| 12/4/2008 6:00:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Water levels decline
Precipitation falls below average
Kristen Plank
Journal Staff Writer
Despite low precipitation levels in Southwest Colorado this year, the area's reservoirs are not too far below capacity.
2008 precipitation levels through November were at 9.99 inches for the Cortez area, according to Jim Andrus, the National Weather Service's cooperative weather observer in Cortez. That's 81 percent of normal, which is 12.31 inches.
Five weather sites the Dolores Water Conservancy District checks are at approximately 54 percent of average for this time of year, according to Mike Preston, general manager of the Dolores Water Conservancy District.
Lizard Head Pass between Rico and Telluride received 3.8 inches of snow-water equivalent, and Sharkstooth Peak northeast of Mancos received roughly 3.6 inches last week, Preston said. That puts Lizard Head Pass at a 93 percent average due to the snowfall last week; the Sharkstooth station is too new to accurately predict an average.
The other three sites, which include Lone Cone south of Norwood, Scotch Creek near Rico, and El Diente southwest of Telluride, are in the high 30s to low 40s in percent average for this time of year.
"If you take all the sites, we are only little over half of average, but Sharkstooth and Lizard Head are looking pretty close to average," Preston said. "The impact of the (recent) snowstorm was more localized to that Lizard Head and Sharkstooth area."
Snow-water equivalent levels, which measure the inches of water that snow would produce if melted, help determine the impact of snowfall on the level of water in McPhee Reservoir.
The reservoir's capacity is measured in acre-feet, or one acre of surface area to a depth of one foot. An acre-foot equals roughly 325,000 gallons.
McPhee Reservoir is approximately 100,000 acre-feet below full, sitting at 57 percent active capacity, Preston said.
"That's enough to meet next year's obligations, but you have to manage McPhee on a two- to three-year horizon," he said. "If we don't get a lot of snowpack this winter, that (water) elevation starts to drop and you start to feel a pinch a year out."
Preston said last year's significant snowpack, which began Dec. 8, 2007, was "moderately high" and was close to the area's record high. Prior to that December date, however, the amount of snow-water equivalent was "pretty bare."
After the season's slow start, the McPhee Reservoir built enough snowpack to carry the district through the rest of the season, and next year.
"We are in good shape right now," Preston said, adding that the ideal scenario would be to have another heavy snowpack again this year to fill the reservoir.
Like McPhee, Groundhog and Narraguinnep reservoirs are equally in good shape, according to Jim Siscoe, general manager of Montezuma Valley Irrigation Co.
"Right now, the way this year has set up, it's been an awfully dry year overall," Siscoe said. "Because of that, you want to make sure reservoirs are at or above the levels for this year.
"With ours, as long as we have normal snowpack, we don't anticipate any problems for the water supply for next year."
Reach Kristen Plank at kristenp@cortezjournal.com.
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