Colorado River Water Conservation District - CRD | Water Planning

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To lead in the protection, conservation, use, and development of the water resources of the
Colorado River water basin for the welfare of the District, and to safeguard for Colorado
all waters of the Colorado River to which the state is entitled.

To lead in the protection, conservation, use, and development of the water resources of the Colorado River water basin for the welfare of the District, and to safeguard for Colorado all waters of the Colorado River to which the state is entitled.

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Upcoming Events

Colorado River District Third Quarterly Board Meeting

2022-07-20 @ 08:00 AM - 2022-07-20 @ 05:00 PM

Colorado River District Third Quarterly Board Meeting

2022-07-19 @ 08:00 AM - 2022-07-19 @ 05:00 PM

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#community The Community Funding Partnership is d

#community
The Community Funding Partnership is designed to support West Slope water users in projects big and small.
Learn more at our website
https://www.coloradoriverdistrict.org/community-funding-partnership/

#communityfundingpartnership
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#Coloradowater
#westernslope
#westerncolorado
#ColoradoRiverDistrict
#yourwater
#yourCORiverDistrict

#waterwednesday Colorado River District staff mai

#waterwednesday
Colorado River District staff maintains a regular presence at the state capitol each legislative session to ensure that Western Colorado’s water users and environmental needs are represented under the “golden dome. The 2022 state legislative session adjourned for the year just before midnight on May 11, 2022.

In a memorandum written to the River District’s Board of Directors, Director of Government Relations, Zane Kessler, noted that the 2022 legislative session was marked by unprecedented spending fueled by a strong state budget and billions in federal COVID aid. “Elections loomed large throughout much of the session,” said Kessler. “Both sides of the aisle worked to bolster their credentials ahead of the upcoming midterm election cycle.”

Kessler also highlighted the upcoming meetings of Colorado’s Interim Water Resources and Agriculture Committee – a bicameral, bipartisan committee that meets outside of the 120-day legislative session to learn about and address key water and agricultural issues in the Interim committee members for 2022 include the following legislators. The Interim Committee’s meeting schedule for 2022 includes hearings in Denver on August 4, Steamboat Springs on August 24, and in Denver again on September 22.

Visit our website at the link in our bio, then click "Water News" to read all the updates.

#COriver #drought #cowater #repyourwater #Coloradowater #westernslope #westerncolorado #ColoradoRiverDistrict #yourwater #yourCORiverDistrict

On June 14th, Camille Touton, Bureau of Reclamatio

On June 14th, Camille Touton, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner, testified to a Senate Committee that the seven states in the Colorado River Basin need to develop plans to reduce their total consumptive use by between 2 and 4 million acre feet before the middle of August. If the states are not able to do so, the Commissioner indicated that the Bureau of Reclamation will take unilateral action to reduce system consumption.

Andy Mueller shared the perspective of the River District. “The Upper Basin states have taken the Commissioner’s words at face value and are working cooperatively together to develop and implement plans to reduce Upper Basin Consumptive uses.”

The urgency of the situation is apparent even in national headlines. The inflow into Lake Powell continues to be extremely poor. The combination of the poor hydrology and the Lower Basin’s continued high depletions from Lake Mead have set up a significant crisis in the management of the Colorado River.

Mueller stressed that any meaningful solution must address the continued overuse of the Colorado River’s waters by the Lower Basin states (Arizona, California and Nevada) which have taken no shortages until this year, despite the drastically reduced hydrology of the last twenty-plus years. Without those reductions, there is understandable concern that any Upper Basin conserved water will simply be funneled through the Hoover Dam and irretrievably consumed by the Lower Basin.

While the Upper Basin’s consumptive uses from the Colorado River System declined from 4.5 million acre feet to approximately 3.5 million acre feet, between 2019 and 2021, during the same period, the Lower Basin’s mainstem consumptive depletions from the system have increased by over 600,000 acre feet.

However, if the Colorado River’s hydrology average yield no longer sustains enough water for each basin to receive its share under the Compact of 1922 (7.5 million acre-feet per year for the Upper and Lower basin states), each state may need to play a part in curtailing water use. Colorado does not have a playbook for how cuts to water users would be administered within the state.
#Coloradoriver #cowater #drought #hooverdam

#waterwednesday Coordinated releases out of Ruedi

#waterwednesday
Coordinated releases out of Ruedi Reservoir (which began 7/23) are meant to address rising water temps in the Roaring Fork River and include 300 acre-feet of water donated by the River District which will be shepherded to the "15-mile Reach" in Grand Valley.

The Towns of Basalt and Carbondale, the City of Glenwood Springs, along with the Mid Valley Metro District also contributed water to this effort.

"These hot, dry years are getting worse and worse for our rivers and our communities," stated April Long, Executive Director of Ruedi Water and Power Authority in a recent press release. "I am impressed and extremely grateful that these organizations recognize the importance of our rivers and are willing to work together to put more water into them."

#cowater #CORiver #roaringforkvalley #drought #angler #repyourwater #floattrip #fishingclosure #nativetrout #flyfishing #flyfishcolorado

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