Laserfiche WebLink
South Platte solutions exist <br />Your July 8h editorial is dead wrong, there are breakthrough actions that can make the <br />limited water resource go further under existing law. First, any engineer will tell you that <br />if you manage the hydrologic unit rather than lawyer it, you can optimize our water <br />resources. First, to avoid the loss of 100 thousand acres of irrigated land in the Lower <br />South Platte by 20301, urban communities must enact more restrictive ordinance limiting <br />lawns for future growth. <br />Second, grant the State Water Engineer the ability to determine augmentation plans for <br />wells and other uses where there is administrative flexibility - such authority was <br />mistakenly given to the courts in 2003 where there is no room for science. <br />Third, there is a wealth of evidence that shows that we are not depleting the groundwater <br />in the South Platte alluvium - the groundwater recovery rate is swift. Wells should be <br />permitted to operate without augmentation plans where they will not draw down the <br />water levels in the river thus interfering with senior downstream rights. This is classic <br />engineering management. <br />Finally, establish a Lower South Platte River Utility that can buy and lease-back water to <br />farmers using conservation-type easements to keep it on the land. This protects land <br />values, property taxes and provides a single source for urban communities to "lease" <br />water rights under rotational fallowing. This alone would eliminate the need for these <br />communities to cherry pick senior water rights from family fanns. <br />Eric Eidsness <br />Water engineer, former chief of Reagan Administration policy on water quality and <br />presumptive candidate for the Democratic nomination for CD-4 2008 <br />337 Edwards Street <br />Fort Collins, Co 80524 <br />970 402-1536 <br />' According to the SWASI, the mid point of loss of irrigate land in the South Platte due solely to the <br />increase of urbanization of the Front Range communities - due largely to evapotranspirarion losses from <br />lawns and other water intensive landscaping.