It wasn’t officially “Water Day” at the state capitol Wednesday, but it certainly had the feel of it. The day included discussions of several reports on water issues, a debate in the Senate over funding for the Colorado Water Conservation Board, and a well-attended legislative luncheon hosted by the Colorado Foundation for Water Education.

The latest predictions for a mid-winter dry spell may cause some headaches for Colorado water managers as they try to juggle supplies to maintain stream flows and fill reservoirs.

Cargill Meat Solutions Corp. was fined $200,000 today for violating clean water standards at its meat packing plant in Fort Morgan. Cargill also entered an administrative agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that requires Cargill to undertake a range of corrective measures.

An armada of giant yellow earthmovers on the prairie south of Denver is racing to dig one of Colorado's biggest water-supply reservoirs in decades — a hole 180 feet deep across 1,400 acres — designed to wean suburbs off waning aquifers. But the water to fill this reservoir? Not yet secured.

A Larimer County water association will ask the Colorado Groundwater Commission to create a new designated groundwater basin north of Wellington in order to supply drinking water to 650 residents west of Interstate 25.