• Donate
  • Subscribe
  • WATER
  • ENVIRONMENT
  • HISTORY
  • SOCIAL JUSTICE
  • LOCAL DATA
  • NEWSLETTERS
    • The Roundup newsletter
    • The Runoff
  • ABOUT
    • About
    • Staff, Board & Advisers
    • Editorial Independence Policy
    • Donors and Funders
    • Publish Our Work
    • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Skip to content
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Aspen Journalism: local. nonprofit. investigative.

Aspen Journalism

local. nonprofit. investigative

  • Donate
  • Subscribe
DONATE
  • WATER
  • ENVIRONMENT
  • HISTORY
  • SOCIAL JUSTICE
  • LOCAL DATA
  • NEWSLETTERS
    • The Roundup newsletter
    • The Runoff
  • ABOUT
    • About
    • Staff, Board & Advisers
    • Editorial Independence Policy
    • Donors and Funders
    • Publish Our Work
    • Contact
Posted inThe Roundup newsletter

The Roundup | Lower basin water managers pivot in the face of shrinking reservoirs

Curtis Wackerle by Curtis Wackerle January 18, 2022January 18, 2022

Your gift to Aspen Journalism will be matched!
This nonprofit investigative journalism makes a real difference for the community by informing and engaging citizens on complicated issues. If we don't write these stories, no one will.
Double your impact! Donate today.

The Roundup newsletter: A weekly roundup of Aspen Journalism’s original stories with a letter from the newsroom and The Bucket, a selection of news from other sources.
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is AJ-mailchimp-sub-header-letter-from-the-newsroom-1200x133px-1170x130.jpg
This photo from December 2021 shows one of the intake towers at Hoover Dam. California, Nevada and Arizona recently penned a deal to keep 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead to boost the declining reservoir levels. PHOTO: Heather Sackett/Aspen Journalism. Credit: Heather Sackett/Aspen Journalism

Lower basin water managers pivot in the face of shrinking reservoirs

Happy Tuesday from Aspen Journalism. It is good to be back with you on our normal day for The Roundup, after some scheduling adjustments as we wrapped up our year-end campaign and took a few days off last week.

Over the long weekend, Water Desk Editor Heather Sackett published her latest piece, looking at how a recently announced deal from the Colorado River system’s lower basin states to leave more water in Lake Mead is an example of the kind of management pivots water managers are making in the face of changing hydrology. The article highlights the work of academics who note that an epically bad water year in 2021 — when near-average snowpack translated into record-low inflow into Lake Powell — has accelerated the need to advance water-savings and sustainability plans. The money quote, from the University of New Mexico’s John Fleck: “That visceral experience we have with low reservoirs and seeing the snowpack not end up in them last year is part of what’s created this moment of opportunity.” The piece also included an original data visualization from Aspen Journalism’s Data Desk Editor Laurine Lassalle, showing how low Lake Mead has fallen.

Lassalle’s ongoing data tracking projects — Tracking the Curve and the Data Dashboard — should also be on your radar this week. Tracking the Curve posts daily updates (Monday through Friday evenings) on the state of COVID-19 in Eagle, Pitkin and Garfield counties. The good news is that case counts look to be coming down from their recent peak, with Pitkin’s seven-day incidence rate dropping to about 1,900 new cases per 100,000 people on Monday, down from about 3,200 on Friday.

This week’s dashboard has December’s lodging occupancy data and the latest on snowpack. With mostly clear skies since the calendar turned to 2022, Independence Pass’ “snow-water equivalent” levels have fallen from 110% of average on Jan. 9 to 104% of average on Sunday. And somehow, nevermind flight-canceling snowstorms and anxiety-inducing pandemics, lodging occupancy was higher than ever in the last month of 2021. 

Thanks for reading and supporting Aspen Journalism as we work to keep you informed on critical issues shaping our community.

With gratitude,

Curtis Wackerle, editor and executive director
Aspen Journalism

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is AJ-mailchimp-Recent-reporting-1200x133px-1170x130.jpg
Credit: Heather Sackett/Aspen Journalism

Dropping reservoirs create ‘green light’ for sustainability on Colorado River

Lower-basin 500+ Plan fits in window of opportunity

By Heather Sackett | January 16, 2022

Rapidly dropping reservoir levels create a “green light” scenario for river management where conditions shift from a situation to be monitored to a problem that needs to be solved.

Continue reading…

Data dashboard: New record high December occupancies for Aspen and Snowmass

Snow-water equivalent at Indy pass reaches 8.9 inches, or about 105% of average. Schofield Pass at 25 inches.

By Laurine Lassalle | January 18, 2022

• Paid occupancy for Aspen reaches 64.1% in December, up from 61.8% in 2019.
• Snowpack at Schofield Pass has gained more than 15 in of SWE since Dec. 23.

Continue reading…

Tracking the Curve

Documenting COVID-19 in Pitkin, Eagle and Garfield counties

By Laurine Lassalle | January 18, 2022

Pitkin County’s seven-day incidence rate dropped from over 3,200 on Friday to about 1,900 per 100,000 on Monday.

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.

Fee, reservation system proposed for all Maroon Creek Road bikers

“On summer weekend days, the number of e-bikers on Maroon Creek Road can average 350 or more a day, he said. RFTA drivers — who ferry tourists from Aspen Highlands to the Maroon Bells and back from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.— have written letters concerned about public safety.”
Source: aspentimes.com | Read more

Biodiversity study sheds light on how to protect the Roaring Fork watershed

“This data is now being combined with satellite imagery to create a set of maps that depict ecological conditions and biodiversity hotspots.’This whole project really is about a community effort towards a common goal that I really believe is shared throughout this whole watershed,’ Cardamone said.”
Source: aspenpublicradio.org | Read more

A slight tweak to a pile of rocks deep in the woods could flood a Colorado town

It’s a troubled tale, with a developer eager to build a scattering of luxury homesites, beavers building their own network of reservoirs, water engineers adjusting historic flows and a small community with homes built in locations that are, thanks to rearranged rocks, suddenly in a flood zone.
Source: coloradosun.com | Read more

Commissioner: Too much density at Phillips Trailer Park would be ‘putting duct tape on an old rusted car’

“Poschman is in favor of infrastructure improvements in the hillside area of the trailer park… . But he is adamantly opposed to the possibility of expanding the community into the agricultural field, a convenient area on which to build, but one that goes against the county’s stated mission of preserving rural character.”
Source: aspendailynews.com | Read more

Scientists see silver lining in fed’s latest efforts to avoid ‘dead pool’ at Lake Powell

“Despite a wet October giving water managers hope that the region might make some progress towards recovery amidst a 22-year drought, this past November was the second-driest on record and inflows came up 1.5 million acre-feet short of the Bureau’s projections from the previous month.”
Source: thespectrum.com | Read more

Our nonprofit mission is to produce good journalism for people who care about Aspen, the Roaring Fork Valley, and the upper Colorado River basin.

Will you support our work today?

Stay informed with The Roundup

Processing…
Thank you for subscribing to the Aspen Journalism newsletter and updates from the newsroom. You can unsubscribe or update your preferences through the link in each email.
There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Related

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

Latest News

  • Study finds that livestock growers need more compensation for water conservation December 8, 2023
  • Data dashboard: Roaring Fork Basin snowpack is close to normal December 4, 2023
  • Colorado wildlife officials aim to reduce hunter crowding, sustain elk herds December 3, 2023
  • Colorado lawmakers expected to consider state permit program protecting wetlands December 1, 2023
  • The outliers in urban residential landscaping: Why these homeowners tore out their turf November 30, 2023
Aspen Journalism: local. nonprofit. investigative.
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Subscribe
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • About
  • Publish Our Work
© 2023 Aspen Journalism. Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic