Julie SutorSummit County Correspondent Post Independent

SUMMIT COUNTY, Colorado — New water diversions could sap the life from the Upper Colorado River Basin, according to American Rivers, a national conservation group.

The organization declared the Upper Colorado America's sixth most endangered river earlier this month in its annual survey of the health of the nation's rivers.

“We can't continue to take and take water from the Upper Colorado without accounting for the serious impacts to fish and wildlife habitat,” said Ken Neubecker of Colorado Trout Unlimited. “This river is on the brink. A vibrant, healthy river system in the Upper Colorado is every bit as important to the future of Colorado as the water it supplies to our farms and cities.”

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