A complex Front Range dam-building project that includes transferring water from the Colorado River will move forward this summer after Northern Water agreed to a settlement putting $15 million in trust for waterway improvements in Grand County. Environmental opponents begrudgingly accepted the mediated settlement of their lawsuit against Northern Water’s Windy Gap Firming Project, which […]
Northern Water
Posted inClimate, Environment, Growth, News, Outdoors
Aurora, Colorado Springs get federal OK to test if controversial reservoir in Eagle County wilderness is feasible
White River National Forest officials on Monday said Aurora Water and Colorado Springs Utilities can move ahead with test drilling to determine whether a controversial dam on Homestake Creek in Eagle County is technically feasible. The decision to let the Front Range water utilities move forward in taking more Western Slope water is only one […]
Posted inNews
Colorado’s latest proposal to divert water from the Western Slope is a complex, disputed set of pipes
CHIMNEY HOLLOW — Sometime in the middle of next year, if Northern Water gets its way, the bulldozers will start piling earth and rock 25 stories high to plug this dry basin southwest of Loveland forever. Four miles to the south, they’ll build another dam to keep their newly-made bathtub from leaking out the back […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: On this one thing, 9 Colorado water managers agree
We may not always agree on the particulars of water policy and water use in the Centennial State, but we all recognize the importance of the Colorado River to our statewide economy and our Colorado way of life. The Colorado River is arguably the single most important natural resource to the State of Colorado. It […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Crime and Courts, Economy, Environment, News
Colorado’s ornery, independent water guardians finally agree on one thing: Wall Street can look elsewhere
The calls came in shortly after the story in The New York Times announced Wall Street was on the prowl for “billions in the Colorado’s water.” “Can you help us? How do we get started?” wondered the New York financiers, pals of Andy Mueller, the manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District. “My response […]
Posted inColoradans, Energy, Environment, Growth, Water, Wildfire
Squeezed by two megafires: Northern Water’s race to save Grand Lake
Craig Friar and Steve Anderson had seen wildfires smolder and flare before. But they had never seen one run. Until Oct. 21, when the East Troublesome fire sprinted 17 miles in less than three hours, threatening to engulf communities and giving these Northern Water staffers and others just hours to decide how best to move […]
Posted inNews
As pandemic hammers its finances, Vail pulls out of state cloud seeding program
Vail Resorts Inc., one of the largest financial contributors to Colorado’s cloud seeding program, has dropped out this year, leaving a major hole in the program’s budget. Cloud seeding is a practice in which silver iodide pellets are sprayed into storm clouds in an effort to trigger more snowfall and ultimately, in the spring, more […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: We argued for years. But now we’re working together to benefit people and fish.
Born in Colorado, the mighty Colorado River serves over 40 million people and irrigates nearly 5 million acres of farmland before it enters Mexico. It is the hardest-working river in the West. The river also provides some of the finest trout fishing in the country and attracts millions of dollars in associated outdoor-related revenue to […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, News, Politics and Government
We now know how many billions of gallons of water Colorado will save by closing coal-fired power plants
The closing of 30 coal-fired generating units across the West – including 10 in Colorado – could free-up more than 76 billion gallons of river and groundwater a year in the increasingly parched region, although utilities appear cautious about giving up their water rights. An analysis by the Energy and Policy Institute, a non-profit, utility […]
Posted inEnvironment, Growth, News, Politics and Government, Water
Water crisis looms if Colorado fails to meet its legal obligations to other states, study warns
Water sufficient for more than 1 million homes on the Front Range could be lost and thousands of acres of farmland on the Western Slope and Eastern Plains could go dry if the state can’t supply enough water from the drought-stricken Colorado River to downstream states as it is legally required to do, according to […]