As the state of Colorado grapples with whether to implement a demand-management program, which would pay irrigators to temporarily dry up fields in an effort to send more water downstream, there could be unintended consequences for the animals that use irrigated agriculture for their habitat.
Category: Water
Reporting on water and rivers in the Roaring Fork and upper Colorado river basins.
Posted inWater
River District looks for natural solutions to Crystal River water shortage
In order for these water users to keep taking water during a downstream call by an irrigator, they would have to replace about 113 acre-feet of water in the Crystal River per year.
Posted inWater
Conservation groups want recreation water right tied to natural river features
Water rights for natural river features would represent a shift in a state where putting water to “beneficial use” has traditionally meant taking water out of the river for use in agriculture or cities.
Posted inWater
Craig betting on Yampa River to help transition from coal economy
Although city officials are moving forward with plans to build the whitewater park, they are — for now at least — forgoing a step that could help protect their newly built asset and keep water in the river.
Posted inWater
Basin roundtables push back on Colorado Water Conservation Board’s proposed code of conduct
The CWCB director said that with important and potentially contentious discussions on the horizon for water-short Colorado, it’s important to have a set of conduct standards in place to guide those discussions.
Posted inWater
Crystal River Wild & Scenic advocates hope to learn from the past
Experts say the main reason there is opposition from water managers to Wild & Scenic in Colorado is not fear of a federal land grab, but the shortage of water in an arid state that is only getting drier with climate change.
Posted inWater
Colorado is examining water speculation, and finding it’s ‘all the problems’ in one
This system, used widely in the western United States, creates an opening for investors who see water as an increasingly valuable commodity in a water-short future, driven by climate change.
Posted inWater
A dam in Grand County is showing an increasing risk of failure, prompting a new engineering study
It’s still unclear whether or when the dam will need to be rehabilitated; that’s what adding more monitoring instruments may help the district figure out.
Posted inWater
Homestake Reservoir release proves tricky to track
The reservoir release also could have implications for a potential demand-management program, the feasibility of which the state is currently investigating.
Posted inWater
Roaring Fork on its way to 100 more acre-feet of flows
Pitkin County’s goal was to get more water into the habitually stressed reach of the Roaring Fork that flows through Aspen during the summer and fall.