This week, Aspen Journalism reports on the Sept. 21 decision by Colorado River managers to continue a water conservation program originally designed to protect critical elevations in the nation’s two largest reservoirs.
Author Archives: Heather Sackett
Heather Sackett is the managing editor at Aspen Journalism and the editor and reporter on the Water Desk. She has also reported for The Denver Post and the Telluride Daily Planet. Heather has a master’s degree from CU’s Center for Environmental Journalism and her reporting has been recognized by the Colorado Press Association.
Posted inWater
Water managers vote to continue conservation program, with tweaks, in 2024
The Upper Colorado River Commission decided unanimously to continue the federally funded System Conservation Program in 2024 — but with a narrower scope that explores demand management concepts and supports innovation and local drought resiliency on a longer-term basis.
Posted inWater
Confusion persists about Wolf Creek reservoir in Rio Blanco County
According to the report, two of the most repeated questions from those interviewed was: What is the specific need for water and how much water is needed?
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Crews working to repair Busk-Ivanhoe transmountain diversion
These TMDs were constructed to solve a simple yet crucial problem: Most of Colorado’s water is on the Western Slope, but most of the state’s population lives on the eastern side of the divide.
Posted inWater
Colorado River commission reviews lessons learned from water conservation program
About 2,388 acres of agricultural land will go unirrigated in Colorado this season and the total amount of water conserved across those 22 projects is about 2,517 acre-feet.
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Gunnison ranch to loan water for the environment
With the lease agreement enacted, Curry and Peterson would turn off their four ditch headgates at the end of June and keep them off for 37 days — usually the hottest, driest time of year and when Tomichi Creek could most use a boost.
Posted inThe Runoff
The Runoff | Big water year begins to fade away
The latest edition of The Runoff, a newsletter from Aspen Journalism Water Desk Editor Heather Sackett chronicling odds and ends from her work covering water policy in the Roaring Fork and upper Colorado river basins.
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Pitkin County aims to bring back beavers
Pitkin County is hoping that other landowners see things the way Craig does as it makes beavers a top priority, funding measures that may eventually restore North America’s largest rodent to areas it once lived in the Roaring Fork watershed.
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Studies say Janeway site promising for Crystal River backup water supply
Although Janeway is the most promising area for a nature-based solution and the one overlapping potential project site of the two studies, it still has drawbacks.
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Federal, state officials promise more tribal inclusion in Colorado River negotiations
Tribes’ unused water has been propping up the system for years, and when finally put to beneficial use, it could exacerbate shortages for other water users.