Healthy Working River Definition
PRTI Definition of "Healthy Working River" Adopted 5-11-18
Our definition of a healthy working river is one that supplies the goods and services demanded by our complex society, within the existing and evolving water rights system and honoring existing property rights, while maintaining and improving ecological integrity and resilience. The word "river" connotes not only the river channel and its banks but also the upper watershed that supplies the water, the lands that are irrigated by the river, the areas supplied with domestic and industrial water from the river, and the treated wastewater and other return flows that come back into the river.
- Poudre River Study/Action Workgroup - What is a healthy Poudre River?
- Sanderson, 2012
- Hydro-ecology and Poudre River Futures - Bledsoe, 2011
This presentation covers the topics: (1) how does the river work (ecologically)?, including the definition of river health, (2) what kind of river do we have today as opposed to how it evolved, (3) what might we be most concerned about in the future given water development proposals, and (4) what might we do to influence the river's health.
- Environmental Flow Issues in the Poudre River, Colorado, USA - Milhous & Bartholow, 2010
The authors identify, describe, and quantify several issues that should be considered in determining environmental flow needs for the Poudre River near Fort Collins.
- Constructing an Interdisciplinary Flow Regime Recommendation - Bartholow, 2010
Using a variety of interrelated methods, the author develops an ecologically-based, month-by-month flow regime for the Poudre River through Fort Collins to achieve a "healthy working river". This article is a preprint of a journal article that uses English units instead of international units.
