Wingfoot Water Resources, LLC

Photo: RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post WRITTEN BY Jackson Barnett, Denver Post

Colorado has suffered from drought that has parched much of the state, hitting the Four Corners area especially hard, since late 2017. While the snowfall that pounded Colorado’s mountains in recent weeks has helped break the near-term drought, water experts aren’t declaring an end to the troubling long-term trend of low water levels as the state’s climate shifts to greater aridity. “Snowpack is only one part of the mosaic of the climate in Colorado,” said Jim Pokrandt, community affairs director for the Colorado River District. In Colorado, snowpack forms a strong pillar of water storage, but spring rains and summer monsoons will still be required to keep this year’s water at a needed high. If trends continue, 2019 will be only the fifth year the state’s water-storage level is at or above average since 2000, Pokrandt said.

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Photo: John Locher/Associated Press
WRITTEN BY
Bruce Finley, Denver Post

Faced with reservoirs less than half full along the Colorado River, federal authorities and negotiators for Colorado and six other Western states on Tuesday finalized a landmark plan to share the burden of voluntarily using less water as growing cities and warming temperatures deplete the supply for 40 million people.

This “drought contingency” plan completed by the seven Western states to meet an extended federal deadline is “meant to avoid a crisis on the river,” said U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman.

After 2026, the feds will look at flows in what scientists project will be a more diminished Colorado River and, working with states, “we will negotiate our next step,” Burman said.

This complex water plan hashed out since 2017 depends on all residents of the West using less water to deal with a 19-year shift toward aridity. Negotiators tinkered with fundamentals of the 1922 law that divvies up shares of Colorado River water for each state — an improvisation to try to address one of the planet’s toughest water problems caused by chronic overuse and climate change.

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Photo: Jenny Sparks/Loveland Reporter-Herald
WRITTEN BY
Julia Rentsch, Loveland Reporter-Herald

The Colorado River Basin is facing nearly 20 years of drought. To address drought concerns, some Colorado River water rights holders on the Front Range may soon see their water allocations reduced.

Local water managers came to the Loveland City Council meeting Tuesday night “wringing (their) hands” over the Colorado River flows and the uncertainties ahead related to policy and Mother Nature.

About 40 million people depend on Colorado River water across several states, said Larry Howard, senior civil engineer for water resources for the city. But Lake Powell in Utah and Lake Mead in Nevada are slowly draining, and their levels are concerning water managers as they close in on minimum levels necessary to run hydroelectric equipment.

“It will be addressed, but how, we don’t know,” said Kyle Whitaker, senior water resources engineer for Northern Water.

In addition to the lowering reservoir levels, concerns abound over the upper basin states (Colorado is one of them) being able to fulfill their legal obligations under the Colorado River Compact, which requires a certain amount of water to be delivered downstream each year.

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WRITTEN BY
Lauren Sommer, KQED

Despite a last-minute frenzy of deal-making, the federal government announced that it will begin taking “protective actions” on the Colorado River, where a long-running drought has put the water supply for 40 million people at risk.

The seven states that use the river had been trying to broker their own solution, a collective water-sharing deal, with a Jan. 31 deadline to get it done. While most states had agreed, California and Arizona couldn’t finalize the agreement in time.

“We are close,” said U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman. “But only ‘done’ will protect this basin. It’s time to get the job done.”

The river has a storied history of water battles and litigation, and many hoped the deal could be a cooperative breakthrough. Allocating water is traditionally managed by the states, so the federal government’s move marks a major shift.

Short of the states completing a deal between them, the U.S. Department of the Interior is asking them for recommendations on how to protect the river’s supply, with an eye toward August, when decisions about the upcoming year are generally made. Interior holds “broad authority,” according to Commissioner Burman, to make decisions on the lower Colorado River.

But if the states can agree on a water sharing plan soon, the commissioner says, she will halt the federal process.

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Photo: Jacy Marmaduke/The Coloradoan
WRITTEN BY
Jacy Marmaduke, Fort Collins Coloradoan

More than 200 people turned up at a Larimer County commissioners hearing that provided the first opportunity for public comment on the revised Thornton pipeline route. 

Most never got to the microphone.

Monday night’s hearing mostly consisted of presentations from Larimer County staff, who say Thornton’s new plan to pipe Poudre River water through the county meets code, and city of Thornton staff who sought to emphasize the benefits they’ll offer the county if commissioners approve the pipeline.

Public comment will roll over to an additional hearing at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 4 at 200 W. Oak St. Another hearing is penciled in for Feb. 11.

Thornton’s modified pipeline route would run along County Road 56 north of Fort Collins rather than previously proposed Douglas Road, and Thornton leaders say that change would cause fewer impacts to private properties and traffic. County Road 56 receives less than 5 percent of Douglas Road’s traffic volume, according to county analysis.

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