{"id":283966,"date":"2025-11-10T21:17:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T21:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/283966\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T21:17:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T21:17:12","slug":"rainfall-brings-colorado-river-drought-relief-but-concerns-for-next-years-water-supply-remain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/283966\/","title":{"rendered":"Rainfall brings Colorado River drought relief, but concerns for next year\u2019s water supply remain"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was originally published<\/a> by The Water Desk<\/p>\n

Heavy autumn rains brought relief to drought-plagued portions of the Southwest, but across the Colorado River basin, ongoing water supply concerns still linger amid tense policy negotiations and near record-low reservoir storage. <\/p>\n

Even after accounting for the heavy rain, 57% of the Colorado River watershed remains in severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor<\/a>. More than 11% of the basin is in extreme drought. <\/p>\n

A less-than-average upcoming snow season combined with a dry spring or early summer in 2026 could create conditions for another low runoff year. The Colorado River\u2019s headwaters saw a weak snowpack last winter, which contributed to one of the worst spring runoff seasons on record in 2025. Drought conditions spread and worsened into summer throughout the southern Rocky Mountains. <\/p>\n

Peter Goble, Colorado\u2019s assistant state climatologist, explained that the recent rainfall \u201ccertainly recharged soils,\u201d in some watersheds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Streamflow in the Animas River and Rio Grande increased significantly following the October rains and flooding. Rain in southwest Colorado, particularly around Pagosa Springs, brought flooding that damaged homes and downtown businesses. Rain gauges near the San Juan Mountains recorded 7 to 10 inches<\/a> of precipitation from October 9-15.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would love to see this rain come over a more steady incremental period,\u201d Goble said. \u201cBut oftentimes it is these flooding events that kind of put the kibosh on a drought more locally.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The flooding erased drought designations on the Drought Monitor map in those localized areas, but basinwide drought conditions tell a different story. Dry soils, depleted reservoirs and winter weather forecasts continue to cause water managers to worry.<\/p>\n

Even with the recent rain, soils in many parts of the Colorado River basin remain dry. Soil absorbs moisture almost like a sponge. When the soil moisture is low, spring runoff soaks into the soil, saturating the ground first. Soils that are more saturated lead to more water filtering into streams and reservoirs when runoff occurs, making the process more efficient.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still going to need a good snowpack in order to be set up nicely, but this (rain) improves our outlook for the efficiency of that snowpack,\u201d Goble said.<\/p>\n

Federal forecasts<\/a> show the possibility of a mild La Ni\u00f1a through February. The climate pattern occurs when Pacific Ocean waters cool down and alter global weather conditions. La Ni\u00f1a patterns often impact the amount of snowpack accumulation in the coming year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The southern part of Colorado is often drier in a La Ni\u00f1a year, while northern areas, around Steamboat Springs, typically see snowier conditions. <\/p>\n

The stakes for an above-average runoff next year are high. The two biggest reservoirs in the country, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, have steadily declined over the last 25 years. Powell is currently at 29% of its capacity, and Lake Mead is at 32%. A lessened runoff could push them dangerously low.<\/p>\n

While the rain slightly alleviates local drought, it\u2019s \u201conly a drop in the bucket when it comes to refilling Lake Powell and Lake Mead,\u201d Goble said. \u201cWe\u2019re still going to see those regional water shortages persist.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

If water levels continue to decline in these larger reservoirs, the dams\u2019 infrastructure is threatened and the hydropower turbines can\u2019t be used. Lake Powell, for example, has different outlets installed so water can be released in low conditions; however, they are not designed to be the main outlet source. New federal projections<\/a> show it\u2019s possible Powell\u2019s levels could drop low enough to cease hydropower production as early as October 2026, if conditions remain dry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could reach levels they have never reached before and potentially reach catastrophic levels,\u201d said John Berggren, regional policy manager for Western Resource Advocates. <\/p>\n

In response to extremely low water conditions, it\u2019s possible water from upstream reservoirs in Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico could be released to support Powell\u2019s hydropower turbines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing a new normal because of climate change, because of aridification,\u201d Eric Kuhn said, former general manager of the Colorado River District, on the state\u2019s Western Slope. In 2022, the basin saw similar drought conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are back where we were just a few years later,\u201d Kuhn said. \u201cThe system is slipping away.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The basin states are also engaged in negotiations for new operating guidelines for the Colorado River, set to be in place by 2027. Given the ongoing drought conditions, water experts say the two reservoirs cannot wait for new guidelines.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t forget the short-term problem while you are focused on a long-term agreement,\u201d Kuhn said. A recent research paper<\/a>, co-authored by Kuhn, highlights the need for urgent consumptive cuts basinwide. \u201cWe have got to figure out what\u2019s going to happen next year if next year happens to be dry.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story is produced and distributed by The Water Desk at the University of Colorado Boulder\u2019s Center for Environmental Journalism.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story was originally published by The Water Desk Heavy autumn rains brought relief to drought-plagued portions of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[15838,192,21980,79,282,149987,31293],"class_list":["post-283966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-colorado-river","tag-environment","tag-river","tag-science","tag-water","tag-water-policy","tag-water-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}