Drought conditions threaten worst water year on record

Sonja Chavez with the Colorado River Water Conservation District Board gave a sobering update on the state of the waterway to the Gunnison County Board of County Commissioners Tuesday. She invited the county commissioners to sign on to a letter addressing proposed federal activities downriver that would have serious implications for the Gunnison Basin.

Chavez detailed five potential actions that have been proposed to address the water shortages already threatening the region due to the extremely dry winter weather. None of the five options, she said, is viable without somehow receiving what the county commissioners termed “magic water.” The most likely outcome is litigation, said Chavez.

To illustrate the severity of the situation, Beverly Richards with the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District broke down some recent data that contextualizes the dry conditions everyone in the Gunnison area has been experiencing firsthand.

“Things are not looking good at all,” Richards said. Gunnison County is experiencing moderate drought in 88% of the territory, with 8% of the county in severe drought conditions. 

Richards brought up comparisons to dry years like 2002 and 2018. Unfortunately, Richards said, current conditions appear drier than any time in the monitoring period between 1991 and 2020. The most comparable year to the present situation is 1976-1977.

“We are tracking pretty closely to that,” Richards said. “It’s not looking good.”

The remnants of October storms are still holding on, she added, keeping soil moisture levels in good shape for the moment. But even with a storm predicted to drop some much-needed precipitation in the next few days, Richards and Chavez said the current state of the water and proposed federal actions at Lake Mead and Lake Powell remain very real threats.

Predicting one of the worst drought years on record, the pair urged the community to prepare for ongoing dry conditions.

“We know that drought is going to be part of the future,” said Richards. “We can’t put our heads in the sand.”