Mesa County doesn’t make the list for areas affected by drought

Despite a record drought season here in the Grand Valley, Mesa County wasn't named one of the 43 affected disaster counties in the state.

The news is a shock to some, but county commissioner, Steve Acquafresca, says he's not surprised we didn't make the list.

Acquafresca explained that the 43 counties that did make the cut are high plain, dry land areas, with no access to stored water.

These counties solely depend on precipitation, unlike the Grand Valley, which has a unique access to a large supply of stored water.

Acquafresca says thanks to the foresight of water developers most water users in Mesa County weren't negatively affected by this year’s drought.

Acquafresca said, “Very little of that water use was curtailed due to the drought given that all of our storage units were pretty well full going into 2012. 2013 could be a different situation, this year our water storage units are low if not rock bottom."

Acquafresca added that the Grand Valley has senior access rights to water storage, unlike the counties designated as disaster areas.

These selected counties are now eligible for additional farm service agency assistance, including crop insurance for farmers and ranchers.

The County Commissioner also said that the Grand Valley needs to turn its attention to this year’s water supply especially since we're currently below average on our winter snow pack.