Restoring Flows in Colorado

American Whitewater has been advocating for healthy rivers and flows for recreation as an integral pillar of Colorado’s Water Plan since it was directed by an Executive Order in 2013 by then Governor Hickenlooper. Our flow study approach was later included in the plan’s nonconsumptive needs toolbox and, as recently as last year, our collaboration with river based businesses and conservation organizations made significant changes to the updated water plan. We’ve long identified a need to fully grasp the quantification of water needs for recreation and risks to them under future drier conditions. Over the past year we have been working to do just that on a statewide scale. 

Colorado’s outdoor recreation industry depends upon healthy watersheds and rivers. The updated Colorado Water Plan correctly indicates that diminished water supply and climate change present a significant threat to the long-term viability of Colorado’s water-based outdoor recreation economy. For the past year, American Whitewater has been working to map all water based recreational uses and identify the amount of water needed to participate in those. We are now identifying the statewide risk, highlighting where there will not be enough water available under climate change modeling. 

However, these impacts of reduced streamflows are already being felt. High stream temperatures and low water flows are impacting recreation and the associated economies today. The goal of this current work is to identify collaborative water sharing projects that will improve water supply reliability for recreational use. These projects, like one potential on the Upper Colorado, would help maintain boating opportunities long into the future.

All of this water planning work is happening concurrently to two other plans addressing the balance of outdoor recreation and conservation which we’ve been involved in shaping, the Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan and the Colorado Outdoor Strategy. River based recreation has lacked a clear home within Colorado despite it’s social and economic importance to residents and visitors. Our work on all these plans is helping to clarify that with state officials and we are encouraged that attention and funding needed to protect paddling in Colorado will be a measurable result of these efforts. Please stay tuned for upcoming opportunities to share your voice and experience in these processes.