The white-capped mountains that beckon to Front Range residents hold more than the promise of a fishing, kayaking or skiing paradise. Snowmelt from these peaks also supplies most of the water for city faucets and lawns.

But the heavily harvested rivers that flow through Winter Park, Breckenridge, Vail and Aspen are in danger of being crippled by a thirsty urban corridor.

In this series, the Rocky Mountain News looks at how water supplies in four mountain counties -- Grand, Summit, Pitkin and Eagle -- are increasingly strained by mountain, rural and urban use.

• Part 1 – Overview: The Last Drop
  The very ingredient that makes Colorado mountain retreats so magical - the cold clear water that purrs through rock-and-log-strewn streams - is under siege, threatening the high country that is the state's postcard to the world.
• Part 2 – Grand County: Grand's Last Stand
  The mighty Colorado River is born here, delivered by the icy tundra of Rocky Mountain National Park and the wind-hammered peaks overlooking the Fraser Valley. It nearly dies here, too.
• Part 3 – Summit County: Siphoning the Summit
  The Blue River feeds Dillon Reservoir, lures anglers and kayakers, and fuels snowmaking at Keystone and other ski areas. But a new study predicts that Summit County will run short of water in the next 25 years as its own population booms and Denver Water takes more of the Blue's flows.
• Part 4 – Pitkin County: Trouble looms in Glamour Gulch
  In Pitkin County, home of Aspen, the Roaring Fork River already flows at a whisper of its former self because the Front Range and southeast Colorado claim much of its headwaters. Now a little-known plan aims to take even more of the river to satisfy Pueblo, Colorado Springs and farmers.
• Part 5 – Eagle County: Highland vs. Flatland
  Eagle County successfully battled in the 1980s to protect its wilderness from a proposed reservoir for Front Range utilities. Today, officials in Vail's home county are negotiating what could become a landmark water project to benefit Eagle and metro residents while preserving the environment.