Weather now seems to come in extremes, such as the record-setting March high temperatures in Colorado, associated – or not – with minimal winter snowfall. Plant budding is two weeks ahead of normal, experienced gardeners say. Or consider the deluge of three or four inches of rain that fell over a couple of days in October.
Thus, the early summer drought we’re in now could be corrected by a string of substantial rainstorms. Or not.
Past weather patterns no longer predict the present – or the future.
Ease back on your water use, Durango’s city leadership rightly urges, even though the city has early water rights on the Florida River that are relied on year-round, and very early rights on the Animas River, which are needed for summertime lawns (the former is gravity flow; the latter is pumped). Gray water is utilized as well: Fort Lewis College and Greenmount Cemetery’s grassy areas are watered by water from the Florida River that bypasses the city’s treatment plant.
(Water would still be required, but perhaps additional applications of untreated, or gray, water on Durango’s public and private lawns would make long-term economic sense after infrastructure investments. Santa Rita Park, alongside the river, would be an easy adoption. There are cities in dry climates that install two water lines to new construction.)
Attendees at Friday’s Southwestern Water Conservation District’s annual seminar in Ignacio – where immediate and long-term water shortages were woven into most topics – heard that Durango has never mandated water restrictions. Good planning by the city’s forebears, for sure, but ease back, nevertheless.
Irrigators on the Florida Mesa will benefit from that heavy rain last fall, as the amount of water stored in Lemon Reservoir is greater than might be expected following such limited snowfall. But that’s storage water, intended to extend the irrigation season. It will be called on much earlier this summer, as early irrigation water – direct flows provided by snowmelt in the Florida River – won’t amount to much.
Vallecito Reservoir was also under that downpour and benefited. And while its irrigators had to deal with rocks, trees and brush swept into the river channel above the reservoir, it too will provide stored water early.
For all the possible negatives associated with limited water this coming summer, don’t include the rafting community. David Moler, who owns several water recreation companies, including Durango Rivertrippers, and has floating operations on multiple Western rivers, said Friday that a raft trip is about time on the water with family and friends, disconnected from phones and screens – not the challenge of whitewater. “It’s all right,” he said more than once about the expected conditions. Rafts draw relatively little water, and are being designed to draw even less, Moler said.
For the Dolores River below McPhee Reservoir, it was about aquatic life. Boating is limited because of flows and access. Before-and-after photos showed the difference: moving, rippled flows that support diversity and allow life to travel from pool to pool; and, in the same location, lower flows that isolate pools, reducing both habitat and feeding opportunities.
We’re learning to appreciate more with less – and that applies to water, with all its extremes.
