Category: Water

A highly regarded expert on rivers who has worked for both Pitkin County and the city of Aspen has recommended that a channel dug by the city in 1992 as a kayak course along the John Denver Sanctuary be filled in because it is harming the ecosystem in the Roaring Fork River.

Two local men are looking to start a new whitewater rafting company that would take customers down sections of the Crystal and Roaring Fork rivers.

Two groups critical of the city of Aspen’s proposed hydropower plant along the banks of Castle Creek are now raising funds to install stream gauges on that stream, as well as Maroon Creek.

The city of Aspen’s request to the feds to use an expedited review process for its Castle Creek hydroelectric project has run into stiff opposition

In the mix of property owners are two billionaires and two Aspen locals with a history of successfully taking on local governments.

Six different parties have filed statements of opposition in state water court against the Colorado River District and the West Divide Water Conservancy District, which are seeking to solidify their rights to someday build a dam on the upper Crystal River.

The proposed Placita dam would back up 4,000 acre-feet of water. The prior Placita dam would have held back 62,000 acre-feet.

The tunnel is a good indicator of the runoff levels in the upper Roaring Fork River drainage, and a true indicator of how much water is being sent to Twin Lakes Reservoir, Colorado Springs, Aurora, Pueblo, Pueblo West and fields north of the Arkansas River in Crowley and Antero counties.

A group of citizens opposing the city of Aspen’s proposed hydro power plant has threatened to file a lawsuit, claiming the city effectively abandoned its water rights for power generation when it closed the original Castle Creek hydro plant in 1958.