By Sam Liebl The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation burned what it could not move and flooded what it could not burn. By the spring of 1968, the residents of Iola, a town 12 miles west of Gunnison, had been forced out. The Blue Mesa Dam was complete, and the impounded waters of the Gunnison River …
Brief by Central Staff
Drought – November 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine
Colorado’s five-year drought has struck the southern part of the state harder than the northern part — especially the San Juans and the San Luis Valley.
The effects show up with decreased harvests, and harder times for farmers and ranchers, and also wildlife, as reported by outdoor writer Charlie Meyers in the Oct. 6 Denver Post.
Article by Ray Schoch
Drought – May 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
REVELATION
I came to Colorado after half a century in St. Louis, Missouri — where 40 inches of rain a year, the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi, and oh, yes humidity rivaling a Brazilian rain forest’s, made for a water supply which seldom entered my thoughts. I was retracing the Oregon Trail for the first time in 1975. Standing on top of Scott’s Bluff that June, looking west to the Laramie Range on the horizon, it dawned on me that, despite the bright Nebraska sun and a temperature of 85 degrees, I was comfortable. All those “but it’s a dry heat” jokes suddenly made sense.
Article by Jim And Gary Ludwig
Drought – May 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
BY ALL STANDARDS we are in a drought. We don’t know if this is a short-term phenomenon or the beginning of an extended period of below normal precipitation. During 2002 it was convenient to just ignore the situation unless it directly affected you and assume that things would be back to normal this year.
Letter from Ed Rogers
Drought – March 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
Editors:
As this winter turns dry, more people are starting to realize that the drought we are experiencing is not short term and finally the media appear to be waking up to what many geologists and climatologists have been warning: this drought is long term, possibly decades long.
Brief by Central Staff
Drought – February 2003 – Colorado Central Magazin
If you dress for a shower, then water might fall from the sky?
As our drought progresses, we’ve read about all manner of proposed remedies, ranging from cloud-seeding to water restrictions.
Southern Australia is also suffering from drought, but they’re trying a different approach. To quote from a Dec. 5, 2002, Reuters dispatch:
Column by Hal Walter
Drought – January 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
IT’S A NEVER-CEASING SOURCE of amazement for me when I turn on the faucet and somewhere from about 150 feet underground, comes water.
In fact, it is so much an amazement, that a major home-improvement project I tackled one particularly icy weekend this fall was the installation — at great plumbing hassle — of a new sink and fixtures that cost almost exactly what I will earn from writing this column in all of 2002.
Brief by Central Staff
Drought – December 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
We’re all pretty familiar with the effects of the drought on our valleys and hillsides — dry streambeds, ailing trees, brown fields, shrinking reservoirs, empty ditches, watering restrictions, etc.
But what about the highest country, up above timberline? Except for the absence of summer snowbanks, it looked about the same as ever last summer.
Brief by Central Staff
Drought – December 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
Blue Mesa Reservoir showed the effects of the drought this fall, as the water recedes from its old shoreline.
Column by Hal Walter
Drought – November 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
It’s fall at timberline and I am camped high in the northern Sangres at a lake that shall remain nameless though by context the observant reader may be able to guess. In checking the register at the trailhead, it appeared fewer than a dozen people had visited this place in the last year.
Sidebar by Greg Hobbs
Drought – September 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
Observations about water and history in the Americas
Gregg Hobbs
Associate Justice, Colorado Supreme Court
Presented at the 27th annual Western Water Workshop in Gunnison, Aug. 2, 2002
Essay by Martha Quillen
Drought – September 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
This year, George Sibley coordinated the 27th annual Colorado Water Workshop at Western State College.
From July 31 to August 2, WSC hosted serious presentations on water law, water policy, environmental issues, and various dams and diversions. The primary subject this year was the history and future of reclamation, but conservation was also addressed, and sarcastic quips about Gunnison’s water wealth were commonplace.
Brief by Central Staff
Drought – September 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
While it may sound sensible to get the most from every drop of water during this drought, it may be illegal to catch rain from your roof or to pour gray water on your garden.
Custer County residents got a reminder of this at a public forum on July 24, sponsored by the towns of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff, both served by the Round Mountain Water and Sanitation District.
Brief by Central Staff
Drought – August 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine –
This summer’s drought has led many of our towns, cities, and water districts to restrict outdoor water use — many, but not all.
In general, the farther north and upstream you go, the less likely you are to encounter water restrictions. Go south and downstream, and it gets harder to maintain a lawn or garden.
Brief by Central Staff
Drought – July 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
Even places that usually have plenty of water are hurting this year. One of them is Green Earth Farm near Saguache, where owner Tom McCracken said he’s already had to abandon his peas, oats, and barley.
When we talked to him on June 9, he said his ditch had been turned off for 10 days. He couldn’t remember his exact water priority date, “but it’s an old one,” and his is the seventh-oldest of the 130 on a ditch that gets its water from Saguache Creek. “The top six on the ditch are getting only 40% of their water.”
Brief by Central Staff
Drought – June 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
The ongoing story this spring is drought, as in “Dry as a Baptist wedding” or “So dry that the jackrabbits are carrying canteens and compasses.” (Other metaphors for aridity are welcome, and those which are printable will be published.)
Statewide, Colorado averages 4.92 inches by mid-May; this year, it’s 1.58 inches, and precipitation has been below normal since last August.