Click the link to read the article on the Gunnison Country Times website (Joshua Pike). Here’s an excerpt:
October 8, 2026
The Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District Board of Directors approved lowering the Oct. 31 reservoir level at Taylor Reservoir from 50,000 acre-feet to 48,000 acre-feet at its Sept. 28 meeting. The targeted Oct. 31 water level helps guide releases from the reservoir into the Taylor River downstream, since the level determines how much water is available for release. It also affects how much the reservoir refills over the winter and how much water is available for release the following year. Decisions on reservoir levels and releases are guided by the Taylor Local Users Group, which includes representatives for a variety of recreation interests on the river, irrigators on the Taylor and Gunnison rivers and property owners in the area. Taylor Local Users Group recommendations on releases and reservoir levels must then be approved by the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the Colorado River Water Conservation District, all of which are signatories to the 1975 agreement that established rules governing the reservoir’s operations…
At the Sept. 28 Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District meeting, Don Sabrowski, district president and Taylor Local Users Group chair, explained that, since 2026 is a dry year, the target for the Taylor Reservoir was not to go below 50,000 acre-feet by Oct. 31. According to Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District General Manager Sonja Chavez, the district usually aims to keep the reservoir from dropping below 70,000 acre-feet in normal or wet years.
