Here’s a look at the current state of the Colorado River from Hannah Holm writing for the Grand Junction Free Press. Click through and read the whole article. Here’s an excerpt:
This week brought a mix of gloom and sunshine to the water picture for the Colorado River Basin.
Gloom came in the form of a report by the conservation group American Rivers, which declared the Colorado to be the “Most Endangered River in America.” The report highlights the fact that the river no longer meets the sea, as well as information from last fall’s Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which showed that the river is already over-tapped, and imbalances between supply and demand are likely to get worse in the future.
The figurative sunshine came, first of all, in the form of literal gloom: The skies darkened, and rain began to fall, then snow, and more snow (even in Grand Junction), and a slight uptick in the snowpack trend-line turned into a real spike, bringing snowpack levels in Colorado’s part of the Colorado River Basin up above 90% of the average for this time of year, and double what it was at this time in 2012.
Of course, 90% is still below average, but considering that one month ago the snowpack was just barely catching up to where it was at the beginning of last year’s historic drought, this counts as very good news. It means our wildfire danger will be lower, more crops can grow, and water managers won’t pull out quite so many hairs. Mandatory water restrictions are less likely (here anyway — Denver’s are still on), and rafting may be more fun.