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<br />RECREATIONAL WATER RIGHTS
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<br />visionaries chose their words carefully when they bestowed constitutional protection on appropriation of water for any "beneficial use."
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<br />The mines are all but gone from Colorado now. Workers in Central City, Blackhawk and Cripple Creek mine tourist and visitor dollars
<br />these days. Aspen and Telluride are well-heeled communities whose economies depend on tourism and skiing. Once a major venue for
<br />mineral extraction and smelting, Colorado is now one of the nation's premier destinations for outdoor recreation and tourism.
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<br />Colorado water law had to evolve with these shifts in Colorado's economy, and over the years it has also come to recognize flood control,
<br />fish and wildlife, snowmaking, recreation, boat chutes, and nature center diversions as beneficial uses.
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<br />In the 1 980s, Pueblo struggled to survive when a few large industrial employers upon which it had grown dependent closed shop or
<br />substantially downsized. The unemployment rate approached 19 percent at one point. Only then did the community realize that Pueblo
<br />needed to diversify its economy, so that it could better withstand a downturn in one sector. Another realization was that Pueblo had to
<br />market itself, particularly its important assets.
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<br />While Pueblo has made great strides to develop tourism and recreation as a part of its more diversified economy, the Arkansas River
<br />through Pueblo has remained an under-appreciated diamond in the rough. Few Colorado cities enjoy our climate and have a river through
<br />their urban core as historically and physically unique as the Arkansas River with its summer flow, clean water and proximity to
<br />transportation, lodging and municipal services. Even so, numerous Colorado cities and towns have constructed or are preparing to construct
<br />water parks, boating courses and other recreational facilities in or upon lesser waterways in order to meet the demand for these facilities
<br />and enhance their communities as desirable places to live or visit. A study by the city of Golden of its kayak course estimated that it pumps
<br />between $1.4 million and $2 million annually into that city's economy. If Pueblo does not develop its recreational tourism resources, it will
<br />lag behind as a desirable place to live and may ultimately be left behind in Colorado's new economy.
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<br />Last week, City Council approved agreements with the U.S. Anny Corp of Engineers and Great Outdoors Colorado to begin construction
<br />of the Arkansas River Corridor Legacy Project. The largest portion of the Legacy Project will be the cooperative project with the Anny for
<br />the Arkansas River Fisheries Habitat Restoration to realign the river channel, install riparian improvements, and construct a series of dams
<br />and fish ladders. The renowned kayak course designer, Gary Lacy, who has designed kayak courses throughout Colorado as wel1 as in
<br />Nevada. North Carolina, Utah and Wyoming, is working with the Anny so that the habitat restoration will serve a second purpose -
<br />creation of a kayak and boating course through the central core of Pueblo. Its design should please kayak enthusiasts, provide opportunities
<br />for family rafting, and greatly enhance our river trail.
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<br />Pat Kelly, Kathy Farley and Gus Sandstrom, as the board of the Pueblo Conservancy District, which is responsible for maintaining the
<br />levee through Pueblo, envisioned the benefits of a boating course 20 years ago, and actual1y began this project with the initial construction
<br />of the first dual purpose boat chute and diversion structure near the Santa Fe Avenue Bridge. With their cooperation and encouragement
<br />through the years, joined by the financial and other support of22 project partners, including Pueblo County Commissioners, Colorado State
<br />Parks, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Trout Unlimited and the Pueblo Natural Resources and Educational Council, the City of Pueblo is
<br />now poised to make the Arkansas River through Pueblo the jewel of Southern Colorado.
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<br />Last year, the City of Pueblo filed an application with the Water Court seeking ajunior water right to protect the recreational amenities of
<br />the Arkansas River Corridor Legacy Project. Such recreational in-channel use of water for boating and kayaking is one of the rare
<br />beneficial uses of water that neither consumes water nor degrades the quality of water, thereby leaving it fully available for downstream use
<br />and re-use.
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<br />The amounts sought by Pueblo, essential1y 100 cubic feet per second in the winter and 500 cfs in summer, comprise but a smal1 fraction of
<br />the historic volume of water that flows through the center of Pueblo on its way to downstream users. Because the water used for
<br />recreational purposes is controlled within the river bed and not taken away, downstream farmers and cities will continue to receive all of
<br />this water without diminution of either quantity or quality. Recreational use maximizes the utilization of this precious resource.
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<br />Under Colorado's water laws, Pueblo's water right will be very junior, and rightful1y so. It will nevertheless protect the Legacy Project by
<br />setting a "floor" or limit on the amount by which future "exchanges" can reduce the flow of water that now flows through Pueblo. In future
<br />years, this may limit the amount of treated wastewater Colorado Springs can exchange down Fountain Creek in trade for the clean water
<br />that now flows through Pueblo. It will also limit new transfers out of the Arkansas River Basin of water that now flows through Pueblo.
<br />And therein lies the real reason for the squawking and misinfonnation being distributed by some powerful municipal water entities.
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<br />The unfounded and reckless statements claiming that the recreational rights sought by Pueblo somehow take water away from our citizens
<br />are utterly false and do a disservice to the public. Pueblo, Pueblo West and the entities, fanners and all other users downstream will
<br />continue to hold and be able to use their water rights to the full extent as before. In fact, it is likely that establishment of the recreational
<br />water right "floor" on flow through Pueblo will help to forestall further declines in water quality in the Arkansas Valley.
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<br />Though now fully recognized under Colorado water law, recreational water rights are still the new kid on the block, and they are perceived
<br />by some as standing in the way of the ability of large metropolitan areas to take water away from rural and less populated areas through
<br />exchanges and transfers. These areas seemingly prefer to grow as fast as possible, without regard to traffic problems, without regard to
<br />sensible planning, and by frantically buying up water allover the state at the expense of the rest of us. Smart growth, if it means anything,
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<br />http://www.chieftain.com/print/sunday/editorial/articles/edi3.htm
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<br />04/15/2002
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