Sunday, December 11, 2005

Water Park in Glenwood Springs? Glenwood Springs is hoping to build a whitewater park, according to the Glenwood Springs Post Independent. From the article, "A five-year dream of local kayaking enthusiasts to build a whitewater park in town is starting to look as if it might become a reality. A tentative plan is taking shape for building the attraction in West Glenwood. A conceptual design prepared by an engineering firm lays out a vision of a big-wave feature in the river just west of the bridge crossing the Colorado River at Midland Avenue. On either bank, terraces formed by boulders would offer vantage points to spectators, as would a pedestrian bridge on the west side of the bridge. The area would link to a trail that might someday extend to South Canyon, already an attraction for whitewater enthusiasts. A parking lot would be built on city property on the southwest side of the bridge..." Category: Colorado Water 8:53:46 AM     Snowpack Snowpack in Colorado is looking good for 2006. Here's an article from today's Denver Post detailing where we stand [December 11, 2005, "Rebounding waters"]. From the article, "Three years of well-timed snowfall, record stream flows and water conservation have raised the levels of reservoirs and significantly improved Colorado's water prospects since the 2002 drought...As of Friday, snowpack for the Colorado River and South Platte River basins - where most of the ski resorts are - was 143 percent and 135 percent of average. This time last year, the basins were below average...Drought is - and always will be - a frequent, unwelcome visitor to Colorado, where 'normal' means about 17 inches of rain a year, experts say. In fact, tree-ring data indicate the 2002 drought and the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s pale in comparison with much longer, widespread Western droughts about 1,000 years ago." Category: Colorado Water 8:38:02 AM     Lake Powell water levels So how is Lake Powell doing? The reservoir in Utah is the major storage for Colorado's deliveries to the downstream states under the Colorado River Compact. The Denver Post reports that Lake Powell's water levels are still way down [December 11, 2005, "Lake Powell still a glass half-empty"]. From the article, "Flows into Lake Powell were slightly above average this year, but the giant reservoir in Utah remains far from full, officials with the Bureau of Reclamation say. In 2005, flows into the reservoir were about 105 percent of average. Even with that increase, Lake Powell is only about half- full, holding 12 million acre-feet of water...Some Western environmental groups are skeptical about the chances of Lake Powell ever refilling again. They say the insatiable thirst of booming cities in Arizona, California and Nevada will outweigh any gains in flow the reservoir may experience." Category: Colorado Water 8:06:59 AM

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