WSP12389 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

River rights may run (fry in 50 years , .-. , Heather McGregor Daily Sentinel Colorado may be a lot closer than people think to using up its share of the Colorado RIver. For decades, prevailing wisdom has said Colorado has from 800,000 to 1 million acre-feet per .r~ar of Colorado River water left to use under the Colorado River Compact. But number-crunching done in recent months by the Colorado Water Conservation Board, con- firming many back-of-an-envelope caleolations, shows that the actual remainder may be hal! that much. And when the full potential of 'existing water projects and future projects likely to be built are added on to Colorado's present uses, the total overtops Colorado's compact allotment of 3.1" million acre-feet. In 1922, Congress endorsed the t-to . Colorado River Compact.. which l.:.-:::s~ divided the river's estimated total I SJ~J\",,", now of 15 million acre.feet among . ~...p' y ~ the seven basin states, giving each ) v-rQ... 4 state an entitlement. ~. I[) "We hear a common argument Ll' that Colorado will never be able to use its full compact entitlement. But when you look at these num- bers, you can come up with a sce- nario where we come pretty close to uSing Colorado's entitle- ment," said Eric Kuhn, assistant chief of the Colorado River Water Conservation District and state water board member. "It could be 30, 40, 50 years from now, but we can see the day when Colorado will be fully developed," Kuhn said. The number-crunching is being done by .state water board staff members, with advice from the 17- member Colorado River Compact Work Group, water leaders from the Western Slope. and Front J Range. Ultimately, the numbers will be used to develop inslream flow '~ can see the day when Colorado will be fully developed,' - Eric Kuhn, Colorido Water Conservation Board filings for endangered fish in the Yampa, Little Snake, While, Colo. rado and Gunnison rivers. Filings are to be made for the Yampa and the 15-mile reach of the Colorado west of Palisade by year's end under a state and federal effort to recover the fish. The idea is to add up Colorado's present and potential uses - the total comes to :1.35 million acre- feet - then secure the remainder for instream flows. The work group's total comeS from liberal assumptions, It expects that the controversial Animas.La Plata and Homestake 11 water projects will be built, and adds in the maximum potential of existing water projects such as Dallas Reservoir. Another 10,000 acre-feet of water per year is available in Dallas for use by cit- ies and businesses in the Uncompahgre Valley. That roughly translates to 40,000 more people in Montrose and Delta. Even if Colorado uses its full compact entitlement, water will still be left for the fish. That's because about 9 million to 10 mil- lion acre~feet of water now fronl Colorado into the Colorado River and its tributaries each year"',,~ . Not everyone in the work group believes that filing on these remaining flows is a good idea. "1 don't buy the essential premise underlying the whole thing, which is locking up all of Colorado's unappropriated water See RIVER, page 7A ll-