Click the link to read the article on The Aspen Daily News website (Austin Corona). Here’s an excerpt:
May 10, 2024
Ruedi Reservoir is expected to hit full capacity for only the second time in five years, according to projections shared by reservoir managers. The managers don’t know exactly when the reservoir will hit capacity, though Tim Miller, hydrologist for the Bureau of Reclamation — the federal agency that operates Ruedi Dam — said it will likely stay full through July. Miller said calls for Ruedi water farther down the Colorado River could change that timeline. Ruedi is currently 68.8% full.
Ruedi did not reach its full capacity for three years between 2020 and 2022. Low runoff kept the reservoir from filling in 2020, and then overshoots in inflow projections and dry soils caused the reservoir to miss its capacity again in 2021. Reservoir levels then dropped to a 20-year nadir in March 2022 and never quite reached full capacity during a rebound that summer. Those three years were the only multiyear stretch in which Ruedi failed to fill in the last 10 years. Reservoir levels also fell short in 2018.
Ruedi ended its dry streak after a wet winter in 2023, with Miller reporting in August that last year was almost flawless for reservoir operations. This year, Miller said snowpack and runoff projections look similar to 2023. Water supply forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Colorado Basin River Forecast Center project a total Fryingpan River April-July runoff volume at Ruedi roughly 10% higher than projections from the same time in 2023 (this year’s May 1 projection is 135,000 acre feet).
Miller said the Ruedi may receive even greater flows than expected this year because of operational issues at a connected facility on the eastern slope. Miller said water managers may have to leave more water in the Fryingpan River this year than usual if Turquoise Lake, an eastern slope reservoir that receives Fryingpan water through a tunnel under the continental divide, fills up. Miller said Turquoise’s outflow will be limited this year because both pump/turbine units at the Mount Elbert pumped-storage powerplant, which constitutes one outlet for the reservoir, are not operating this summer.