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Another Spill Is Coming Down the Lower Dolores River

Austin Cope
/
KSJD

Boating flows are coming back, briefly, on the lower Dolores River.

They had ended prior to the Memorial Day weekend as managers of McPhee Dam sought to ensure that the reservoir would fill. Now, as temperatures warm and more snow melts, managers are planning to rapidly increase releases from the dam. Flows will rise Monday from the current 78 cubic feet per second to 800 cfs by Tuesday. 800 cfs is considered the minimum  for boating. Flows may vary, fluctuating up to 1200 cfs. Managers say that counting Tuesday, there will be at least three days of boatable water, and there may be more, depending on snowmelt. They hope to have more precise information on Monday.

Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.
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