In southwestern Colorado, multiple years of hot and dry conditions have drained many of our reservoirs. This year we expect that a section of the Pine River, which runs through the heart of the Southern Ute Reservation, will run completely dry due to dry conditions and irrigation diversions by Tribal and non-Tribal irrigators. Unfortunately, what’s […]
Rio Grande
Posted inClimate, Environment, News, Water
Colorado heads into snowpack season with low reservoirs — but a twinge of hope
Drought conditions have eased up a bit from this time last year, but as the calendar turns on Colorado’s water year, worries about a dry winter still loom, the state’s assistant climatologist says. That’s not to say Colorado isn’t parched. Most of the state remains in drought, including the Eastern Plains, which spent much of […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Economy, News, Outdoors, Water
The water supply of the San Luis Valley faces pressure as never before
They all remember when the San Luis Valley brimmed with water. South of San Luis, Ronda Lobato raced the rising floodwaters in San Francisco Creek every spring to fill sandbags that protected her grandparents’ farm. North of Center, potato farmer Sheldon Rockey faced so much spring mud that he had to learn to extract his […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News, Water
Farmers on Rio Grande in New Mexico face early water cutoff for second straight year
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Hundreds of farmers along central New Mexico’s stretch of the Rio Grande face a second straight year of having their irrigation supplies cut off early. The board that oversees the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District voted Friday to end deliveries for irrigation a month early because of low water availability. The Oct. […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, COVID, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Rafting season is ready to launch, but coronavirus worries are running high in Colorado
By Dean Krakel, Fresh Water News With warming temperatures in Colorado’s mountains and spring runoff in full swing, the whitewater boating season should be off to a roaring start. But Colorado’s stringent COVID-19 travel and recreation restrictions are forcing commercial rafting companies to create social distance on unruly rivers and face the potential for smaller […]