On the evening of July 31, 49 years ago, a deadly flooding disaster began in the Big Thompson Canyon in northern CO. Highway 34 cuts through the canyon between Loveland and Estes Park. On that night, an extreme precipitation event resulted in a large wall of water crashing through and killing 144.
— Becky Bolinger (@climatebecky.com) 2025-07-31T16:49:18.155Z
Day: August 2, 2025
#Drought news: Parachute adopts Water #Conservation Program in lieu of changing conditions at #ParachuteCreek — The PostIndependent.com
Click the link to read the article on the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent website (Town of Parachute):
July 30, 2025
n July, the Parachute Town Council adopted a Water Restriction and Conservation Program to help the town respond quickly and responsibly to changing water conditions.
The new program allows the town to implement or lift water use restrictions as needed throughout the year, based on water availability, drought conditions and regional coordination.
On July 15, it was announced that Parachute remains at a Stage 1 Water Watch due to low flows on the Parachute Creek. It has remained at Stage 1 partially due to ongoing coordination with other users of Parachute Creek and the community’s ongoing conservation efforts.
Stage 1 is a voluntary stage that applies to raw water irrigation users only. Parachute has not implemented any mandatory restrictions at this time and potable drinking water customers are not affected.
Parachute is encouraging all irrigation water users to take simple voluntary actions to help conserve water, such as:
- Reducing outdoor watering to three to five days a week
- Watering in the early morning or late evening to reduce evaporation
- Focusing water use on trees, vegetables and essential landscaping only
- Avoiding overwatering lawns or irrigating during rainfall
Voluntary conservation is key, as cutting back now could help the community avoid stricter, mandatory restrictions later this summer.
If conditions change, additional stages of the program may be implemented. Higher stages could make the current voluntary measures enforceable or even lead to a ban on all outdoor irrigation, though that has not yet been necessary in Parachute.
Future restrictions will be announced publicly and community members can stay up to date by following the town of Parachute’s social media accounts, like their Facebook at facebook.com/townofparachute/, downloading the “Town of Parachute” mobile app or visiting the town’s utilities page at parachute.gov/o/top/page/utilities.
For more questions on the program or water usage, contact Parachute Town Hall at 907-285-7630.
#Colorado Basin Roundtable takeaways: Less snowmelt, less water, and zebra mussels — KJCT
Click the link to read the article on the KJCT website. Here’s an excerpt:
July 28, 2025
On Monday, the Colorado Basin Roundtable had a meeting to discuss the state of the Colorado River. The Roundtable discussed the potential Shoshone stream flow acquisition. The area of interest is the 2.4 miles in Glenwood Canyon. It is important for Western Colorado because of its stream flow rate that mimics the current water rates used for hydropower. Wildlife organizations did habitat studies on it, and they show it improves the natural environment.
Another topic of discussion was the basin hydrology. With a limited snowpack this year, there is less water. The biggest concerns people had in the meeting related to that was the stress of many systems struggling from prolonged drought and aging infrastructure. Lindsay DeFrates, Deputy Director of Communications for the Colorado River District, said, “The Colorado Basin Roundtable is a great example of a room where a bunch of different stakeholders from agriculture, recreation, environment, municipal, industrial, water users all come together to talk about those solutions. It’s never an easy conversation. And we can’t forget about zebra mussels. Zebra mussel veligers were found at the Silt Boat Ramp and near New Castle.