Click the link to read the artilcle on The Aspen Times website (Skyler Stark-Ragsdale). Here’s an excerpt:
January 11, 2025
Irrigation is a major source of water waste in Snowmass, a critical issue as the town draws entirely from local streams. Once diverted, much of the water never follows its natural course to the Colorado River, according to Water Resource Manager Darrell Smith, who presented to the Environmental Advisory Board earlier this week.
“Water is a scarce resource on the Western Slope and in the Colorado Basin as a whole,” Smith told The Aspen Times on Thursday. “So it’s part of doing our part to not use the water we have available to excess.”
Many second homeowners expect their lawn is green, and plants are watered by the time they arrive for the summer months, Smith said. The top 10% of Snowmass irrigators triple the average rate of water use…The Roaring Fork Valley watershed provides 10% of the total water volume to the Colorado River Basin, according to the Roaring Fork Conservancy. But the river no longer reaches the Pacific Ocean. It dries up in Northwestern Mexico due to human water usage, according to USGS. The Colorado River is predicted to drop 29% by 2050 in the Upper Colorado River Basin due to a hotter and drier climate, according to a 2021 USGS study...When temperatures increase, plants need more water, and people irrigate more, drawing more from the watershed, according to him…
As it stands, 35% of annual water usage in single family Snowmass residences comes from irrigation, primarily between June and September, he said. The top 10% of irrigators use 2,100 gallons per day — three times the 700 gallons used by the average Snowmass irrigator. While 95% of indoor water use returns to streams, only 20% of irrigated water returns, according to Smith.