Colorado Water
Here's Part Four of the Rocky Mountain News' series on the effect of water diversions on mountain counties, [October 6, 2004, "The Last Drop, part 4: Summit County Trouble looms in Glamour Gulch"]. From the article, "The Roaring Fork is just a phantom version of the once-noisy beast that gave the waterway its evocative name. In decades past, the river has been divided, diverted and drained. It has been steered toward ski areas and hayfields and even through mountains to irrigate the emerald corn and melon fields of southeastern Colorado's Arkansas River Valley and the pop-up suburbs of Colorado Springs. Front Range diversions alone have cost the Roaring Fork above Aspen nearly 40 percent of its flow. Another 10 percent leaves the river above town at the Salvation Ditch, which waters hayfields and ranches down valley. Few realize another troubling fact: The Roaring Fork appears to be on the verge of losing even more water, which could turn this Aspen landmark into the 'Roaring Seep,' as one Western Slope water official put it."
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