Category: The Runoff

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.

It’s spring in the Rockies and that means rivers are cranking. Three water-related bills passed into law this session. Town of Meeker trustees grill new dam proponents.

I think it was Charles Dickens who described a March day as summer in the light, and winter in the shade. This year there’s been a lot more of winter in the shade, a welcome circumstance for water managers. All those overcast days could even be part of the reason for more snow accumulation at […]

The opening weeks of 2023 have been filled with legislative updates and new bills, state water board news, Colorado River happenings and new chapters for local issues. Let’s dive in. – Heather SackettEditor and Reporter on the Water Desk No-flush wipes bill drafted State Senators Dylan Roberts and Perry Will, who represent the Western Slope […]

Some water managers at CRWUA acknowledged a truth that is widely known but rarely stated so candidly: As the Colorado River crisis deepens, water to cities will not be cut off in favor of continuing to grow hay in the desert, no matter what the law of the river says. 

Here at Aspen Journalism a big part of what the Water Desk covers are meetings of governmental agencies. Before you yawn too loud, an important thing to understand is that a major responsibility of these organizations is to dole out grant money. Lots (sometimes millions) of taxpayer-funded grant money. It goes to water projects in […]

Welcome back to The Runoff, our monthly newsletter featuring insight and news from our Water Desk you won’t read anywhere else, plus additional context and updates on our most recent reporting. Once again we are taking the place of the normal edition of The Roundup, which will return next week. Thanks for going deeper with […]

Insight and news from our Water Desk you won’t read anywhere else, plus additional context and updates on our most recent reporting.

In The Runoff for April, Water Desk Editor Heather Sackett shares news items you won’t read anywhere else, and updates and context from recent stories. A “new normal” of scarcity. Watershed penpals. A tribal lawyer argues for compensated forbearance.

News briefs not to be missed and a recap of the state’s best reporting on water policy.