Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District

10/31/2026

Fall precipitation has impacted much of the southwest causing flooding in some areas and raising water levels at Lake Powell by 10 feet in the past week.

Lake Powell rises more than 13 feet in October

Since the end of September, water levels have risen over 13 feet, adding more than 10 feet in elevation in just the past week.
💧 Elevation: 3,518 → 3,531 feet
💧 Total storage: 5.16 → 5.9 million acre-feet
💧 Usable storage: 900,000 → 1.6 million acre-feet

While this is a welcome increase, it doesn’t change the long-term water supply challenges facing the Colorado River Basin. Unfortunately, these gains have also come with severe flooding and damage across parts of the region.

Some positive news for the reservoir, but an important reminder of the extremes we’re facing.

You can follow real-time elevations at Lake Powell here: https://www.usbr.gov/uc/water/hydrodata/reservoir_data/919/dashboard.html /

10/28/2026

Can new technology using ground-based ionization help generate more precipitation at the headwaters of the Yampa River?!

We will see.👀 We're excited to participate in this pilot project over the next year!

With grant funding from the Colorado Water Conservation Board, we can test new this technology targeting our critical water supplies at no cost to the District.

Read more from the Steamboat Pilot:

Starting this winter, a new weather enhancement pilot program is planning to test whether a new technology can increase snowpack and rainfall across just shy of 200,000 acres of Northwest Colorado’s Flat Tops — an...

10/22/2026

As we wrap up the 2026 Water Year, we're planning for the future by using some of the lessons learned during unprecedented drought.

We'll continue working with partners, stakeholders and policymakers to ensure a secure water future for the Yampa River Basin.

10/13/2026

From the Yampa Youth Water Festival to the Sustaining Colorado Watersheds Conference to touring with local teachers to discuss the future for climate resilient trades, District staff has been fully immersed in education through both teaching and learning over the last two weeks.

We look forward to sharing more with you soon!

09/30/2026

That's a wrap on the 5th Annual Yampa Youth Water Festival!

Bringing students together from the whole Yampa River Basin to celebrate water is always our favorite day of the year.💦

Thank you to the presenters, volunteers, teachers, and most of all, the 420 5th graders that made this day so special!

We hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did!

Yampatika
Community Agriculture Alliance City of Steamboat Springs - Government Western Resilience Center Hayden, Colorado City of Craig Colorado United Companies Routt County Wildfire Mitigation Council Colorado State Forest Service Colorado Division of Water Resources Colorado Parks and Wildlife Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition

South Routt Elementary Strawberry Park Elementary Soda Creek Elementary School Steamboat Mountain School Montessori Sleeping Giant School North Routt Community Charter School Hayden Valley Elementary School Sandrock Elementary Sunset Elementary School Ridgeview Elementary

09/25/2026

Enjoy our last Yampa River & Resrvoir Report for the season as reservoir operations draw to a close and precipitation continues to boost flows!

We'll summarize the events of this Water Year including river and reservoir operations amid historic drought later this fall.

09/18/2026

Rain is boosting flows as reservoir operations slow for the season.

Learn more in the weekly Yampa River & Reservoir Report!

09/16/2026

The District is working on an Upper Yampa Watershed and Stagecoach Reservoir water quality model to inform decision-making. Learn more about water quality work right here in the Yampa River Basin from this The Colorado Sun article>

09/10/2026

Learn more about how our operational releases supported in-stream flows this year by exploring the Colors of Water tool on youryampariver.org!

09/09/2026

The call was released on the main stem of the Yampa River and reservoir releases are ramping down for the season.

Learn more in this week's Yampa River and Reservoir Report!