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J....: / /. Durango Herald Online Page 1 of 1 Co. I:."-~ THE DUlliu\TGO HERALJ) _11'1",- Water for farmers or kayakers? September 9,2005 By Joe Hanel I Herald Denver Correspondent DENVER - The state Legislature's water guru is ready for a little less talk and a little more action on the controversy over kayak parks. Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, presided over a daylong hearing Wednesday to hear from people on all sides of the issue, which pits kayakers against farmers in a battle to control the water in Colorado's streams. "We went to a hearing in Silverthorne. We went to Steamboat and had a discussion there. Yesterday we heard more testimony. We've heard everyone's opinions. Now we need to draft some legislation," Isgar said. Many towns are building white-water parks, similar to Durango's Smelter Rapid. But those parks require that enough water be kept in the river so that boats don't scrape bottom. The parks present a challenge to traditional water law, which focuses on who gets to take water out of the river, rather than who wants to leave it in. White-water park proponents say that rafting and kayaking are beneficial economic uses of the water, just like farming, so their parks should be entitled to keep the water in the river. But Isgar worries that the recreational rights might hurt other water users. "It'll be contentious no matter what we do" he said. "I want to recognize recreational needs, but I want to avoid unintended consequences from some of these filings." Isgar hopes to have a draft bill ready for inspection by the Water Resources Review Committee by its Sept. 27 meeting. The Durango City Council is considering applying for a recreational water-rights permit for the Smelter Rapid kayak park. Vail, Breckenridge and Golden already have recreational-water permits. In March, the Legislature killed a bill that would have limited water-rights claims for kayak parks to 350 cubic feet per second. Isgar said the bill's failure was his biggest disappointment of the legislative session, which ended in May. Drew Peternell of Trout Unlimited spoke in favor of water rights for recreation at Wednesday's hearing. "All this talk about protecting agriculture from recreation seems to me to be disingenuous, because these things are non- consumptive," meaning the water used for boating stays in the stream rather than being absorbed in the ground, he said in an interview. The 350 cfs limit is one of the trickiest parts of the problem. "We have a tremendous diversity of rivers and streams in this state, and what is required for a recreational experience in one river may not be in another river," Peternell said. He suggested setting limits at a percentage of each river's historic flow, but Isgar said that approach might run into the same problem - half of the river's flow, for example, might be good enough on parts of the Animas River, but not enough for boaters in the Yampa River in Steamboat Springs. Contents copyright @, the Durango Herald. All rights reserved. http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/printable _article _generation. asp ?article -Path=/news.... 9/9/2005