Water and growth: A study by the state's largest water providers details economic changesThe chicken-and-egg debate over water and growth might be replaced by a new concept: gravity. A study by Summit Economics, working in conjunction with Tucker Hart Adams' group, was commissioned by the Front Range Water Council to explain the relationship of water to the Colorado Economy. The council is made up of the state's largest water providers, who are also importing most of the water from the Western Slope.
-Coverage in The Pueblo Chieftain-
Colorado River: The last few drops?After conducting what they say is one of the most rigorous studies ever of the Colorado River Basin, state officials concluded there may be some additional water available for development and use -- or there may not, depending on what numbers are plugged into the computer models.
-Coverage at Summit County Citizens Voice-
CWCB reviews initial results from Colorado River Water Availability Study
Preliminary results from a multi-year study on the Colorado River suggests the state still has water available to develop, but additional research is needed to better quantify how much, state water officials said. The draft results of Phase I of the Colorado River Water Availability Study were presented to the Colorado Water Conservation Board at its meeting on Jan. 27, 2010. The draft report will be released for public comment next month.-Full CWCB press release-Colorado Water Availability Study Snowpack across Colorado is only 86 percent of averageAnother dry winter month has put Colorado's snowpack further below average.According to the latest snowpack report from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Colorado basins were at 86 percent of average as of Monday. The percentage is the lowest since 2003.
-Coverage in The Aspen Daily News-
-Full report from the Natural Resources Conservation Service-
Water wars fill Capitol: Legislators consider basin of origin, river rafting, irrigationLawyers, rafts and money. Those are the debates in store for Colorado's water community this year at the Legislature. A Pueblo Democrat wants to make sure that water imports from wet basins to dry ones don't harm people in the original basin. And a Gunnison representative wants to make sure rafting guides can float the state's rivers, no matter who owns the riverbank. Both bills, though, could be overshadowed by the money crunch, which could hit irrigators and water users just as hard as the rest of the state.
-Coverage in The Cortez Journal-
Grand Canyon National Park resources benefit from 2008 high-flow experiment at Glen Canyon DamResources along the Colorado River in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Grand Canyon National Park generally benefited from a high-flow experiment conducted in March 2008 from Glen Canyon Dam, near Page, Ariz., according to research findings released today by the U.S. Geological Survey. The 2008 experiment, designed to mimic natural pre-dam flooding, tested the ability of high flows to rebuild eroded Grand Canyon sandbars, create habitat for the endangered humpback chub, and benefit other resources such as archaeological sites, rainbow trout, aquatic food for fish, and riverside vegetation.
-Full press release-
Million defends Flaming Gorge water proposal; Environment, water pricing for agriculture are among calculationsEntrepreneur Aaron Million is committed to keeping a place for agriculture and the environment in his plan to bring water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir to Colorado's Front Range.
-Coverage in The Pueblo Chieftain-
Ice fishing contest set for Wolford Mountain ReservoirIf you like ice fishing, $13,000 could be yours with the winning tagged fish. Come celebrate the 13th Annual Wolford Mountain Reservoir Ice Fishing Contest on Saturday, Feb. 20 on Wolford Mountain Reservoir in Kremmling. The reservoir is owned by the Colorado River District and Denver Water.
-Details in the Sky-Hi News-Ritter urges action on water issuesGov. Bill Ritter outlined three "pillars" for providing water to Colorado in the future at Thursday's opening session of the Colorado Water Congress. "We face really serious challenges," Ritter told the group at its 52nd annual convention. "Colorado has gone from an era of overabundance to where most of our streams are over- appropriated."
-Coverage in The Pueblo Chieftain--Coverage in The Cortez Journal-Colorado River study uses climate-change models to see what's left The question that keeps water managers up at night - How much water is left in the Colorado River? - now has an answer, courtesy of a state study that went public last week. Its answer: It depends. But it's probably less water than the state needs.
-Coverage in The Durango Herald--Coverage in The Pueblo Chieftain--More coverage in The Pueblo Chieftain-
Corps of Engineers gets list of users for Flaming Gorge pipelineAn entrepreneur who wants to build a 560-mile water pipeline from Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming to Colorado's Front Range submitted letters from potential users to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday.
-Coverage in The Pueblo Chieftain--Coverage by Circle of Blue, including list-
Grand County hopes to benefit from Front Range water-firming projectsOne citizen needed further clarification. After about two hours listening to a panel of 15 people who represent Grand County in Denver Water Moffat Firming Project negotiations, one individual went to the microphone and asked point blank: "As a county, are we for this? ...Or we against this?" The answer was not as black or white as the question. The bottom line was: What choice do we have?
-Coverage in The Sky-Hi News-
Why this is important: Grand County is already the most heavily impacted county on the Colorado River due to transmountain diversions of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project and the existing Windy Gap and Moffat Tunnel Projects. The Moffat Tunnel firming project and the Windy Gap firming project would take more water from the headwaters to the east.
