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Teacher Talks About Recent Snow Science Program
Roaring Fork Conservancy recently held a snow science workshop with Marble Charter and Ross Montessori School students in Marble. Students measured snowpack and calculated the amount of water in the snow just like real scientists. Roaring Fork Conservancy offers a host of educational programs for both students and adults throughout the year. For more information visit Educational Programs.

2010 Colorado Legislative Updates Now Available
NEW! View the latest status of Colorado legislation on water issues. Visit www.roaringfork.org/waterbills.

Not All Water Flows Downstream
The Twin Lakes tunnel is large enough to drive a full-size pick-up through when not diverting water. Photo by Greg Poschman. In the West, it is commonly known that water flows downstream unless its flows upstream towards money. We would add “money and people”. This adage is true in the state of Colorado. About 80% of our population lives on the Front Range while about 80% of the state’s water is on the Western Slope. Beginning in the 1930s, transmountain diversions that move water from west to east were built to help meet the demands of the more populous Front Range.

Allen Ringle of the Twin Lake Company explains water flows on past headwaters diversion tour. Photo by David Hiser.Today, Colorado has 24 major tunnels that move water from western Colorado to eastern Colorado under the Continental Divide. Two of the five largest diversions are located within the Roaring Fork Watershed. The Boustead tunnel moves water from the upper Fryingpan River and Hunter Creek drainages to Turquoise Lake near Leadville. The Twin Lakes tunnel diverts water from the Roaring Fork River headwaters to Twin Lakes on the other side of Independence Pass. This time of year, as tunnels move water and reservoirs fill, as much as 40% of the water in these headwaters areas is not flowing downstream.

As demand for water increases in the future, the Roaring Fork Watershed’s transmountain and in-basin diversions will play a major role in Colorado’s water future. We encourage you to learn more about transmountain diversions at www.roaringfork.org/diversions.

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