They are also asking the board to sign off on a system of prioritizing water use sectors: municipal and domestic needs over agriculture.
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
March heat wave fueled worst end-of-winter snowpack on record
Light said she has been hearing from water users about how early they have had to turn their ditches on to irrigate their fields – some the weekend of March 21 – due to the meager snowpack and record-high temperatures.
Posted inWater
Denver Water, Xcel enact plan to ease shortages
As part of the agreement, Denver Water will make available to entities on the Western Slope 10% of the water it is able to divert as a result of the call reduction.
Posted inWater
Upper Basin states test methods to fill Powell pool
Colorado still does not seem to have the policies in place to implement a large-scale, traditional conservation program in the near future.
Posted inWater
Aspen activist wants ‘rights of nature’ for the Roaring Fork River
A handful of Colorado communities have passed resolutions that give rights to local waterways: Grand Lake to its namesake body of water, Ridgway to the Uncompahgre River and most recently, Durango to the Animas River.
Posted inWater
Colorado River crisis fails to force deal from states
And if the states can’t reach an agreement by then, the federal government will impose its own management rules, doling out cutbacks that could trigger lawsuits from the states but would not go far enough to prevent the system from crashing.
Posted inWater
West Divide proposes backup water plan for Crystal River
West Divide representatives have said they are not interested in a large storage project and are committed to maintaining the free-flowing nature of one of Colorado’s last undammed rivers.
Posted inWater
Cities, water providers across the state want seat at the table in Shoshone water court case
But at least 23 of these “opposers” say in their statements that they are actually in favor of the deal and filed the documents in order to monitor and weigh in on the case.
Posted inWater
Pitkin County looks to boost Roaring Fork streamflows with water purchase
A memo outlining the deal noted that in order to purchase the Twin Lakes shares, the seller also required the county to buy the Fountain shares, which are estimated to yield about 26 acre-feet per year, but that water is not decreed for use on the west side of the Continental Divide.
Posted inWater
Colorado River experts say some management options don’t go far enough to address scarcity, climate change
This winter’s dismal snowpack and dire projections about spring runoff underscore the urgency for the states to come up with an agreement for a new management paradigm.