Along towards the end of June the North American Monsoon started, early. By October many mountain reservoirs had recharged sufficiently. There was still a lack of moisture on the eastern plains but overall things got much better. Water nuts all over the state celebrated the return of El Niño hoping that the warm water in the Pacific Ocean would be the harbinger of a wet winter.

State Water Engineer, Hal Simpson, shut down 400 or so wells in the South Platte River Basin due to a lack of permanent augmentation water from the well operators. Farmers were given time to obtain water but many could not. They were then caught short, some with crops in the ground, after the disappointing spring runoff.

2006 was the 30th anniversary of the Big Thompson Flood. Aaron Million announced his plan to build a pipeline from Flaming Gorge Reservoir to the eastern plains. Purecycle Corporation purchased water on the Fort Lyons canal with hopes to pipe it east of Aurora for the development of the old Lowry Bombing Range. A federal judge set aside an agreement between the Feds and Colorado over stream flows in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

Gale Norton resigned as head of the Department of Interior and paved the way (or oiled the gears) for Dirk Kempthorne to take over.

Conservation, leading to lower consumption, caused funding problems for water utilities across the state. Development was halted east of Colorado Springs because the Cherokee Metropolitan District was told to stop moving water out of Black Squirrel Basin for it's customers.

2006 was an election year in Colorado and Governor-elect Bill Ritter managed to hang 2003's failed Referendum A around Bob Beauprez's neck. Beauprez failed to rally the faithful on the rainy side of the state partially due to telling them that, "We cannot conserve our way entirely out of this problem." That was the wrong answer from Craig through Montrose, down to Cortez and all the way back east to La Junta.

Aurora moved along with their Prairie Waters Project, hoping to recapture out of basin water and reuse it to extinction. The Animas La-Plata project moved towards completion. Other projects drew the ire of conservationists and environmentalists. The Elkhead reservoir expansion was completed.

Fountain Creek was in the news throughout the year. It's polluted and too much silt is flowing into the Arkansas but despite the problems some want to make it a gem for recreation.

The Recreation In Channel Diversion for Chaffee County was approved. Durango applied for water rights for their water park while Palisade and Glenwood Springs hoped to build new parks.

There were many scientific (and not so scientific) projects to ponder. CloudSat and CALIPSO took off into orbit to help map storms and help predict rainfall. Wyoming hoped to settle once and for all whether or not cloud-seeding works. Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Diego supported cloud-seeding efforts in Colorado with money.

Scientists investigating climate change put out some dire predictions about future snowpack. The use of hail cannons kindled a bit of conflict and controversy. In May we celebrated America Wetlands Month.

Some hoped that they could get the Colorado Water Quality Control Division to regulate water from oil and gas operations. The Colorado Supreme Court paved the way for limited regulation of oil and gas development by local governments. Palisade and Grand Junction lost their bid to keep oil and gas out of their watershed. Colorado's State Geologist floated the idea that now may be the time to exploit Colorado's abundant geothermal energy.

A couple of authors got together and published a collection of articles and stories about the Cache la Poudre River. They are trying to raise awareness and keep the river wild.

The Pueblo Chieftain was a top source for water information in 2006. In January they ran a series on Colorado water issues. Here's the Coyote Gulch coverage of Part I and II, Part III and Part IV.

Wildlife garnered support from various sources. In December everyone necessary finally signed off on the Platte River Cooperative Agreement. Denver Water stepped up with water releases for the upper Colorado River to help protect the fishery late in the summer.

In October Coyote Gulch hit the big time. We were featured in the High Country News.

Part II, next month.

John Orr