{"id":1313440,"date":"2019-08-11T18:28:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T00:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/climate-change-could-threaten-cdale-water-supply\/"},"modified":"2019-08-11T18:28:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T00:28:00","slug":"climate-change-could-threaten-cdale-water-supply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/climate-change-could-threaten-cdale-water-supply\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate change could threaten C\u2019dale water supply"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.6795774647887\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-985828-218\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/08\/cdalewater-atd-081019-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/08\/cdalewater-atd-081019-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Brent Gardner-Smith\/Aspen Journalism | The Ella Ditch irrigates agricultural lands to the east of the Crystal River, south of Carbondale. In August 2018, the Ella Ditch placed a call for the first time ever, calling out junior water rights holders, including the Town of Carbondale.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"13\">\n<p><strong>The Ella Ditch irrigates agricultural lands to the east of the Crystal River, south of Carbondale. In August 2018, the Ella Ditch placed a call for the first time ever, calling out junior water rights holders, including the Town of Carbondale.<\/strong><br \/>Brent Gardner-Smith\/Aspen Journalism<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/08\/cdalewater-atd-081019-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Ella Ditch irrigates agricultural lands to the east of the Crystal River, south of Carbondale. In August 2018, the Ella Ditch placed a call for the first time ever, calling out junior water rights holders, including the Town of Carbondale.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/08\/cdalewater-atd-081019-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/08\/cdalewater-atd-081019-1-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Town of Carbondale courtesy photo | The Town of Carbondale treats water at its facility on Nettle Creek, a tributary of the Crystal River. The town nearly had to shut the plant down during the summer of 2018 because of a senior call on the downstream Ella Ditch.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-0.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"10\">\n<p><strong>The Town of Carbondale treats water at its facility on Nettle Creek, a tributary of the Crystal River. The town nearly had to shut the plant down during the summer of 2018 because of a senior call on the downstream Ella Ditch.<\/strong><br \/>Town of Carbondale courtesy photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/08\/cdalewater-atd-081019-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Town of Carbondale treats water at its facility on Nettle Creek, a tributary of the Crystal River. The town nearly had to shut the plant down during the summer of 2018 because of a senior call on the downstream Ella Ditch.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/climate-change-could-threaten-cdale-water-supply\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/climate-change-could-threaten-cdale-water-supply\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">A new climate study and a first-ever call on a tributary of the Crystal River offer a glimpse of the future for Carbondale\u2019s water supply.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A Vulnerability, Consequences and Adaptation Planning Scenario report by the Western Water Assessment found a strong upward trend in local temperatures over the past 40 years, which could threaten local water supplies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThis report sort of drove the message home that (climate change) is here and it\u2019s no longer a conceptual discussion \u2014 it\u2019s a pragmatic discussion,\u201d Carbondale Mayor Dan Richardson said. \u201cIt was sobering from that perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">According to the report, the average temperature since 2000 has been 2.2 degrees warmer than the 20th-century average. Water year 2018 was more than 4 degrees higher than the 20th-century average and was the warmest recorded in the past 120 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Warmer temperatures are bad news for the watershed because they have an overall drying effect, even if precipitation remains constant. According to the report, Roaring Fork River streamflows since 2000 have been about 13% lower than the 20th-century average, due, in part, to warmer temperatures. By 2050, a typical year in the Roaring Fork Valley is projected to be warmer than the hottest years of the 20th century, which means mild drought conditions even during years with average precipitation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cJust the warming temperatures alone are enough to tell us drought will be a concern in the future and drought conditions are likely to persist for longer,\u201d said WWA managing director Ben\u00e9t Duncan. \u201cWhat does that mean for the water supply?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">Drought illustrates vulnerability<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The summer of 2018\u2019s historic drought illustrated a vulnerability in Carbondale\u2019s water supply that surprised local officials. Senior water-rights holder Ella Ditch, which serves agriculture lands south of Carbondale, placed a call for the first time Aug. 8.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">This meant that because there wasn\u2019t enough water in the Crystal for Ella Ditch to divert the amount to which it was legally entitled, junior water-rights holders, including Carbondale, had to reduce their water use \u2014 threatening the domestic water supply to roughly 40 homes on the Nettle Creek pipeline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe had a situation last summer where we were inches away from having to shut down our water-treatment plant at Nettle Creek because there was a more senior call on the river,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cWhen you look at the water rights we have on paper, most municipalities feel confident their water portfolio is resilient and can stand the test of time, but that was paper water. And when it comes to wet water, we were pretty vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Carbondale applied for and received an emergency substitute water-supply plan from the state engineer. The emergency plan allowed for a temporary change in water right \u2014 from agricultural use to municipal use \u2014 so that another irrigation ditch could provide water to the town.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The East Mesa Ditch Co., whose water right is senior to Ella Ditch\u2019s, agreed to loan the town 1 cubic foot per second of water from Sept. 7 to Dec. 7 under the agreement. However, Carbondale had to borrow the water only until Sept. 28, when the call was lifted on Ella Ditch. East Mesa Ditch is located upstream from Ella Ditch. Both are used to irrigate lands farther downstream on the east side of the Crystal River.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The town didn\u2019t pay East Mesa Ditch for the water but paid the company about $5,000 in legal and engineering fees to draw up the water loan agreement, according to Town Manager Jay Harrington.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">A wake-up call<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Although Carbondale has other sources it can turn to for municipal use, including wells on the Roaring Fork, the summer of 2018 and the VCAPS report were a wake-up call.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cNettle Creek is a pretty senior right, and we didn\u2019t anticipate it to be called like it was,\u201d Harrington said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Potential solutions to another Ella Creek call outlined in the report include moving away from Crystal water sources to Roaring Fork sources and providing upstream pumps to the homes on the Nettle Creek pipeline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI think (the report) gives one of the clearest pictures of where we are heading and what we need to look at as a municipality as the climate changes,\u201d Harrington said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\">Aspen Journalism covers rivers and water with The Aspen Times and other papers with Swift Communications. More at aspenjournalism.org.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/climate-change-could-threaten-cdale-water-supply\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ella Ditch irrigates agricultural lands to the east of the Crystal River, south of Carbondale. In August 2018, the Ella Ditch placed a call for the first time ever, calling out junior water rights holders, including the Town of Carbondale.Brent Gardner-Smith\/Aspen Journalism The Town of Carbondale treats water at its facility on Nettle Creek, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1313440","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-24 02:24:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}