Colorado Reader April 2019: Where does our water come from? | Page 2

The Story of Water
The story of water in Colorado starts in the Rocky
Mountains. Colorado is known as a headwater state.
This means that all the precipitation that falls in our state
flows OUT of the state, and no water flows INTO the state.
There are only two states in the United States that are
headwater states. One is Colorado and the other is Hawaii.
Our state also has many watersheds. Watersheds are
sometimes called drainage basins. A watershed is an area
of land where rain or snow drains into a stream or other
water body. Ridges of higher ground form boundaries
between watersheds. Rain falling on one side of the higher
ground flows toward the low point of one watershed,
while rain falling on the other side of the boundary
flows toward the low point of a different watershed.
2 - Colorado Agriculture in the Classroom
Snow that falls high in the mountains can sometimes
stay frozen for a long time. Nature provides this good
way to store our water. When that snow melts, the water
then flows downhill towards the rivers and streams.
Colorado has eight major river basins throughout the
state, and a ninth basin in the city of Denver. These
basins form areas that provide borders for the rivers
geographically and also are used by people to organize
and manage our water. There are groups of people
who come together to help manage each basin. These
groups are called Roundtables. These people work
together to solve the water challenges we face.