Grand County Community Water Supply Limits

Grand County communities are facing unprecedented drought impacts. The Town of Kremmling is currently navigating an unprecedented water supply crisis driven by historically low snowpack, depleted runoff, and critically low river levels. This year, neither of the Town’s primary supply reservoirs filled, leaving one below deadpool. With primary storage exhausted, the Town’s backup supply—the Colorado River intake—became a vital municipal lifeline. However, a structural failure within the infiltration gallery, compounded by historically low river elevations and heavy sediment deposition, rendered the intake unreliable. To prevent a complete loss of municipal water, emergency crews are urgently rehabilitating the physical intake infrastructure while simultaneously installing a temporary surface-water bypass pump to manually draw water directly from the open river channel.

In response to this acute shortfall, Town leadership and residents have acted decisively. Kremmling implemented strict Phase 3 water restrictions in March, prohibiting all non-essential water usage, including lawn irrigation, residential car washing, and bulk water sales. Concurrently, the Town is aggressively pursuing emergency financial assistance and technical support through close coordination with the Colorado River District, the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA), the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), and the Grand County Drought Committee. Kremmling’s situation underscores the cascading operational vulnerabilities that mountain communities face during extreme climate events, highlighting the critical need for rapid-response infrastructure funding and regional collaboration.