Strong spring rains pushed beyond the banks by a rapid mountain snowmelt on Wednesday flooded the Arkansas River, prompting a stern warning from Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) for people to stay away from the river below the Lake Pueblo State Park dam until further notice.

CPW’s park manager at Lake Pueblo, Joe Stadterman, summed it up: ‘The current is strong and unpredictable and surges in the water are increasing frequently. And the water is only 54 degrees now due to the mountain runoff.

It was a confluence of circumstances – above-normal snowpack and unseasonably warm temperatures drove this high run-off in early June – pushing water out of the dam at astonishing rates: 3,905 cubic feet per second, or about 7.5 gallons per second.

The tailwaters below the dam are known for fishing and tubing, but Stadterman’s warning was loud and clear. ‘Right now the river is not safe for anything. We encourage everyone to stay off the river until this advisory is lifted and the system levels out again.

Lake Pueblo is a reservoir created by the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project and a crucial source of water for hundreds of thousands of people living on Colorado’s Front Range. In that context, the brewing demographic crisis illustrates the delicate dance between water management and public safety — and also the way that climate change shifts our weather to affect snowmelt. 

Officials are watching the flow of the river closely and warning the public to avoid the water and take proper precautions. Because industrial pollution remains an immediate and dangerous threat, recreation on this stretch of river becomes less important.

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