Adapting the Colorado River Basin
Colorado, USA, USA
Description: After two years of effort, the State of Colorado adopted the Colorado Water Plan in 2016. Among many goals, the plans called for the 80% of locally prioritized rivers to be covered by Stream Management Plans by 2030. Stream management plans identify shared environmental and recreational values and the associated biological and hydrological data to support these values. The plans then identify management actions that are needed to support the flows and land conditions necessary to achieve the environmental and recreational values.
©Mark Godfrey/TNC
Financing: In 2017, the state provided US$5 million in grants to develop projects and plans to restore and protect watersheds and streams including the creation of stream management plans. A few places in the state had already begun to grapple with these issues prior to the issuance of the Colorado Water Plan. In approximately 2015, stakeholders in the Roaring Fork Valley, which drains Aspen, began a process to write and implement such a plan. The initial plan was released by consultants in 2016. Importantly, the plan built upon a number of documents written over the previous decade. For the Crystal River, a large tributary of the Roaring Fork, the plan assessed existing ecosystem function and looked at values such as the flow and sediment regimes, water quality, floodplain connectivity and riparian vegetation. The plan assessed stream morphology, channel structure, along with the biotic structure and performed an overview of existing water rights. These rights include agricultural and municipal rights, instream flow rights and trans-basin diversions. Planners constructed a model to understand the interplay of these rights and other factors of importance.
Actions and impacts: Planners used the model to investigate a number of alternative management strategies. Market-based strategies included non-diversion agreements, short-term water leasing. Conservation strategies included ditch lining, the use of sprinklers, and irrigation scheduling. An off-channel reservoir was considered to improve supply in dry times. Finally, the plan also considered various modifications to the river channel. The plan identified a number of preferred management priorities. These included a non-diversion agreement with existing agricultural users, approximately 70% of the water use, and conservation by the largest municipality in the drainage, Carbondale. In January of 2018, Colorado’s Water Trust announced a 3-year agreement with a local rancher to keep water in the Crystal River during low flow periods.
References
CWI (Colorado Water Institute). 1995–2019. “Newsletter on Stream Management Plans”.
Lotic Hydrological, LLC. 2016. Crystal River Management Plan. Roaring Fork Conservancy. Public Council of the Rockies.
State of Colorado. 2019. “Stream Management Plans”. https://www.colorado.gov/cowaterplan
Tory, S. 2018. “New water agreement for Crystal River could open door to boost Colorado rivers”. The Aspen Times. January 23.
©Jason Houston
