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DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER ~,1, 2000 ,. .. - ,.. . . Mile High Suburbs , - Eric Brown, Suburban Editor - (303) 892-5261 · e-mail-5uburban@RockyMountainNew5.com High court rejects water plan Not enough reserves for reservoir near Gunnison, justices say By Karen Abbott News Staff Writer Colorado's highest court has nixed an Arapahoe County plan to supply water to 400,000 Front Range residents by drawing water from the Western Slope's Gunnison River basin into a huge reservoir northeast of Gunnison. The state Supreme Court ruled Monday that there isn't enough unallocated water in the Gunnison River basin for the proposed 900,OOO-acre-foot Union Park ARAPAHOE COUNTY Reservoir. The county had esti- mated the project would cost half a billion dollars, inducting a tunnel to carry the water through the Rocky Mountains. "It's certainly a setback," Frank Jaeger, a member of the Union' Park Water Authority's board, said. Arapahoe County Commissioner Marie Mackenzie said the south metro area still needs water. "It may be that we'll have to con- tract with the United States Bureau of Reclamation for water," Macken- zie said. The Supreme Court's ruling Monday left open that possibility. The bureau legally controls most of the water that Arapahoe County wants. Mackenzie and Jaeger said it was too soon to know what steps the county and others might take next, since officials involved in the water dispute hadn't yet had a chance to discuss Monday's ruling. Fast-growing Arapahoe County had hoped to draw water from the Western Slope to supply residents now dependent on water wells that might dry up, or water that Denver and other area governments are. willing to sell. The Supreme Court's 56-page unanimous ruling, written by Jus- tice Rebecca Kourlis, upheld a wa- ter court's decision in a hotly con- tested legal battle that has raged since 1986. Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar said Monday that the lengthy court fight has cost more than $6 million. Salazar said . Arapahoe County and other organizations now must find other ways to supply more. water to the fast-growing southern metropolitan area. Sal~ar, whose staff opposed the reserVoir plan in court, applauded the ruling. "The Colorado Supreme Court has acted to protect Colorado water rights and Colorado's system of water appropriation," he said in a statement. Arapahoe County, and later the Union Park Water Authority, had argued that technicalities in how water from the Gunnison River basin is legally allocated among.. various users meant that enough water was available for the pro- posed reservoir. But the Supreme Court said it didn't agree with the county's cal- . culations of how much water is See WATER on 22A C.o ......' " ~\ ~"";:. . . c.P Court disputes county's figure! WATER from 20A available. Many Western Slope water ers and governments opposed idea of taking water from the G nison River basin to support growth of Front Range cities suburbs. Most of the water is suppose! be devoted to power generat the Supreme Court said. Much of the water flOWs into Colorado River, from which ( orado is required to provide a ( tain amount of water to sev, other states. Several reserv. store the water so enough wil available in dry years. Other water from the Gunni River basin is legally allocated irrigation, flood control, boat the support of fish and wildlife a variety of other purposes. Am other things, the water fills . Blue Mesa Reservoir, heart ! national recreation area that dr more than a million visitors I year, the Supreme Court said. The high court rejected Ar hoe County's arguments thaI water needs should outrank : uses as flood control and rE ational boating and fishing. Contact Karen Abbott at (303) 892.5 or abbottk@RockyMountalnNews.com. Sta" writer Marlys Duran contributed I this report.