Colorado will launch a multiagency task force in the coming weeks to help cope with what most experts fear will be a summer seriously low on water and high on wildfire risk.
The task force will include agencies focused on water, agriculture and emergency management, among others, according to Emily Adrid, water planning and climate impact specialist at the Colorado Water Conservation Board. Her comments came at a meeting of the state’s Water Monitoring Committee this week.
This Fresh Water News story is a collaboration between The Colorado Sun and Water Education Colorado. It also appears at wateredco.org.
The last time such a task force was called into action was in the 2020-21 drought, according to the board. If needed, the task force has the authority to help fund emergency efforts and form ad hoc groups to help Colorado cities and towns affected by drought and wildfire, Adrid said.
The news comes as Colorado continues to struggle with a deeply dry and warm winter and forecasts showing the trend continuing this spring.
Colorado measures its water supplies using a calendar that runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, a period known as the water year.
The first four months of the 2026-27 water year are the warmest in 131 years, said Russ Schumacher, state climatologist at the CSU’s Colorado Climate Center.
“This is breaking the record by a huge margin,” Schumacher said.
And there is little if any relief in the spring forecasts.
“We might hope for a miracle this spring,” he said, “but this is not what’s in these forecasts.”
Statewide reservoir storage levels are holding steady above 80%, but streamflow forecasts indicate Colorado is likely to receive just 63% of its normal water flows, and possibly less, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Lakewood.
In response, cities will also coordinate efforts to alert the public to the potential for water and fire emergencies. Their hope is a unified approach to watering restrictions will reduce water use.
The city of Westminster is among cities gearing up for an ultradry summer. Drew Beckwith, the city’s water resources manager, said getting plans in place early and encouraging everyone to share the same message will be critical this year and next.
“We haven’t had a big drought since 2002,” Beckwith said. “We’re all out of practice.”
Even if major spring snowstorms occur that could lessen water shortages and fire risks, 2026 is still expected to be strikingly dry and warm.
And that is not as worrisome as the prospect of a follow-on drought in 2027, Beckwith said.
“It’s not the one-year drought that is our Achilles’ heel,” he said. “It’s multiple dry years in a row when things get concerning. Since we don’t know what next year’s snowpack is going to look like, we don’t want to not do anything. Instead, we’re saying, ‘Hey, we don’t know what’s going to happen so let’s all get on the same page now.’”