He also pointed out that requiring the upper basin, where most of the river’s flows originate as snowpack, to contribute the same fixed amount each year despite declining flows means that the upper basin is unfairly bearing the brunt of climate change.
Tag: 1st Place Climate Reporting
Articles included in a package of 2021 stories from Aspen Journalism’s Water Desk Editor Heather Sackett that won first place for climate reporting in the 2022 Society of Professional Journalists Top of the Rockies contest.
Posted inWater
Streamflows in southern half of upper Colorado River basin declining faster
Another question is: If there is a compact call, how would state engineers administer it so that already water-short basins aren’t forced to cut back even more?
Posted inWater
Blue Mesa Reservoir releases to prop up Lake Powell impacting recreation
The three reservoirs are part of the Colorado River Storage Project, and their primary purpose is to control the flows of the Colorado River; flatwater recreation has always been incidental. But the releases at Blue Mesa illustrate the risks of building an outdoor-recreation economy around a highly engineered river system that is now beginning to falter amid a climate change-fueled drought.
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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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Drought and dry soils again will diminish Colorado’s spring runoff
According to NRCS models, streamflow for the Roaring Fork River, measured at its confluence with the Colorado River in Glenwood Springs, will be 70% of average.
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Report: Estimates of future Upper Colorado River Basin water use confound planning
The issue is twofold: With climate change, there is not enough water for the upper basin to develop new projects without the risk of a compact call; and if the past three decades are any indication, the upper basin is not on track to use more water in the future anyway.