Recent accidents put 2022 total at 36 water-related deaths, passing a tragic mark from 2020. State officials urge avoiding alcohol, and remind paddleboarders to use life jackets
reservoirs
Posted inClimate, Environment, News, Outdoors, Water
Yes, it hasn’t snowed yet in Denver. But it’s Colorado’s meager snowpack that should worry you.
Snowflakes began falling in Denver on Dec. 1, 1913, and didn’t stop for four days, leaving the city blanketed under 45 inches of snow. Some mountain towns saw even more snowfall, with 86 inches recorded in Georgetown, 53 in Estes Park and about 44 in Boulder. The anniversary of Denver’s biggest blizzard comes amid a […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: We’re running out of water. It’s time to overhaul Colorado’s storage system
On the Western Slope, a truly cataclysmic summer is emerging. The next few months look to be the driest in anyone’s memory. At the headwaters of the Colorado River, water scarcity is now creating dire consequences for ranchers and their surrounding rural communities. Poor snowpack and sporadic rain have turned once lush pastures into meadows […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Water
As forests burn in Colorado and around the world, drinking water is at risk
By Tammy Webber, The Associated Press Fabric curtains stretch across the huge Warragamba Dam to trap ash and sediment expected to wash off wildfire-scorched slopes and into the reservoir that holds 80% of untreated drinking water for the Greater Sydney area. In Australia’s national capital of Canberra, authorities are keeping a wary eye on burning […]
Posted inEnvironment, Growth, News, Politics and Government, Water
A new federal grant program allots $10 million for high-hazard dams in Colorado, 25 other states
By David A. Lieb, The Associated Press Built for irrigation in 1884, Smith Reservoir in Colorado no longer can hold as much water as it once did. To keep the dam from leaking, the water level at the suburban Denver reservoir is kept at least 2 feet below the level of the spillway — a […]
Posted inEnvironment, Growth, News, Water
Colorado, other Western states oppose federal government plan to charge for reservoir water
By James MacPherson, The Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. — Attorneys general from a dozen western states want the Trump administration to halt a proposal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that they say usurps states’ authority over their own water. North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said the Water Supply Rule proposed in the […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors, Water
MAP: At least 22 people have died on Colorado’s rivers and reservoirs this year amid fierce runoff
At least 22 people have died on Colorado’s streams, rivers and waterways amid this year’s fierce runoff season. Authorities and weather forecasters have been warning the public to use extra caution when traversing swollen waterways. Three people have died on the Arkansas River, making it the deadliest stretch of water in the state to date. […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Environment, Growth, News, Water
Colorado’s hot summer of dry ditches and empty reservoirs has left distressed farmers sweating: Will it get worse?
OLATHE — John Harold charges his Chevy through chest-high stalks of sweet corn. He’s talking on his phone, scribbling notes. He’s got corn-harvesting crews spread across the Uncompahgre Valley, picking more than 100,000 ears a day of his trademarked Olathe Sweet. The fields of onions need weeding. His beans, too. More than 100 fields of […]