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Drought diminishes river# i together to stretch the water supply through the drought, the seven states that rely on the Colorado River are talking to one another, but warily, the -� (Oft wound of old feuds scratched open. Never far from the surface are pent-up p p p frustrations about growth, the environment or whether states should hoard their water or share. "We've been able to blissfully ignore these things because it all looked so far off," said Stan Cazier, a Granby, Colo., attorney. "Well, now we have to look at the past few years and say what everybody assumed was a dependable water supply maybe ain't so." Cazier works on water cases for ranchers, irrigation districts and other small water users on the Western Slope. Some of his cases are black- and - white, that's -my- water - not - yours, but water law is rarely that simple and neither are water lawsuits. Cazier and his law partner do business out of a building next to an auto parts store on the highway coming into Granby. His office is filled with books and files and maps. He leaps up now and then to pull one off the shelf or out of the file cabinet, but most he uses as props to help explain his points. He can reel volumes of information off from memory. More of the potential cases brewing on the western side of the mountains involve the cities on the eastern side, or Front Range, Cazier said. Denver and its growing suburbs are constantly on the prowl for more water, a search that's becoming more difficult. "The most critical water is right up here at the top," he said. "Denver controls what water is released into the river on this side. That leaves people on the west looking to reach agreements with Denver. We're getting less and less water because more of it is capable of going over to the east side. We're having growth over here now, and there's not a whole lot of extra water available." It sounds like a local struggle. But Cazier said moving more water over the mountains to the eastern side affects the entire river because "when Denver takes it, it's 100 percent gone, its all consumptive over there. On this side, there are return flows, water we put back in the river. "It's a tough one," he said, glancing at a map of the river's upper basin. "If we're not getting water up here, you're not going to be getting water down there sooner or later." Creek to river At the headwaters of the Colorado River, in the high Rockies, the water is all virgin flow, runoff from the snow that falls all winter. The Colorado begins in a remote part of the Never Summer range, fed at first by uncountable little streams and rivulets that finally take form as not much more than a creek. Nearly two miles above sea level, above even the tree lines, you can wade across the Colorado. Stand still long enough and you can hear all the little streams trickling down. The water is cold and clear, nothing like the angry red rapids as the more mature river leaves the state. In the Kawuneeche Valley, the fledgling river winds through alpine meadows, flanked by thick pine forests and peaks that remain snowcapped well into July. Huge herds of elk wander the valley, grazing on the grasses, drinking from the water. Up here, when it snows, there's water in the river. When there's less snow, there's less water. There are no huge reservoirs to make up the difference, no wide tributaries to boost the flow. At the beginning of July, the Colorado was flowing at 311 cubic feet per second near Kremmling; normal flow is 1,370 cfs. Windy Gap Reservoir, east of Kremmling, can provide 55,000 acre -feet of water in a year; in 2003, it was good for 327. The implications for the rest of the West sound obvious and ominous: If the Colorado can't keep up with demand, the supply will run short. But it's not that easy. centrifuges used for uranium enrichment • Veteran actor charged in shooting death of bar patron - Foreign strippers must supply nude photos to officials - Boy who 'divorced' murderer father wants to make it easier for others - More breaking news >> Page 2 of 5 http:// www. azcentral .comispecialslspecia1061 articles /0722colorado- drought.html 7/27/2004