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RBC | Farmers and ranchers in Rio Blanco County are starting off the new year optimistic about their involvement in the White River Integrated Water Initiative, which is aimed at assessing community needs from all water users in order to identify actions that promote a healthy river and ensure a vibrant agricultural community. Goals of the project also include maintaining healthy fisheries, protecting water rights both quantity and quality and respecting local customs, cultures and property rights.
The planning process was initiated by the board of the White River and Douglas Creek Conservation Districts to help meet Colorado’s Water Plan, which sets a goal that 80 percent of all watersheds will have a completed stream management plan by 2030. The White River initiative will reflect the priorities of local residents and is one of almost 25 others in Colorado that are creating stream and integrated water management plans.
Recent snowfalls may have left many Pueblo residents grumbling and slipping on sidewalks this month, but for scientists in the state, the precipitation was a welcome sight. We need snow and a lot of snow, warned Tony Anderson, service hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Pueblo. Anderson has been studying the drought levels in Southern Colorado for years and said that this is the worst he has seen, possibly ever.
With some luck, there could be snow in the forecast for this weekend. National Weather Service Meteorologist Kyle Mozley said Friday that Pueblo County can hope to see some precipitation late Sunday afternoon through the night.
Editor s note: This column has been updated to reflect that Aspen Journalism received three (not six) years of funding from the Walton Family Foundation and three years of funding from
Eagle River Watershed Council
Rivers are workhorses of the West – providing water to numerous industries, sustaining the environment and providing beauty. Isn’t it about time we gave back to them?
Special to the Daily
Use it or lose it.
That is a mantra some may know well here in Colorado, as it pertains to those holding water rights. With water rights, “use it or lose it” refers to the right-holder’s need to use all of their water, or risk losing their right. It’s more complicated than simply losing it, but great for dramatic effect.
Water rights in our state and the arid West have an interesting and colorful history, best summarized and further dramatized by Mark Twain. He said, “Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting.”
Yves here. In parts of the West, water rights have long been hotly contested. Potable water is the natural resource that is projected to come into serious shortage first. That makes management of resources like the Colorado River of critical importance, yet the bodies responsible for its stewardship are late to come to grips with the impact of perma-droughts
By Jan Ellen Spiegel. Originally published at Yale Climate Connections
Colorado is no stranger to drought. The current one is closing in on 20 years, and a rainy or snowy season here and there won’t change the trajectory.
This is what climate change has brought.