Courtesy: William Woody – @wwoodyCO
(COLORADO) — After falling to some of the lowest levels in history, water levels are rebounding in a remarkable way at Blue Mesa Reservoir.
Courtesy: William Woody – @wwoodyCO
These pictures highlight the dramatic rise in water levels of Colorado’s largest body of water from 2021 to 2023.
Courtesy: William Woody – @wwoodyCO
William Woody, a photographer on Colorado’s West Slope, started capturing spots around Blue Mesa Reservoir in September 2021 to highlight just how low water levels had dipped.
Courtesy: William Woody – @wwoodyCO
Flash forward to June 2023 where peak storage in the reservoir reached double what it was two years ago.
Courtesy: William Woody – @wwoodyCO
Water levels at Blue Mesa reached record low levels in 2021. That year brought the lowest levels since 1966 when the reservoir when water receded to 6,502 acre-ft.
Blue Mesa Reservoir storage levels from 1966-2023.
In 2021, extreme drought across the West prompted 36,000 acre-feet of water to be released from Blue Mesa Reservoir to flow downstream the Colorado River.
Water levels have been climbing since then, and water managers expect levels to reach back near full capacity this year.
Courtesy: William Woody – @wwoodyCO
Current levels at Blue Mesa are just over 748,000 acre-feet compared to the reservoir’s total capacity of 940,700 acre-feet.
