By Shannon Mullane | Colorado Sun
Ken Curtis, a water manager in southwestern Colorado, had two words to describe his district’s expected water supply this summer: “Pretty bad.”
“(We’re) looking at about 30%, maybe 35% supply,” said Curtis, who manages the Dolores Water Conservancy District.
Water managers across Colorado and the West are looking at this winter’s snowfall and weather forecasts to plan for summer water supplies, whether it’s using water for gardens, lawns, fisheries, crops or livestock. The conditions vary widely at the local level. In some parts of Colorado, like Denver, the winter provided enough snow to fill reservoirs and avoid extra restrictions. Other regions are tightening their belts.
Curtis hoped to at least give water users in his district half of their normal supply for the season, he said. The district sends irrigation water to farmers, the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe, a nearby fishery and communities like Cortez and Dove Creek.
“It’s not going to happen,” he said.
Across Colorado, the snowpack peaked lower in major river basins than the 30-year median, according to federal data from 1991 to 2020. The peaks were often earlier than usual, and the snowpack is melting quickly — several weeks earlier than the norm in some areas.
Water managers and climatologists are hoping for a rainy May and active summer thunderstorm season. In dry years, farmers and ranchers can be short on irrigation water in late summer. Reservoirs can have less extra water to carry over into the next year. Fish and aquatic ecosystems can suffer with less water in warmer rivers.
Water managers across the desert Southwest are in similar situations. Western Colorado is a key water source for the Colorado River Basin, where rivers and streams send water into an immense reservoir, Lake Powell.