Inside Climate News

Canonical URL

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08052026/colorado-drought-threatens-rural-drinking-water/

Cited in our articles

1 article

Last scored

Not yet scored

Outlet ID

68ba1cf1-88fe-4367-ae20-466435237d70

1. C-a62415“The San Luis Valley aquifer lost an estimated 1.2 million acre-feet of water between 1976 and 2013.”Cited →
2. C-d84774“Colorado's snowpack in 2026 is at the lowest level since record-keeping began in 1941.”Cited →
3. C-36898b“Up to one in four private wells producing drinking water in the San Luis Valley contain elevated levels of heavy metals like arsenic and uranium.”Cited →
4. C-4d9d97“About 25 percent of well waters tested by SDC Laboratory in southern Colorado exceed the EPA's maximum contaminant level for arsenic.”Cited →
5. C-e00c96“Exposure to arsenic in drinking water is linked to cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and impaired cognitive development in children.”Cited →
6. C-a0026f“Private wells are the main source of drinking water for 15 percent of Americans.”Cited →
7. C-9afdd8“About a third of San Luis Valley residents rely on private wells for drinking water.”Cited →
8. C-6d0ace“The San Luis Valley has an estimated 21.4 percent poverty rate.”Cited →

The reliability score above is a weighted mean over these twelve axes. The bias score uses a separate but equally-public 12-axis rubric. Per-axis breakdowns are written by the bias_scorer agent into sources.axes; the keys below are the axis names as documented in the agent prompt.

1. Axis 01
   Primary sourcing

   Cites filings, official statements, direct interviews; uses 'reportedly' rarely.

2. Axis 02
   Correction transparency

   Issues visible corrections; surfaces them above the article body, not in 8pt at the bottom.

3. Axis 03
   Conflict-of-interest disclosure

   Names ownership, sponsorships, and reporter conflicts inline.

4. Axis 04
   Headline–body alignment

   Headlines match the strongest claim the body actually supports; no rage-bait variance.

5. Axis 05
   Quote attribution

   Names speaker and venue; avoids anonymous quotes for attributable claims.

6. Axis 06
   Numeracy

   Numbers shown with denominators, time-windows, and units; ratios not confused with percentages.

7. Axis 07
   Beat depth

   Reporters cover beats long enough to recognize narrative drift in their own coverage.

8. Axis 08
   Geographic balance

   Coverage doesn't over-index on the home market when the story is global.

9. Axis 09
   Counter-perspective

   Includes the strongest version of the argument it disagrees with, not the weakest.

10. Axis 10
    Aggregation discipline

    When citing other outlets, names them and links them; doesn't launder reporting.

11. Axis 11
    Speculation flag

    Marks analysis and opinion separately from reporting.

12. Axis 12
    Editorial independence

    Newsroom shielded from advertiser, ownership, and government influence in observable behavior.

Per-axis breakdown not yet recorded for this outlet — the bias_scorer agent writes axes on its next re-score.