the implications of the different drought levels are, and puts the drought maps into context to understand how the impacts vary geographically (e.g.…

Using real data from NASA's GRACE satellites, students will track water mass changes in the U.S., data that measures changes in ice, surface and especially groundwater. The background information includes an animated video about where water exists and how it moves around Earth, as well as short video clips to introduce the GRACE mission and…

This NASA video provides a nice overview of Earth's water cycle from the perspective of looking at Earth from space. Video length is 5:52 min.

Using US Drought Monitor data and its classification system, this interactive tool tracks drought in the continental US by county, from 2000 to the present.

This video takes viewers high into the Rocky Mountain snowpack, where researchers dig snow pits to explore the source of Colorado's water supply. Highlights the importance of snowpack on the supply of fresh water available in western and southwestern states. Snowmelt dynamics are discussed, including the impact of a warming climate. Video length…

This activity addresses climate change impacts that affect all states that are part of the Colorado River Basin and are dependent on its water. Students examine available data, the possible consequences of changes to various user groups, and suggest solutions to adapt to these changes. Activity takes about one-two class periods and homework…

An interactive data visualization map of the USGS data of water usage from 2015 of the USA and US territories.