The San Juan River in Pagosa Springs recorded one of its earliest peak flows in 70 years of record this spring. Local whitewater guides and river engineers break down what the unusual water levels mean for rafting companies, recreational users, and the broader watershed community this summer.
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Transcript
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The river behind me right here is the San Juan River. It is a major water shed for the Colorado River Basin, and it, it flows from here down to Navajo Lake all the way into Utah and empties into Lake Powell. The change in this river has been quite a bit. It’s been peaking usually in June, of late it’s been peaking a lot earlier than that. We thought it peaked about a month ago in April, but last night at one o’clock in the morning, it came up to 907 CFS, which I believe is the peak this year.
We were on track for the earliest peak ever on record, which I think would’ve been April 1st, which is unheard of. I think we’ve, in the 70 years of record, there’s been three April Peaks. Recreation in and around the river is, is going to be a bit different than in years past. Obviously the water’s going going to drop quite a bit in the next few weeks, and that’s when the rafting season usually starts when kids get out of school and people start to travel. And so the companies are going to have to pare down the guide load and, and the number of trips they do and the kind of trips they do. Tubing season might come earlier, so the recreation is a big ripple effect from this river. Three months ago, we were really thinking because of the snow pack and the, the grass were saying, we, we weren’t going to have anything at this time, but as luck would have it, we just kept having these late, late snowfalls and, and rainfalls and it’s kept the level of the water up. Last five years, we’ve been working with the Friends of the Upper San Juan River, which is a nonprofit, and the Posa Paddle has been a, a real attraction. We have a lot of folks from town participating and a number of folks from out of town coming down to be in this event. It’s an event that is really easy to watch, and the water’s at a perfect level right now for friendly, competitive rafting, kayaking and standup paddle boarding.
It’s hard to say what’s going to happen, and we may continue to get, you know, that monsoonal flow that really helps maintain that base flow in the river. But if we get a dry summer, which certainly could happen, water tables drop, the vegetation is impacted. Everything’s just more sensitive. The the water’s warmer, things are stressed. I think the community in, in the San Juan watershed and all the people that enjoy the river, the boaters, the fishermen, the ag community, having this water has been a great late season bonus.
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