The Maybell Ditch is the largest diversion on the Yampa River and irrigates about 2,500 acres of grass and alfalfa in northwest Colorado. But the remote and antiquated headgate, a hazardous diversion ...

To bring water to 2,000 acres of irrigated hay meadows in northwest Colorado, this diversion was built in 1896, directing water through a headgate into the 18-mile Maybell Ditch. A $7-million ...

And waste is a much bigger issue on the Western Slope than on the state’s drier eastern plains, where irrigators have long watched for anyone wasting water. In 2014, Light served the Meeker Ditch with ...