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Posted inThe Roundup

The Roundup | Reporting spans the Colorado River basin

Curtis Wackerle by Curtis Wackerle November 16, 2022November 16, 2022
Las Vegas Wash with Las Vegas skyline pictured in the background.
The Las Vegas wash is a 12-mile-long channel that returns the valley’s excess water to Lake Mead. The Southern Nevada Water Authority has recommended that lower basin contractors be charged for evaporative losses, something upper basin water managers have been saying for years. Credit: Heather Sackett/Aspen Journalism
The Roundup: A weekly roundup of Aspen Journalism's original stories
A weekly letter from the newsroom and roundup of Aspen Journalism’s original stories.
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is AJ-mailchimp-sub-header-letter-from-the-newsroom-1200x133px-1170x130.jpg
Las Vegas Wash with Las Vegas skyline pictured in the background.
The Las Vegas wash is a 12-mile-long channel that returns the valley’s excess water to Lake Mead. The Southern Nevada Water Authority has recommended that lower basin contractors be charged for evaporative losses, something upper basin water managers have been saying for years. CREDIT: Heather Sackett/Aspen Journalism. Credit: Heather Sackett/Aspen Journalism

This week at Aspen Journalism, we are thrilled to have published two stories looking at water use from opposite ends of the Colorado River basin. 

Water Desk Editor Heather Sackett set out to understand what city of Aspen water use data can tell us about recent efforts to encourage more conservation, especially when it comes to outdoor watering. With analysis and interactive visualizations by Data Desk Editor Laurine Lassalle, Sackett’s piece, published Monday, breaks down how much water city of Aspen customers are using, while exploring what tools exist to encourage or compel more water savings. 

We followed that up with Sackett’s report, published today, from a “fact-finding” mission she tagged along on, with 50 or so water officials from the Western Slope who took a three-day bus tour earlier this month of critical sites in the lower Colorado River basin. The purpose of the trip, organized by the Colorado River District, was summed up by River District GM Andy Mueller.

“We have to be able to understand (lower basin) interests and their needs so that we can find ways to meet their interests while protecting our own,” Mueller said. “There’s a system at risk of collapse, and we are an integral part of that.”

Also, check out the return of our Data Dashboard’s snowpack tracker, and contemplate how McClure Pass is currently sporting more “snow-water equivalent” than what’s on the record at the higher-elevation Independence Pass monitoring station. And a production note: As the state of Colorado reduces the frequency of its COVID-19 data updates, our Tracking the Curve local COVID-19 data tracking project will cut back to one update per week, on Wednesday nights, instead of the Monday and Thursday evening schedule we have been sticking to since last spring.

We’d be remiss if we did not note that we are in the midst of our critical year-end fundraising campaign. Through Dec. 31, NewsMatch, a national collaborative fundraising movement to support independent, public service journalism like ours, will match your new monthly donation 12 times or double your one-time gift, all up to $1,000 per gift. So thanks to this generous support, your donation today makes double the impact. Thank you for valuing the essential work we are doing, for reading, and supporting Aspen Journalism.

With gratitude,
– Curtis Wackerle
Editor and Executive Director

Recent reporting from Aspen Journalism
Credit: Heather Sackett/Aspen Journalism

Four things to know about the lower Colorado River basin

Western Slope water officials tour sites integral to lower basin consumption

By Heather Sackett

November 16, 2022

The tour took participants by bus from Las Vegas though the green alfalfa fields of the Fort Mohave Indian Reservation, past the big diversions serving the Central Arizona Project and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and to the hot, below-sea-level agricultural expanse of the biggest water user on the river: the Imperial Irrigation District.

Continue reading…

Credit: Natalie Keltner-McNeil / Aspen Journalism.

Aspen’s water use stays steady

Cities face conservation challenges in face of growth, climate change

By Heather Sackett | November 14, 2022

Getting some customers to change their behavior, especially when it comes to outdoor watering, is challenging.

Continue reading…

Data dashboard: Early snowpack remains above average

Swinging air temperatures drop as low as 30°F for maximum and 10°F for minimum temperatures.

By Laurine Lassalle | November 16, 2022

• Snowpack at McClure Pass was double the average with 3.3 inches on Nov. 13.
• The Fork ran at 95% of average below Maroon Creek and 48% of average at Stillwater on Nov. 13.
• Swinging air temperatures dropped to 30°F for high temperatures on Nov. 4.

Continue reading…

Tracking the Curve

COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased by 47% in Colorado since last week.

By Laurine Lassalle | November 11, 2022

COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased by 47% in Colorado since early November.

Continue reading…

The Bucket: A selection of stories of interest to readers with a stake in Aspen and the Colorado River basin
A selection of stories of interest to those with a stake in Aspen and the Colorado River basin we’ve been reading from other news sources this week.

Cheap Land Colorado – author Ted Conover chronicles life off the grid in the San Luis Valley

“The immersive journalist’s latest book also looks at Colorado, this time a very different part of the state. In his new book Cheap Land Colorado, Off-Gridders at America’s Edge, he writes about his experience over four years on the high plains of the San Luis Valley…Ted Conover will speak about Cheap Land Colorado at an event hosted by Aspen Journalism at the Albright Pavilion, 845 Meadows Rd., Aspen, on Thursday, January 5.”
Source: aspenpublicradio.org | Read more

Pitkin County’s concerns over recession fuel RFTA budget scrutiny

“The bus agency’s proposed budget for 2023 includes a 5.4% decrease in sales tax revenues compared to last year. The staff based the forecast on the cumulative projections of its eight member jurisdictions. But some board members contended at a meeting Thursday that Pitkin County’s forecast of an 11% decrease in sales-tax revenues in 2023 is getting too much weight in the formula.”
Source: aspendailynews.com | Read more

“The future of housing” takes shape at Buena Vista factory

“Soon the Fading West factory will be churning out a new home every 10 days or so. The factory could be the answer to Colorado’s housing crisis, joining a first-of-its-kind effort that includes a nonprofit developer building on free land, philanthropic support, a unique mortgage lending program and lucky locals who secured their affordable homes in a lottery. But there’s a critical step in the development of affordable housing in Colorado that threatens the model: local code and zoning regulations.”
Source: coloradosun.com | Read more

Colorado Latinos overwhelmingly voted for Democrats despite Republican hopes to win them over

“A new exit poll from the Colorado Latino Policy Agenda shows Latino voters in Colorado overwhelmingly voted for Democratic candidates in this year’s midterm elections. It also finds the majority of Latino voters supported key ballot measures.”
Source: kunc.org | Read more

Municipal water among most vulnerable in Colorado River crisis

“Cheyenne’s legal claims to the Colorado River Basin water were appropriated from 1954 to 1982 — making it a relatively new user in the system. If there is a curtailment, it would be applied to the newest or most ‘junior’ appropriations, then work back in time to the 1922 Colorado River Compact. That means, depending on how far back in time a curtailment extends, 70% of the city’s water supply could be shut off — an action that could come as soon as 2028 if hydrological conditions keep trending for the worse, according to the Wyoming State Engineer’s office.”
Source: wyofile.com | Read more

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Curtis Wackerle

Curtis Wackerle

Curtis Wackerle is the editor and executive director of Aspen Journalism and the editor and reporter on the Connie Harvey Environment Desk. Curtis has also served as editor, managing editor, and reporter... More by Curtis Wackerle

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