Michelle Garrison, a state water resources specialist, saw something missing on her January drive from Oregon to Denver. No ice on the roads. No snow in the foothills.
Her mind turned to drought and reservoirs and the recently expired drought management agreement between Colorado and three other states.
“It makes me think that this year is going to be a real challenge,” she said. “It looked like November everywhere I drove.”
Garrison presented this year’s outlook Monday during a meeting in Aurora of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the state’s top water policy agency. As warm and dry conditions continue in the West, the forecasts for the amount of water flowing through the Upper Colorado River Basin keep dropping. For officials like Garrison, it’s hard not to be pessimistic: More dry and warm weather means greater concerns about hydropower generation, recreation and algal blooms on the Western Slope.
And to top it off, the agreement that outlines how Upper Basin states, including Colorado, can help out in drought years expired Dec. 31, and it’s not yet clear from a legal standpoint what that means for this year.
To read the entire article, visit The Colorado Sun.