Colorado has big dreams to use more water from the Colorado River. But will planned reservoirs ever be built?
… An analysis by Aspen Journalism found that across Colorado’s Western Slope, cities, conservancy districts, fossil fuel companies and private entities hold conditional water rights that would store about 2.6 million additional acre-feet from the Colorado River and its tributaries in not-yet-built reservoirs each bigger than 5,000 acre-feet. This is a staggering amount of water storage and more than the entire state of Colorado currently uses from the Colorado River basin, which is about 2.1 million acre-feet a year. Most of this water would be stored in not-yet-built reservoirs, each bigger than 5,000 acre-feet. In some cases, the water would be stored in already-existing reservoirs, using conditional rights that would allow the reservoir to be refilled or enlarged.
Other Colorado River articles:
- Post Independent (Glenwood Springs, Colo.): Salt in the Colorado River is causing problems. A bill is now heading to Biden’s desk that would send more money to address the challenge.
- Sky-Hi News (Granby, Colo.): Colorado Headwaters Land Trust closes on ‘long-awaited’ Granby conservation easement
