Water Resources
It all comes down to not enough water. The drought of 2002 in Colorado
and Boulder County, in particular, may develop into the worst in a
century.
Agricultural water users faced shortages that hadn't been seen in
generations and this, in turn, forced many producers to switch to less
water-intensive crops, such as beans or hay and to reduce planted acreage.
Unable to sufficiently irrigate pastureland, some local farmers were
forced to sell off their cattle. To make matters worse, recent consecutive
dry years have all but eliminated the trace amounts of soil moisture upon
which dry-land farms depend.
Farmers without senior water rights are impacted most. Colorado water
rights are administered using a priority system: 'First in Time, First in
Right". Senior water-right holders are able to take what is
available, while those with junior rights are often left with little or no
water.
Agriculture in Colorado depends on snowmelt for about 80% of its water,
while the other 20% comes from rainfall. Streamflow in Boulder Creek, as
measured at the 75th St. stream gage, peaked at 215 cubic feet per second
(cfs) in 2002 compared with about 1,000 cfs in average years. This small
volume of runoff has forced irrigators to turn to already low stored
supplies earlier than usual.
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