From You Colorado Water Blog (Carlee Brown):
Gov. John Hickenlooper and other members of the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) recently offered support for reauthorization of the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS). In letters to Senate sponsors of pending NIDIS legislation (S.376) and House Science, Space & Technology Committee leadership, the Western Governors emphasized the importance of this program for drought preparedness and response.
NIDIS provides a single, authoritative portal for drought information on its website, drought.gov. It coordinates observations and research from various federal, state and academic experts while providing a “one-stop shop” for the agricultural community, state water resource managers, private sector, media and others affected by drought…
Even with a wet spring, drought conditions still plague most of the state and will likely remain through the summer. Southern Colorado is particularly hard hit, where streamflow forecasts are at half of average levels.
Drought preparedness and response remains a priority for Western Governors, who will continue to work with Congress to ensure that NIDIS is reauthorized and that decision makers continue to have access to the best drought information available.
From The Durango Herald (Emery Cowan):
Though April brought more than 20 inches of snow to Colorado’s Front Range, Southwest Colorado has seen little of that spring moisture. And with a drier-than-normal winter coming on the heels of one of the driest years on record, this season is shaping up to be as bad as last year and possibly even worse for the region’s ranching and agricultural operations. Initial indicators show reservoir storage, field crops and native plants are going into the growing season in worse shape than 2012…
Large squares of supreme-quality alfalfa hay in Southwest Colorado are $230 to $245 per ton, according to the latest Colorado Hay Report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service. Two years ago, the prices ranged from $160 to $170 per ton. Prices increased dramatically as drought spread across the Southwest in 2012, but prices since have leveled out because hay consumers simply cannot afford to pay more than the current market price, said Randy Hammerstrom, officer in charge of USDA’s market news service. The tight hay market, combined with poor high-country and pasture grazing conditions has led many local ranchers to sell off part of their herds, said Chris Cugnini with Hi-Country Auction…
Meanwhile, local hay farmers expect to produce even less than last year in large part because of bleak irrigation forecasts. The region’s major reservoirs entered the water year with 24 percent to 69 percent less water than 2012 and then were hit with a season of below-average snowpack. Now, warm spring winds combined with dry soils are greatly depleting runoff flows…
Irrigators depending on McPhee, Lemon and Vallecito reservoirs are slated to receive a fraction of their allocated stored water – Vallecito Reservoir irrigators will get about 80 percent, McPhee Reservoir irrigators are expecting about 23 percent and Lemon Reservoir irrigators are expected to receive 35 percent. Florida Mesa farmers will receive irrigation water only through early to mid-July and will likely get just one cutting of hay, said Phillip Craig, a local hay farmer and president of the Florida Water Conservancy District’s board of directors. Eyeing current water forecasts, farmers have left fields fallow or planted crops such as oats that don’t take as much water as hay. Doug Thurston, a farmer on the Florida Mesa, said he will be able to irrigate about two-thirds of the number of hay acres that he was able to last year.
It can take years for crop yields to return to normal after a season or two of drought, Craig said. “It took us five years to recover from (the) 2002 (drought),” he said. “We’ve never gotten back to production we had pre-2002.”[…]
Researchers at Colorado State University have studied drought’s ripple effects. In a survey about last year’s drought conditions, 90 percent of respondents from Southwest Colorado reported below-average forage yields while 35 percent reported selling livestock in response to the drought. If the drought persists, 34 percent of Southwest Colorado respondents said there was a 50 percent or greater chance they will leave the industry in the next five years while a third suggested they sought additional off-farm employment in response to the drought.
From Denver Water:
Now that snow runoff season is well underway, we will continue to see the snowpack charts decline and the reservoir levels increase. But, we are always monitoring conditions, and even with the great late season snow storms we’ll need conditions to continue working in our favor to help our lagging reservoirs recover…
We know that the soil is extremely dry in these areas and will soak up as much moisture as it needs. And, even though runoff will continue to flow into our reservoirs, we’ll need wetter than normal weather throughout June to help our water supply conditions get back to normal.
There are also many benefits to the rain in our service area. Every gallon of water saved by not watering the lawn is another gallon saved in our reservoirs. Since the mandatory watering rules took place April 1, we’ve had enough snow or rain that there has been no need to water two days a week.