The Rio Grande River near Creede, Colorado, is drying up in the winter due to restrictions on water releases from the Rio Grande Reservoir. Environmental groups say this is harming the river ecosystem. A committee is working with the San Luis Valley Irrigation District to find a solution that allows for safe low-flow releases during the winter.
The Rio Grande at the entrance bridge to Thirty Mile Campground, about 0.7 miles below the Rio Grande Reservoir on Nov. 15, 2023. (Photo provided by Terry Taddeucci)The mighty and fabled Rio Grande dwindles to barely a trickle in the winter west of Creede, exposing nearly a mile of rocky riverbed to dry under the weak sun. This section of the river near its headwaters wasn’t supposed to be left dry in the winter, according to environmental groups.
A rehabilitation project on the dam that creates the reservoir was completed four years ago but promised water releases for the winter haven’t materialized. That’s because the dam’s new valves cannot safely release water during the winter, according to the Rio Grande River Committee, a group formed to push for more water releases from the reservoir for fishing, rafting and environmental health. The irrigation district that operates the dam closes the valves from November through March. The lack of water in the winter kills off aquatic insects and vegetation — the base of the river ecosystem’s food cycle. “I don’t want to frame this in an us-versus-them way. We’re not trying to take their water,” Jim Loud, founder of the committee, said of the irrigation district that operates the dam. “We’re just trying to get them to use the water in a way that is also beneficial to the river.” A solution may be in the works. After four years, the San Luis Valley Irrigation District — which owns and operates the reservoir — on Dec. 1 applied for state grant money to study how the dam’s valves could be modified to work in the winter, said Cole Bedford, the chief operating officer of the Colorado Water Conservation Board “We are developing a solution that will safely provide low-flow releases during the winter,” San Luis Valley Irrigation District Superintendent Rob Phillips said in an emailed statemen
ENVIRONMENT RIO GRANDE WATER RESTRICTIONS ECOSYSTEM COLORADO
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