Tracking “breakthrough” and nonresident COVID-19 cases in Pitkin County; low water levels at Ruedi Reservoir threatening hydropower production, and single-digit Roaring Fork streamflows.
Category: Water
Reporting on water and rivers in the Roaring Fork and upper Colorado river basins.
Posted inWater
How low can Ruedi Reservoir go?
That means if there is below-average runoff again, some contract holders who own water in Ruedi could have to take shortages, something that has never happened before, Miller said.
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Demand management discussions continue amid worsening Colorado River crisis
Some have expressed frustration with what they say is the state’s slow pace of a program rollout and want to begin pilot projects to test the program’s feasibility.
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State engineers developing measurement rules for water diversions
Division 6, in sparsely populated northwest Colorado, has traditionally enjoyed abundant water and few demands, but as climate change tightens its grip on the West, there is less water to go around.
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Kremmling bird count studies how birds use irrigated agriculture
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.