These findings could have basinwide implications for the Upper Colorado River Commission’s System Conservation Program, which in September water managers voted to continue in 2024.
Category: Water
Our water desk, staffed by Heather Sackett, produces the most authoritative reporting available on Roaring Fork and upper Colorado river basin water policy and politics.
Posted inWater
Colorado lawmakers expected to consider state permit program protecting wetlands
While it is not always clear whether a wetland has a direct surface connection to a qualifying stream, experts say the decision removed federal protections from at least half of Colorado’s wetlands.
Posted inWater
The outliers in urban residential landscaping: Why these homeowners tore out their turf
“If you make it easy to conserve water, they will do it,” he said. “If you make it really difficult, then they will come back to it when they have time. That is the reason that so many people continue with their current landscaping year after year. It takes time to make changes.”
Posted inWater
How bluegrass lawns became the default for homeowners associations
Pollan and other writers have traced our modern idea of a lawn to the early 17th century. In at least one telling, aristocrats wanted clearings around their castles for defensive purposes. They either had animals graze it or dispatched servants with scythes to keep the grasses low.
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At Colorado River’s headwaters, questions about whether there’s enough water for lawns
“It’s not about drought years,” says Eagle River Water and Sanitation District’s general manager. “It’s about a drying climate. We have to get people to shift their attitudes, to know that water is getting to be more scarce.”
Posted inWater
Colorado squeezing water from urban landscapes
Like weekly haircuts for men, a regularly mowed lawn of Kentucky bluegrass was long a prerequisite for civic respectability in Colorado’s towns and cities. That expectation has begun shifting.
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EPA report says Lincoln Creek contamination is naturally occurring
The EPA is authorized to address elevated metals concentrations only from human-caused sources, not contamination from natural sources.
Posted inWater
State lawmakers move to ban nonfunctional turf planting
Up until now, developers have been able to continue to install grass that municipalities would later incentivize to remove.
Posted inWater
Weighing options for protecting the Crystal
Some residents of the Crystal Valley, along with Pitkin County, have long been proponents of a Wild & Scenic designation. But others, wary of any federal involvement, have balked at the idea.
Posted inWater
New head of state water board talks conservation programs with River District
At the River District’s quarterly meeting, held Wednesday, Ris talked with board members about two water conservation programs, both of which have long been contentious and critical issues for the district.