Laserfiche WebLink
STATE OF COLORADO <br />Colorado Water Conservation Soard <br />Department of Natural Resources <br />1313 Sherman Street, Room 721 <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 <br />Phone: (303) 86G3~1 <br />FAX: (303) 866-d~7d <br />vL~r~v.cvL•cb.state. co.us <br />Bill Ritter, Jr. <br />Governor <br />Harris Sherman <br />News Release F,aec°tiveDirector <br />Darr McAuliffe <br />November 30, 2007 Acting CWCB Director <br />For Immediate Release <br />News Contact: Ted Kowalski <br />Phone: 303-866-3978 <br />DURANGO - A district judge approved an agreement Friday that will give the city of Durango a recreational water right <br />on the Animas River and settled three lawsuits filed against the claim. <br />District Court Judge Greg Lyman praised the parties in the three lawsuits, Case Nos. 06CW09, 06CW99, and 06CW127, <br />for reaching a compromise agreement. <br />"I am certain that it (the settlement) is better than any resolution that could have been rendered through the litigation <br />process," said Judge Lyman. <br />La Plata County, the Southwestern Water Conservation District and the Colorado Water Conser~•ation Board filed <br />separate lawsuits against Durango's application for a recreational water right, knov~m as a Recreational in-Channel <br />Diversion or RICD, to create a kayak park on the Animas in Santa Rita Park. <br />"This settlement awards the City of Durango a RICD water right and provides a pool of water that is available for <br />upstream consumptive uses," said Ted Kowalski, Project Manager for the Colorado Water Consen~ation Board. "This is <br />one of the most creative solutions relating to RICDs that has been developed and it was only possible because of the hard <br />work of the various stakeholders." <br />Durango and other communities in Colorado have claimed recreational water rights on streams and rivers to develop <br />kayak parks and other amenities. Some water users have opposed the recreational water rights as potential barriers to <br />other uses. <br />"When parties are able to put aside their differences of opinion in order to strike a balanced approach, everyone wins," <br />said Alexandra Davis, assistant director for water at the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. <br />A trial on the Durango cases had been scheduled to begin Jan 7. <br />"I am pleased that the State, the City of Durango, La Plata County, the Southwestern Water Consen~ation District and <br />other stakeholders were able to work together in a collaborative manner to protect Colorado's compact entitlements <br />while at the same time protecting flows for recreation," said Don Schwindt, Colorado Water Conservation Board <br />representative from the San Juan, Miguel, and Dolores river basins. <br />Flood Protection • Water Supply Planning and Finance • Stream and Lake Protection <br />Water Supply Protection • Conservation and Drought Planning <br />