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| (Above) Ruedi Dam holds back a full Ruedi Reservoir. |
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| (Above) Looking back across Ruedi Reservoir from the air. |
Ruedi Reservoir
With the dwindling snow pack situation across Colorado, Reclamation has made the decision to start storing water now, in early spring, behind Ruedi Dam.
As a result, the first week of April, releases from Ruedi to the Fryingpan River were scaled back to about 40 cfs. The 40 cfs release rate will stay in place for the near future.
Snowpack in the upper reaches of the Fryingpan River Valley has been melting off in the unseasonably warm weather. In fact, we have already seen Ruedi's storage pattern change. It turned from slowly going down, to starting to refill at the end of March as we are already seeing some snow pack run-off reach the reservoir.
The 10,825 EA
The first week of April, Reclamation announced the availability of the Finding of No Significant Impact and Final Environmental Assessment for proposed contracts for the water users' commitment to provide 10,825 acre-feet of water to critical habitat of the upper Colorado River.
The 15-Mile Reach of the river, upstream of the Gunnison and Colorado rivers confluence in Grand Junction, Colo. has been identified as critical habitat under the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program.
In 2010, Reclamation began studying the proposed contracts under the National Environmental Policy Act. The findings of that study are now available in the Final EA.
Other Links
- Weather, reservoir elevation, and other data is available via the Ruedi weather station.
- The USGS page for streamflow below Ruedi Dam provides up-to-date information for water released to the lower Fryingpan in cfs measurements.
- This graphic displays the fill and draw pattern at Ruedi Reservoir over the past five years.
Information on Ruedi Reservoir and releases to the Fryingpan River can also be obtained by joining the e-mail notification list. To join the list, please contact Kara Lamb.
Current Events and Additional Information
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Last Updated: April 5, 2012