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<br />2 .. Gunnison Country Tirnes · Thursday,. February 5, 2004
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<br />Water.
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<br />continued from page 2 .' idea the CWCB 'studied !as't year
<br />But lhen he brought up the re.. with. a half-million dollar budget,
<br />construcLions of nows for the past only to learn that it was very. vc;ry
<br />500 years. based on tree. rings and expensive. literally a "!ast straw."
<br />olher sludies, ~hich indicate the Nor was there allY indicatioij
<br />longer..term average flow is pro~a. from any of the Front Rane.:ers that,
<br />hly Mbctween 13 and 13~S million' anyone is thinkin~ about Gunni-
<br />acre..feet. n This basically means. 'son Basin water at this point - ex..
<br />that tlle Colorado River is alreadt cept for Dave Miller, of COUTset '
<br />at full development and then who continues his, one..man'
<br />some, media-and-mover blitz on behalf
<br />. Nobodv wanted to hear that. of'the Union Park proposal.~
<br />On the internal front, Aurora.s metro water districts seem to be
<br />director of resources Peter Binney working closer to home, and on
<br />tried to defuse some of the pas.. 1)1ore modest proiects, and most of
<br />sionate agricullural representatives the managers there seem to Lhink,
<br />who claimed that municipal }hat may well be the shape of the
<br />growth was going to put Colorado . future in water development. - .
<br />agriculture au t or business, He In sum. from an Upper Gunni..
<br />pointed OUl. first~ that no one was son perspective, there continues to
<br />forcing the Arkansas River Valley be a lot of general talk among the -
<br />farmers lO sell their water to the waler buffalo about ILthe need to
<br />~ities; the fanners were j us~ :nak~.~ ~ develoD more ~torage. ~ but no;
<br />Ing good markel-b.ased dec1S1ons. . .body seems to be looking specifi-
<br />.And second, he po~nled to the fig- cally, with any immediacy. allhe.
<br />ures aboul use: WIth the fanners Upper Gunnison _ especially in
<br />now using close to 90 percent of the wake of Rere~endum A. Not
<br />the \Valer in ~e state. a doubling now. Not yet But like the ~an
<br />of waler use In. the metro area - ,said;' <<Just because you're para-
<br />would still leave more Lhan 80 per- noid doesn't mean they aren't out
<br />cent of the water In agriculture. to get you. " '
<br />A number of the speakers fo- '
<br />
<br />cused on the CVias cU~e~t Stale (I'J ~ ~
<br />Water Supply Initiative study r- - ~ I E 0
<br />(SWSI) as a potentially positive ~.g -= ..0 ~, ~ co
<br />note for getting the stale organized ~ g ~ ~ ~ E 0
<br />for v.'ater development. SWSl is an ~ ,-:::.t: ~ u.- ~ U
<br /><U- IU - WI:! ll) ,.
<br />effort lo exanline I basin by basin. ..: 0 ;> 5. fi 0 ~
<br />the y.raler resources and near-fu.. ~ ~ ~ i-t 1""f r:=
<br />d f h. b 0 S S"g g = .-:..J
<br />ture nee s 0 eac lIver asin in C-"'= S? E · - ~ 0 .....
<br />Colorado. The study vdU be com- = g> ;;>..::2 ::? 6j;'~ ~
<br />pleted in November. $: 0 ~ ~ d 0 -=
<br />But a problem with SWSI is the ~ .= ; ~ t~ ~ e d:
<br />[act that many people are doing CIl tIJ v.;:: .s 0 c.. ~
<br />...... - t_ _ en 0 ~--..
<br />exactly ",'hat the speakers at the c.C:; -c ~..o ~ C; \0
<br />Q)>:::to=,~-tn
<br />~Dialogue" said they shouldn't do; - a) 1ii tf.I ct.I - 5 :<
<br />d3 s- "'" e..- c · - J: 0
<br />bringing to the table the luggage 0 c. Q,) ~ c: ~ - 0
<br />from a century of interbasin mis- ~ ~ .: on 0 of g ...
<br />-= 0.5 ~ .~ .::: ~
<br />trust. ambiguous experience and g -c c...= _ > ~
<br />outright contention. Harold.~ ~ a t;; ~ 5: ~ rf")
<br />Miske! of the eweB said ilia t, if ~ ~ CO dJ ~ ~ -0 :><:
<br />SWSI was to be useful. "people = .5 -C ii L.a C <
<br />o ~ s... Q) Q. l1J = t.:..
<br />have to be more opent and stop 0 C <b a c c; _n ~
<br />being so paranoid and parochial. n ~ dfll e ~ t 9 ~ ~ g
<br />A. nother speaker 'said SW5I ~ ~ ~ t_ C eo 0 ~
<br />(1),,~ . c. ~ c Sh '
<br />couldn't succeed if i'people were :0 l;:: <1) Cot ...: ...-.i
<br />.- C ~ ~ ~ .~ en'" co
<br />only at the table to keep their O\VI1 CI) 0 .... CI). - X -hoI ~
<br />ox from getting gored. ~ 4) 0 : t ';' OJ ~,-."
<br />~ ft Q) ... -= E ::I 0\
<br />The "Dialogue" was notable for 0 6 ~ C!:I ei) 0 e t'-
<br />what wasn't discussed too. 1 heard cj 'r::; E=: ~ 'r::; ~ "0 '--'
<br />no ,mentio n a1 aU of "The Big CI1 c.2 ~:~ i) ~ E 2
<br />5 PI' h 'd f . ,- c Q.) c > - lU
<br />tra\\; tel ea or movmg West . -= 8 -= I.;:: ~. ~ ~ ~
<br />Slope water back up into the head- f::/ ~ i3 ,.VJ eo ~ ::> ~
<br />waters from lhe Utah border - an .;: .2 ::: t:i E ~;.:> >
<br />, C-ol1)<I)oo~~
<br />Z c... ~ ~ t;; '0 c..S 0
<br />
<br />A day with the
<br />Water Buffaloes:
<br />The 'State of the'Water 2004'
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<br />I just got back from' an
<br />,lnual descent into the <]
<br />~ny of the beast to hang -;:
<br />. lr a couple of days with .~
<br />:oloradots waler buffalo. ~;>
<br />t the 461h .Annual Con.. l~
<br />ention of the Colorado
<br />vater Congress. Ge?rge Sible ~
<br />The Colorado Wa ter '
<br />;ongress Is an, organization that
<br />ulls together the slate~ water man-
<br />gers. water conservancies and
<br />onservatlon disuiclSJ water cngi-
<br />.eers1 waler altomeys. and a Sttut-
<br />~ring of water scientists and
<br />nvirorunenta[ists "Lo prolnole lhe
<br />-i.se management and slewardshJp
<br />~f Lhe Stales \I.'ater resources for lhe
<br />lenefit of CoIoradas present and
<br />Ulure generations. It
<br />The \\'ater buff ala of Colo rado
<br />:onlinue to promOle the COU1-
<br />Jclling POSl"\V\VI[ vision thal there
<br />":ere no limits to \\'hat Americans
<br />:ould do through the application of
<br />echnotog}; mone}~ discipline and
<br />ngenuflY to the challenges pre-
<br />;ented by nature~ cOlnmunism,
<br />leatht space and other perceived
<br />'problell1S. "
<br />The Water Congress rose Lo its
<br />u11 power In the 1960s and ,1705
<br />.vhcn the Cederal government.
<br />brough the Bureau of Reclamation,
<br />.vas still pouring billions of dollars
<br />~n to the West for water develop..
<br />ment. The water buffalo were led
<br />then by West Slope Congressman
<br />Wayne Aspinall whot as chair of the
<br />House [nterior Comlniuee. steered
<br />a 10 t of that money toward Coloo'
<br />orado [or projec!:s like me Aspinall
<br />Unit dams west of Gunnison.
<br />Toda% the federal money for
<br />water development has entirely
<br />dried up: and the feds are now seen
<br />mostly as part or the problem1
<br />source of endless environmental
<br />rules and proscriptionst and many
<br />of the water buffalo along the Front
<br />Range are c~nfronting the unantic-
<br />ipated consequences of IIgettlng
<br />wha t you 'Wish for" in lenus or
<br />growth.
<br />But the spirit of Aspinall is stilt
<br />the guiding light of the Water Con-
<br />gress - the last event of lheir aIUlU-
<br />al convention is to announce the
<br />"Wayne Aspinall Water Leader of
<br />the Yearl1- and the annuaJ conven~
<br />Lion is a good place to go Lo find out
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<br />what's cooking with
<br />those who move and
<br />lnanage the states
<br />water.
<br />But what was cook.
<br />ing this ycur was mosl-
<br />ly a rairJ}. high heat of
<br />conslernation and can..
<br />fusion in the wake of
<br />the Referendum A debacle,
<br />The Water Congress had sup-
<br />porled the referendum, and at.
<br />tenlplcd lo address lhts loss in a
<br />111anner that was, for a bunch of re-
<br />publicans (mostly), a lot like a de-
<br />Inocrat primary: they pUl abo Ul 20
<br />buffalo in a squared ..off circle
<br />around the problem and, in v.,hat
<br />was euphemistical1}' listed on lhe
<br />program as M A Dialogue on Wa ler
<br />Developlnent After Referendum
<br />At" started firing at each other.
<br />So!ne of t.his dialogue deserved
<br />an uRn rating - not just for the ver-
<br />bal violence, but an OCR" for
<br />uRcrun, n since we had heard a lot
<br />of lhe same things said last year,
<br />and some of them for the last 40
<br />rears. This Jnoved Jason Pcl tier,
<br />D~puty Asst. Secretary' of InLerior
<br />for \V~ler and Sdcnce~ la observe
<br />that il can be c~painrul to \\'alch a
<br />discussion where evcf}'bod}' knows
<br />what everybody else is going to
<br />say.. n
<br />But there were sonte diamonds
<br />in all lhc coal shoveled around that
<br />morning. West Slopers were in
<br />short supply on the pane1- Reeves
<br />Brown from Club 20 and Eric
<br />Kuhn from the Colorado RIver
<br />Waler Conservation District. But
<br />Kuhn was brave enough to say
<br />what a lot of us are wondering over
<br />here: that there might not be any
<br />umillion acre.feet of Colorado River
<br />water lefllo develop as Colorados
<br />share of the river~"
<br />He was engaging in what has
<br />generally been a no-no in Western
<br />water: looking at scientific faclS. He
<br />pointed first at the Colorado Rivers
<br />steady decline lhrough the 20th
<br />ccnlury~ from a 20-year ~~average
<br />flOW" of around 18 tnillion acre..feet '
<br />when the Colorado River Compact
<br />was signed in 1922~ to a IOO-year
<br />nvcragc today of JUSl over 15 11li!.
<br />lion acre-feet
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<br />See '"taler on page 11
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