Author: JERD SMITH Fresh Water News
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Colorado River flows will plummet this water year to 24% of normal: Bureau
LAS VEGAS • As the Colorado River crisis deepens, a new federal analysis of flows into Lake Powell shows that they will continue to plummet through 2025, before beginning to partially recover. James Prairie, a hydrologic engineer for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, said flows are likely to be just 24% of average this year, making it…
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Federal infrastructure money to help alleviate PFAS, lead in Colorado water
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Hundreds of thousands of Coloradans exposed to drinking water tainted by lead from aging, corroded city pipes or so-called forever chemicals, will see clean water faster thanks to a historic infusion of $500 million from the federal government. The money, largely from the new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is being funneled through the Colorado Department of…
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Summer rains boost soil moisture to 8-year high, but Colorado water forecast “tenuous”
Soil moisture levels are the highest they’ve been since 2014, and that could improve next year’s spring runoff season, water officials said at a meeting of the state’s Water Availability Task Force. Since May, the summer rainy season increased precipitation dramatically, with river basins across the state measuring precipitation that ranged from 110% to 160%…
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Summer rains boost soil moisture to 8-year high, but Colorado water forecast “tenuous”
Soil moisture levels are the highest they’ve been since 2014, and that could improve next year’s spring runoff season, water officials said at a meeting of the state’s Water Availability Task Force. Since May, the summer rainy season increased precipitation dramatically, with river basins across the state measuring precipitation that ranged from 110% to 160%…
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Reclamation: Upper Basin reservoirs insufficient to save Lake Powell
Flaming Gorge Reservoir, which Bureau of Reclamation officials have used twice during the past two years to add water to the rapidly deteriorating Colorado River system, likely has only enough water left for two more emergency releases, according reclamation officials. Last summer, the Bureau of Reclamation ordered the release of 125,000 acre-feet of water from…
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Colorado will renew attempt to bring hydrogen plant to the Yampa River Valley
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save After an attempt last year to secure funding for a green hydrogen pilot in the Yampa River Valley failed, state officials and Tri-State Generation and Transmission, among others, are taking another run at the idea,…
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Two new Colorado River deals give parched Lake Powell temporary relief
Drought-strapped Lake Powell has received a major, if potentially temporary, reprieve with two emergency agreements that will provide 1 million acre-feet of Colorado River water this year to boost lake levels and protect hydropower production at Glen Canyon Dam. The water will come from an emergency release of 500,000 acre-feet from Utah’s Flaming Gorge Reservoir,…
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La Niña likely to continue, intensifying drought, wildfires
As warm spring winds whip the Eastern Plains, sapping soils of moisture, and the state’s reservoirs sit at below-average levels, water managers got more bad news last week: This particular drought cycle could continue through the summer and into the fall leading the state into its third year of below-average snowpack and stream flows and…
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Long-awaited clean water pipeline for southern Colorado residents greenlighted
Thousands of people in the Lower Arkansas Valley who’ve struggled to deal with contaminated water for more than 20 years will have access to clean water by 2024 under a new agreement signed by the federal government and two Colorado water agencies last week. The Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC), as the clean water delivery project…
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Long-awaited clean water pipeline for southern Colorado residents greenlighted
Thousands of people in the Lower Arkansas Valley who’ve struggled to deal with contaminated water for more than 20 years will have access to clean water by 2024 under a new agreement signed by the federal government and two Colorado water agencies last week. The Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC), as the clean water delivery project…