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2017 Lower Dolores River Spills May Finally Be Over

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This week may bring the last of the boatable water releases on the Lower Dolores River this year. Dolores Water Conservancy District Chief Engineer Ken Curtis tells KSJD warm weather over the weekend brought higher snowmelt in the mountains, which increased the flow to the reservoir and prompted one more “spill” from the dam to maintain safe reservoir levels. But he says the snowmelt has now slowed.

 

“There is still snow up there, obviously, but the heat brought the last rush and now it’s tapering off,” Curtis says.  

 

Water managers now plan to gradually decrease flows out of the dam over the next six days. However, the exact length of the ramp-down is still subject to change. Curtis says there will still be enough water to float on inflatable kayaks and smaller crafts over the next few days.

 

“If you have your duckies and small craft, there will be plenty of water to play on,” he says.

Austin Cope is a former Morning Edition host for KSJD and now produces work on a freelance basis for the station. He grew up in Cortez and hosted a show on KSJD when he was 10 years old. After graduating from Montezuma-Cortez High School in 2010, he lived in Belgium, Ohio, Spain, northern Wyoming, and Himachal Pradesh, India before returning to the Cortez area. He has a degree in Politics from Oberlin College in Ohio.
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