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.
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 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.
Posted inWater
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 inWater
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.
Posted inWater
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.
Posted inWater
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.
Posted inWater
Colorado River endangered fish recovery sees some success
But, despite the successes and the coordinated efforts of federal and state agencies, upstream water users and environmental organizations, meeting minimum flow requirements in a chronically dry section of fish habitat remains a challenge, and stressors such as climate change, drought and nonnative predators are creating new hurdles for helping the fish recover.
Posted inWater
Roaring Fork flows to spike early next week as Twin Lakes diversion pauses
Heimerich said they are projecting to reach the storage condition on Monday, June 19, which means they will start to ramp down diversions on Sunday, June 18.
Posted inWater
Water managers tend to focus on climate adaptation, shy away from policy action
Yet, despite a cleareyed recognition of the scale of the climate problem, Colorado water managers have done remarkably little when it comes to pushing for climate action on a main cause of water shortages: rising temperatures caused by humans burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas.
Posted inWater
Groups working toward Outstanding Waters designations
The Outstanding Waters designation can be awarded to streams with high water quality and exceptional recreational or ecological attributes, and the intent is to protect the water quality from future degradation.