Colorado mountain snowpack still lags, at 72 percent of the norm, and federal forecasters project drought will persist across much of the southwestern United States, threatening agricultural producers.
Near-record low snow levels remained at 60 percent of the median or less Sunday in the southern half of Colorado in the Arkansas, Rio Grande, San Miguel, Animas, Dolores and San Juan river basins, the latest federal survey shows. In the northern half of Colorado, snowpack hovered around 84 percent of the median in the Upper Colorado River and South Platte River basins, data show.
Water utilities have been monitoring conditions closely since early January, counting on spring snow and relatively full reservoirs to supply residents during dry months this summer and fall.
“We have not caught up. Snowpack is below normal. That means stream flow is going to be below normal,” said Brian Domonkos, supervisor of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Colorado snow survey.
“Things are not extremely bad. But in some cases they are teetering,” Domonkos said. “If we continue to have dry conditions, then people are going to be more concerned than we are now.”
Snowpack in Colorado’s high mountains serves as a reservoir, holding water until spring, when rising temperatures melt the snow, sending water into streams and rivers.
Precipitation levels this past winter also have lagged around the state, with 83 percent of average precipitation in the Upper Colorado River basin, 61 percent in the Arkansas River basin and 54 percent along the Rio Grande, data show.
Potential water shortages depend on water users and their location. In metro Denver, residents supplied by Denver Water sometimes aren’t aware of the exceptionally dry mountains. On Sunday afternoon, golfers roved about the Park Hill Golf Course benefiting from year-round irrigation.
“We water our golf course consistently, as long as the temperatures aren’t freezing. We don’t rely on mountain snowpack,” pro shop manager Spencer Hanson said.
In southeastern Colorado, farmers depend on the Arkansas River to irrigate crops, a water source also tapped by Colorado Springs and Pueblo municipal suppliers. Farmers with senior water rights generally can count on receiving water, but those with junior water rights face possible curtailment.
“We have had a couple fires. It is dry,” waitress April Torres said Sunday evening at the Fiesta Restaurant in Rocky Ford.
The latest federal drought data show about 70 percent of Colorado in drought along with much of the Southwest from California to Texas.
Heavy spring snowstorms in recent years have saved Colorado and its booming population from serious water trouble. Could that still happen? “Probably not,” Domonkos said Sunday.
The snow on Colorado mountains feeds the nation’s main rivers. The snowpack hasn’t been this paltry statewide for three decades.
