Dams and reservoirs

What started as a promising water year for Colorado with above-average snowpack ended Sept. 30 with the entire state in some level of drought.

Colorado’s reservoirs are 25 percent lower than they were last year at this time, as a hot, dry summer continues into the fall.

The state of Colorado and the Rio Blanco Water Conservancy District are still at odds over a proposed White River dam and reservoir project.

Risk of severe water shortages in the seven-state Colorado River Basin have risen dramatically since April with new forecasts indicating that lakes Powell and Mead could hit crisis levels much sooner than previously expected.

The second-ever call on the Yampa River was lifted after water providers announced an Elkhead Reservoir water release to support irrigators and endangered fish.

Diane Mitsch Bush, the Democratic candidate for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, pledged cooperation and Lauren Boebert, her Republican challenger, promised to fight — the Front Range, neighboring states and the federal government — to protect Western Slope water.

Front Range water providers recently released water stored in Homestake Reservoir to test how to get water downstream to the state line in the event of a Colorado River Compact call.

Amid one of the hottest summers on record for Colorado, Dillon Reservoir is 94% full, nearly 5 feet below its capacity. This level of drought has been manageable this year for Denver Water partly because of the 2018-19 winter.

This page features images and footage shot with a GoPro camera during a pilot-only Lighthawk flight above Lake Mead and Hoover Dam, along the Colorado River near Las Vegas,...

The vast majority of comments received by the agency opposed the proposed dam and reservoir in Western Colorado.