Colorado water & energy
Water and energy crises are one structural argument, expressed twice.
Colorado won the interstate water fight this year. Colorado households are not, on that account, fine. Headwaters tracks where the state's headwater leverage actually protects people — and the two places it doesn't: monopoly utility rates, and local physical supply.
Four streams
Structural Explainers
Long-form pieces on how these systems actually function — the compact fight, rate-case arithmetic, and the reservoirs underneath both.
Live Crisis Dashboard
Reservoir elevations, drought stage, and rate-case status in one place, with plain-language context for each number.
Organizer Library
Comment templates, one-pagers, and contact sheets — everything needed to participate without reading the underlying filing first.
Political Pressure Campaigns
What's open for comment right now, what's being watched for the next cycle, and what's already decided.
Where the leverage actually is right now
| Axis | Status | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Interstate compact (Colorado River) |
Resolved, favorably | Zero mandatory cuts to Colorado's allocation under the August 2026 Record of Decision. Not where the pain is. |
| Monopoly utility (Xcel electric & gas) |
Open now | Electric case effectively decided at a 4.4% increase; gas case still live, comment window open through Q4 2026. |
| Local physical supply (Denver Water) |
Watching | Stage 1 drought, lawn watering ends October 1, 2026. A snowpack problem, not a compact problem. |