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U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins Announces Major Win for Texas Farmers and Ranchers in Water Negotiations with Mexico

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins Announces Major Win for Texas Farmers and Ranchers in Water Negotiations with Mexico

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced a major win for American agriculture by securing the Mexican government to meet the current water needs of farmers and ranchers in Texas as part of the 1944 Water Treaty. The Mexican government committed to transfer water from international reservoirs and increase the U.S. share of the flow […]

Colorado Springs Utilities cites inaccuracies with recent Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District press release

Colorado Springs Utilities cites inaccuracies with recent Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District press release

I am reaching out regarding the Prowers Journal’s publication of a press release issued by the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District titled Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District Board Passes Resolution Opposing New Annexations in Colorado Springs, I would like to draw your attention to the inaccuracies contained in both the release and the resolution […]

Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District Board Passes Resolution Opposing New Annexations in Colorado Springs

Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District Board Passes Resolution Opposing New Annexations in Colorado Springs

    (ROCKY FORD, CO – March 3, 2025) – The Board of Directors of the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District (Lower Ark District) has passed a resolution expressing opposition to any new annexations by the City of Colorado Springs that would exacerbate the city’s already existing 34,000 acre-feet annual water supply gap. The resolution, passed during the District’s regularly scheduled […]

Ark Basin Water Forum celebrates 30 years

Ark Basin Water Forum celebrates 30 years

  The Arkansas River Basin Water Forum celebrates its 30th anniversary Wednesday and Thursday, March 5 and 6, in Pueblo. The Forum will feature top Colorado and Arkansas Basin water experts discussing critical water issues and possible solutions for the challenges facing basin water users. Colorado’s Upper Colorado River Commissioner Rebecca Mitchell will deliver the […]

Lower Arkansas Valley growers organize protests against city water transfers

Lower Arkansas Valley growers organize protests against city water transfers

  Farmers from the Lower Arkansas Valley, and others, protest on the steps of Colorado Springs government offices last month, seeking to halt major annexations and stop farm water transfers needed to supply new homes. Credit: Lower Arkansas Water Conservancy District. Back in the 1970s, farmers in the Lower Arkansas Valley and across the nation, […]

Local farmer hopes to bring new crop to the Arkansas Valley

Local farmer hopes to bring new crop to the Arkansas Valley

Caleb and Zaiden Wertz with one of their harvested modules of cotton One young, innovative local farmer has been interested in trying to find a new crop to use in his rotation – one that can grow in the hot, dry southeast Colorado summers and one that uses less water than traditional crops.  Fortunately, for […]

Kansas looks on as farms retire thousands of acres in water-short northeastern Colorado

Kansas looks on as farms retire thousands of acres in water-short northeastern Colorado

Views looking across the vast, empty Bonny Reservoir in Yuma County, Friday, April 28, 2023. The Bonny Dam and Reservoir are on the South Fork of the Republican River near Hale, CO. After 60 years of holding water, Bonny was drained in 2012 and numerous wells were voluntarily retired to help Colorado send water east […]

Colorado Master Irrigator Program – Arkansas Valley

Colorado Parks and Wildlife requiring boat owners to complete online survey before 2025 registration

Colorado Parks and Wildlife requiring boat owners to complete online survey before 2025 registration

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is requiring boat owners to complete an online survey before renewing their registration for 2025 to confirm vessel information is accurate and ensure compliance with updated U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) requirements. The USCG requires specific information to be collected on every vessel registered in the United States. USCG requirements were recently […]

Lower Arkansas Valley Water District and Aurora plan talks to discuss controversial water purchase

Lower Arkansas Valley Water District and Aurora plan talks to discuss controversial water purchase

The Catlin Canal winds its way through Otero County near Swink, Colo. on June 8, 2024. Water rights to the canal were purchased by Aurora Water earlier this year for $80 million. (Mike Sweeney, Special to The Colorado Sun)   Lower Arkansas Valley water districts and Aurora plan to open talks as soon as December […]

Colorado had a shockingly normal year of precipitation — but drought is creeping back on the Front Range

Colorado had a shockingly normal year of precipitation — but drought is creeping back on the Front Range

  An early season snow dusts the high mountain country near Gothic, Colorado on September 22, 2024. (Dean Krakel, Special to The Colorado Sun) Just for a moment, forget about drought and water shortages, because this year, it’s been wet in Colorado, with precipitation hitting 102% of normal. The wet weather hasn’t pulled the state […]

Greenhouse gas emissions from irrigation being studied

Greenhouse gas emissions from irrigation being studied

Pivot irrigation, like this operation near La Junta, Colo., helps farmers put a precise amount of water on a given crop. Area farmers draw water from the Arkansas River via a system of canal and ditches to irrigate their crops. (Mike Sweeney, Special to The Colorado Sun) Colorado State University researchers are counting greenhouse gases […]

Colorado’s first Firehawk helicopter is finally ready to fight fires

Colorado’s first Firehawk helicopter is finally ready to fight fires

Three years after the state purchased its first Firehawk, four pilots have been trained how to operate the one-of-a-kind aircraft that can quickly slurp up and drop 1,000 gallons of water on flames Three years after lawmakers allocated $30 million to purchase its first “Firehawk,” the modified military helicopter that is capable of quickly crisscrossing […]

Drought Outlook Forecasts New Drought Development This Summer

Drought Outlook Forecasts New Drought Development This Summer

Drought coverage in the U.S. is around 5-year low, but the latest summer outlook shows a big change in trend is coming. The latest Seasonal Drought Outlook predicts expansion of drought through September in several regions of the U.S., according to the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center. Drought is favored to develop and persist […]

Much of Colorado could be pushed into drought by late summer thanks to hot, dry conditions

Much of Colorado could be pushed into drought by late summer thanks to hot, dry conditions

Engineer Pass Road weaves through the alpine tundra in the San Juan Mountains near Ouray.  Photo by Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun   Colorado has seen an average water year so far, but looking ahead, climate experts say much of the state could fall into drought conditions and struggle to find relief. Colorado’s very average […]