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. Four Comers Free Press Page 2 of 4 Purgatory, for instance. The ski area recently received approval for 1,600 more condos and 400,000 square feet of commercial space. More water is required for these proj ects to be built. Competing with the powerful developers' industry for limited water resources will be challenging, said Durango City Manager Bob Ledger. "Durango touts itself as a recreation area, and a lot of that economic focus is on the river so (a RIDC) would be a natural adjunct to that," Ledger said. "We understand what is at stake and that there is opposition. Developers north of the city view it as a threat to their ability to acquire water rights." W9!1dy Ml11K1fj1J Rafters s.teer their way through Brov.if'\S Canyon on the Arkansas River in JIJIy. Rafting is a huge industlY along the Arkansas, but questions aoouh....ater righh linger forthe future. "We would probably be sued if we go forward on applying (for RICD rights)," he said. "And that fight will be expensive." But the thought of upstream development 50 years down the road leaving the kayak course dry is far more costly in the long run for the booming recreation town, he added. A whitewater park that trains Olympic athletes and hosts national competitions is too important to ignore, supporters say. Water law is beginning to change from a focus that is strictly agriculture, Ledger added, noting that "new businesses like rafting have come to the fore, ,md they depend on the Animas River flowing by." Golden: Whitewater pioneer In 2001, that change from agriculture to water sports shocked the water-development industry, when the city of Golden successfully filed for the state's first recreation water right under the old laws. According to arcane water law, water rights are priorappropriated, or "first in turn, first in right". So, seeing d eve lop men t upstream, Mike Bestor, Golden's city manager, figured it was critical to secure whitewater flowing through the kayak course on Clear Creek. "We wanted to make sure that someone upstream didn't claim rights that would deplete our flows. Our kayak course is very important to us and our businesses here - we invested $165,000 in it," he said. When the mining-bust towns of Cripple Creek and Black Hawk discovered state-sponsored gambling, the development boom began. With the towns situated upstream from Golden on Clear Creek, the writing was on the wall, Bestor explained, noting that a recreational water right is non-consumptive - it simply flows by and is available downstream for further use. Also the right is junior to all other rights filed before, so previously allocated water cannot be claimed for whitewater parks. Using the agricultural language in the law of "diverting" water for "beneficial use," Bestor and http://www.fourcomersfreepress.com/news/2005/080502.htm 1 0/4/2005 '1