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Cañon City: reserves, river call and reservoir study shape drought outlook
Summary
Council heard that the river-call priority moved higher (improving availability), Pueblo storage stood near 877 acre-feet and emergency accounting for return flows extends usable supply; staff also moved a feasibility contract for an expanded John Griffin Reservoir toward the Sept. 7 agenda.
Travis Payne told the council the river call moved from an 1867 priority to 1870 on Aug. 10, which staff described as incremental relief for allocation. He said Pueblo storage was about 877 acre-feet on Aug. 1, and offered rough math that that storage equates to roughly 40 days of water at the city’s conservative-use profile, while noting reuse agreements and emergency substitute-water-supply accounting extend that effective supply.
Staff also reported progress toward a larger, longer-term storage plan: a feasibility contractor for the John Griffin Reservoir study is selected and, pending finalization, will appear on the Sept. 7 council agenda. Staff emphasized the city remains on stage-1 voluntary restrictions (two-day watering) and that stage 2—enforceable restrictions—would be triggered if the river call requires curtailment of the city’s diversions.
