As thirsty downstream states along the Colorado River drainage continue to clamor for water, Wyoming is having problems of its own, as indicated by low levels at Fontenelle Reservoir in Lincoln County.
As of early April, Fontenelle Reservoir was at 49% of its full storage capacity, according to the Bureau of Reclamation — despite March inflows roughly 99% of average.
Downstream from Fontenelle, Flaming Gorge Reservoir will be drawn down between 660,000 and up to 1 millionacre-feet between now and April 2027, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
An acre-foot is the amount of water it would take to flood an acre of land to the depth of one foot.
The Flaming Gorge drawdown is expected to help make up for increasingly desperate shortages at Lake Powell. It and Lake Mead are the primary water sources for the Colorado River’s Lower Basin States — Arizona, Nevada and California.
So far, there are not any plans for similar drawdowns at Fontenelle Reservoir. But some Wyomingites wonder if that’s inevitable as drought conditions persist across the West.
There’s longstanding sentiment that the Upper Basin States – Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico – are getting shortchanged under the 1922 Colorado River Compact. The pact designates the water rights and obligations for all seven states.
‘Robbing Peter To Pay Powell’
Elizabeth Buschelman lives in the La Barge area of Lincoln County and told Cowboy State Daily that she’s troubled by what she’s seeing at Fontenelle this spring.
“A lot of the upper end of the reservoir is just down to the river channel. And we probably won’t be able to use the upper boat ramp this year,” she said.
She said she’s frustrated by what she sees as a lack of concern among state officials about the increasing pressure Wyoming is under, as one of the Colorado River’s headwater states.
“I’m tired of robbing Peter to pay Powell,” she said.
“We’re not talking about a cup that’s half-full (in Wyoming). We’re talking about a cup that’s a quarter-full, and they still want to take more,” Buschelman added.
It’s hard to see Wyoming water, needed for agriculture and wildlife here, going to feed the demand for hydroelectricity in the Lower Basin.
Even though it’s still only spring, water rationing is hitting in some places, Buschelman said.
She has a daughter and grandchildren who live in Bridger Valley, between Green River and Evanston, and restrictions have been placed on lawn watering there, Buschelman said.
"I’ve got grandbabies who can’t play out in their front yard, because there’s no grass, or there won’t be,” she said.
Fontenelle Not Getting Hit
There aren’t any plans now to draw from Fontenelle Reservoir to make up for downstream shortages. That’s according to Jennifer Erickson, the Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman for the Upper Colorado Basin region.
“Water levels at Fontenelle are not related to the supplemental flows from Flaming Gorge to Lake Powell. Fontenelle experienced lower-than-average snowpack and inflow last water year, leading to the lower water levels,” she stated in an email to Cowboy State Daily.
“Spring seasonal inflow projections for this year are predicted to be much below average,” she added.
The 1922 Compact
Wyoming has obligations to downstream states under the 1922 pact. It entitles Wyoming to roughly 14% of the water from the Upper Basin states. Wyoming currently uses about 11%.
Some have questioned how well the 1922 pact applies to current conditions.
It was drawn up when annual flows in the Colorado River were averaging about 20 million acre-feet. It allocated all the involved parties a grand total of 17.5 million acre-feet.
However, long-term average flows over the subsequent decades dropped to about 15 million to 16 million acre-feet annually at the river’s mouth. And more recently, that’s shrunk to about 12 million to 13 million acre-feet.
Fishing Good So Far
So far, Wyoming’s spring angling season has been largely unaffected, Buschelman’s brother, noted Wyoming outdoorsman Paul Ulrich, told Cowboy State Daily.
Ulrich lives in the Pinedale area and guides anglers on the New Fork and Green rivers.
So far this spring, the fishing has been good, he said.
“For what water we do have, the flow coming out of Fontenelle is reasonably OK, for now,” Ulrich said.
But there are concerns over how long that might last.
“Clearly, all of us in the angling community are concerned with the proposed drawdown of Flaming Gorge Reservoir. It could have impacts upstream to Fontenelle,” he said.
Without significant precipitation over the next couple of months, “We all know we’re going to have real problems,” Ulrich said.
Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
