With record-low snowpack and ongoing drought in Colorado, the Allocation and Storage Committee of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District voted to recommend no Fryingpan-Arkansas allocation this year at its May 7 meeting.
Chris Woodka, senior policy manager with the Southeastern District, said the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is projecting Fry-Ark imports of just 1,000 acre-feet in 2026 due to lack of snowpack in the Fryingpan River basin, where the District collects water.
“With the usual deductions, that would have left just 55 acre-feet to allocate, which is too small of a number to equitably allocate to our customers (62 municipalities and 44 ditches)”, Woodka said.
Another factor is the loss of “about 2,500 acre-feet of storage in Pueblo Reservoir due to sedimentation,” he said. Consequently, the Committee recommended using up to 2,500 acre-feet from the District’s emergency account “to balance the amount of storage available in Pueblo Reservoir when elevation tables change in October.
“The Southeastern Board will take action on these recommendations at its May 21 meeting.”
Average annual Fry-Ark water imports are 46,000 acre-feet.
For historical comparison to other drought years, Woodka said, “Imports in 2002 and 2012 were slightly above 13,000 acre-feet in both years. In 1977, imports were at 10,000 acre-feet, and the (Southeastern) Board chose at that time to make no allocation.”
This marks just the second time in 54 years that no allocation of Fry-Ark water will be made.
At the recent Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District board meeting, Projects Manager Gracy Goodwin reported that the Upper Ark District currently has 6,927.6 acre-feet of water stored in various reservoirs.
“We’re better positioned than most” to weather the current drought, she said.
Goodwin’s storage report also indicated that Salida currently has 174.6 acre-feet of water in storage.
Photo: Turquoise Lake, near Leadville, receives water imported from the West Slope by the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project via the Boustead Tunnel.
