In 2018, drought in the Four Corners was aggravated by a weak winter, leading to historically low inflow to McPhee Reservoir and the lack of any spills.
Now that nearly four months of above-average precipitation benefited snowpack and reduced drought conditions, what’s in store for McPhee?
Mike Preston is the general manager of the Dolores Water Conservancy District. His latest outlook embraces a cautious optimism: a spill of some size is likely to happen in 2019, but remains at the will of warm weather and slowing precipitation.
“It’s a very low probability that we’re gonna have no spill,” Preston said. “It’s really a question of how much water we’re actually going to have to release.”
The Bureau of Reclamation will hold a public meeting at the Dolores Community Center on April 18 at 7 p.m. — shortly after the release of a mid-April forecast.
Preston joined KSJD’s Daniel Rayzel to break down the range of spill potentials from McPhee for 2019.