More demands, and less water, leave water managers searching for solutions.
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
Money for water: A pilot project wins over skeptical farmers and ranchers
A pilot program that pays ranchers to fallow fields and let their water run downstream toward Lake Powell proves popular, but raises some tricky issues yet to be resolved.
Posted inWater
City of Aspen hesitant to respond to court-raised issues about potential dams
The issues raised include whether the city can get a permit for the dams, if it can build the dams in reasonable time, if it has a specific plan to build them, and if it needs the water.
Posted inWater
Aspen joins two adversaries in water court to apply for Colorado water funds
Wilderness Workshop, Western Resource Advocates, and city of Aspen to seek state funds to study using irrigation water to meet demands.
Posted inWater
Colorado’s top water cop says ‘Don’t divert more than you need’
New guidelines say ‘people of the state have a right to divert water and apply it to beneficial use but do not have a right to divert water and waste it.’
Posted inWater
Aspen puts forward settlement proposals for Maroon and Castle creek dams
The city tells opposing parties it is willing to move the water rights tied to the Maroon Creek Reservoir to locations in the Roaring Fork valley under certain conditions.
Posted inWater
Aspen City Council wades into water shortage scenarios
Reducing irrigation on the golf course may be a good option, but city staff and advisors are still calling for some level of storage to meet future needs.
Posted inWater
Aspen plans to transfer Castle and Maroon creeks conditional water rights to other locations
The city of Aspen puts 63 acres of land in Woody Creek under contract for possible water storage, also looks at gravel pit site for reservoir
Posted inWater
Aspen changing course on conditional water rights?
City official says ‘a completely different discussion’ will be underway after city announces proposal
Posted inWater
Aspen council OKs $116K to drill holes and study storing water under golf course and other sites
In search of storage alternatives, the city of Aspen approves a contract to drill and dig at the Aspen golf course, and other sites.