WASHINGTON – Funding for the snow-survey water-supply forecasting program has been renewed with the backing of Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez.
Funding will be renewed until August 2014, at which point stakeholders are expected to have a more sustainable method of funding, Udall spokesman Mike Saccone said.
“(The current funding) is by design a short-term solution. ... This (refunding) is meant to give stakeholders more time to find a more sustainable funding source for the program,” Saccone said.
The program covers 12 states in the western U.S., including Colorado.
“Water is the lifeblood of the West, and our water managers need the best information on snowpack to keep our rivers, farms and cities strong,” Udall said in a Friday news release.
Southwest Colorado water managers and irrigators use the system for planning and other purposes. The federal Natural Resources Conservation Service operates the automated Snotel sites, which measure snowpack amounts and climate data in 600 remote locations, including more than a dozen in the San Juan Basin.
In Colorado, the snow-survey program focuses on water-supply management, flood control, climate modeling, recreation and conservation planning, according to the NRCS website.
The state river system in Colorado generates an average of 16 million acre-feet of renewable water annually, about two-thirds of which is required to leave the state, according to the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
“Given Colorado’s critical role in providing water, not just in state but also to other basin states, this data is important to the region,” Saccone said.
Despite the temporary refunding, stakeholders still need to find a new method of sustaining the program before the expiration in August.
“While we received our statewide operational budget for the year, the allocation for the snow-survey program was far less than what is needed to fully implement the program even with the streamlining efforts we are implementing within the state,” said Phyllis Ann Philipps, state conservationist for the NRCS. “We will need (the stakeholders’) continued input and support as the fix I’ve implemented is an interim one.”
Udall, Bennet and Tipton also have written a letter to NRCS reiterating the importance of the continuation of the survey services.
“Our state contains nine major watersheds, each with its own distinct snowfall patterns and obligations to downstream states,” the letter read. “For example, current water supplies across the state range from 100 percent of normal in some areas to 40 percent in others. The ability to accurately measure snowpack in each basin ... is essential for water districts and municipalities to meet the demands of competing users.”
Suzanne Gaber is a student at American University in Washington, D.C., and an intern for The Durango Herald. Reach her at sgaber@durangoherald.com.
