In September of 2006 a single rancher dried up the Upper Colorado River, he was irrigating his land using water that his family has used for years and was well within the boundaries of the law. When he realized what he had done he immediately worked with local ranchers and environmental groups to protect the river. This is only one case where we have realized how vulnerable the Upper Colorado River is. In addition to existing water projects which rely on the River, the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District is currently working to acquire federal permits for an additional water project. The Windy Gap Firming Project would divert additional water from the Upper Colorado.
The existing Windy Gap Reservoir
Earlier this fall the Bureau of Reclamation and US Army Cops of Engineers released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the project, the deadline to comment on this report is December 29th. The report has fallen far short of the analysis we had hoped the federal agencies would would produce. We need your help! Take 2 minutes and encourage the Bureau to make this project better! Early on CEC and other organizations submitted comments on this project and encouraged the Bureau to work to improve this project. So far we’ve seen little movement to improve the project, we need your help to urge the Bureau to make crucial changes. Please help protect the Colorado River!