Aspen Journalism (https://www.aspenjournalism.org/author/heathersackett/)
At the suggestion of some agriculture-dependent counties, including Mesa County, River District General Manager Andy Mueller added language to the ballot question that says the district will not utilize the additional funds for paying to fallow irrigated agriculture.
Each group met multiple times over the past year and their findings, as well as their lingering questions, were included in a 200-page demand management update report presented Wednesday to CWCB directors.
The U.S. Forest Service received more than 500 comments, mainly in opposition, to a proposal by the cities of Aurora and Colorado Springs to drill bore holes to determine the feasibility of a second reservoir in the Homestake Creek drainage.
The information collected in the survey could help water managers better plan when and how much water to divert.
Some water experts say preserving these pre-compact water rights, even though they aren’t being used, could give Colorado stronger footing in potential negotiations with lower basin states by propping up Colorado’s consumptive-use tally on paper.
But despite the lower-than-average flows, this weekend is probably one of the best of the year to go boating on local waterways.
Since 2017, Water Asset Management has spent $16.6 million buying up 2,222 acres of irrigated agricultural land in the communities of Fruita, Loma and Mack, west of Grand Junction.
But water managers will have to think outside the box since the usual process of an ATM is transferring water from agricultural to municipal use, and there isn’t much irrigated agriculture in the upper Roaring Fork River basin.
The current forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Colorado River Basin Forecast Center estimates as of May 11 that there is 146,000 acre-feet of water — in the form of snowmelt — that will flow into Dillon Reservoir through July 31.
But due to concerns about the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, River District officials are still mulling whether to push ahead with a plan to ask voters to restore part of its original mill levy.