The River District win comes at a pivotal time for Colorado water managers that underscores the simmering tension that remains between the West Slope and Front Range.
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
Colorado River managers present plan to share water based on supply, not demand
Under the new supply-driven concept, the Upper Basin would still be responsible for making sure the agreed-upon percentage of water to be released from Powell makes it there — but Upper Basin officials aren’t calling it a delivery obligation.
Posted inThe Runoff
The Runoff | Dismal flows, funding thaws & big decisions ahead
Welcome to The Runoff, where Aspen Journalism’s Water Desk provides insider news and water-related updates you won’t read anywhere else under The Briefing and additional context and updates on the most recent reporting from our water desk under The Recap. Thanks for going deeper with us and for supporting our nonprofit, in-depth, investigative reporting. – […]
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Riparian restoration on Rifle ranch marks 10 years
David Anderson, director and chief scientist at CNHP, said conditions on the ranch have changed dramatically for the better over the past decade due to the restoration work.
Posted inWater
Aspen reaffirms plans for new reservoirs with water court filings
Besides the five previously identified sites where the city might want to move its potential water storage, officials had been seeking to add five new reservoir sites to the change case, but ultimately they did not include them.
Posted inWater
Colorado communities have spent millions of dollars on whitewater parks. Are they worthwhile?
RICDs have expanded cultural perceptions of how Colorado’s water is best used, and water for recreation is now an acknowledged beneficial use of a public resource.
Posted inWater
Plan to reopen irrigation ditch has creek’s neighbors on edge
The issue of who can use water on Canyon Creek gets at a central tension of Western water law: Is water a public resource or a private property right? The answer is both.
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Pitkin County pledges $1 million to Shoshone water rights purchase
In exchange for support of the Shoshone project, Pitkin County will be able to use some water from Grizzly Reservoir, owned by the city of Aspen and the River District, to boost flows in the upper Roaring Fork River.
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Colorado River Basin states have just weeks left to agree on plan
The seven states that use water from the Colorado River – Arizona, California and Nevada comprise the Lower Basin – have just over a month left to agree on how the nation’s two largest reservoirs would be operated and cuts shared in the future before the federal government may decide for them.
Posted inWater
North/south split for Western Slope snowpack and streamflow forecasts
Some recent data has shown a north/south split in streamflow declines, with rivers in the southern half of the upper Colorado River basin losing a larger percentage of flows in the first two decades of the 21st century than rivers in the northern part of the basin.