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Going with the flow Page 2 of 2 needed legislation at the state Capitol to form the special district which would issue the bonds to finance construction. Passage of the legislation required Pueblo's representatives to agree to allow the Moffat Tunnel to be built, allowing rail traffic to cross the Continental Divide west of Denver. In time, rail transit across the central corridor of the United States gradually shifted away from Pueblo, and with the merger of the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific railroads a few years ago, the east -west route through Pueblo was closed altogether. The decisions and choices we make today, and the decisions we permit our elected officials, judges and public employees to make today regarding the Arkansas River through town, will affect Pueblo forever. Growth and development in the West requires water. Aurora and Colorado Springs have planned well to obtain water and continue to aggressively do so. Colorado Springs, for example, has already obtained a type of court- approved water right called an "exchange" which will allow it to store upstream in Pueblo Reservoir some of the water that presently flows through the city of Pueblo, and then pipe it north. Colorado Springs' Utilities planners project that it won't be able to fully "exercise" that exchange until about the year 2040 - the year population growth will generate a sufficient amount of treated sewage. Colorado Springs can send effluent down Fountain Creek to replace or substitute for the high - quality Arkansas River water they will take by- pipeline-from Pueblo Reservoir: Colorado Springs, and other entities to the north, are at this moment planning a second pipeline to take more-water north. Other types of transfers and exchanges exist under Colorado water law. If a melon farmer in the Arkansas Valley decides to quit, he can sell his water to a municipality in another water basin. If he historically applied 2 acre-feet per acre to grow melons, some of that water grew melons, some evaporated, and some historically drained back to the river. When he sells out, the buyer can move or "transfer" the point of diversion of his water (except the amount that historically drained back to the river), to an upstream location and convert it to a storage right if there is somewhere to store it. Through other transfers and exchanges, the buyer may then move the water into an entirely different watershed, for example, the South Platte River basin. Because the water came from a different river basin, the law provides that the municipality can "reuse the water to extinction." Theoretically, it could be endlessly recycled. However, the more typical scenario would see the northern city distribute the water in its municipal water system, after which much of it will end up at its sewage treatment plant. The city would then do another "exchange," trading the treated sewage effluent it puts into the South Platte for some additional South Platte water from an upstream point. It's a high - stakes game, and the municipal water entities spend fortunes on water lawyers, engineers and lobbyists: The power of these entities and -their thirst for water has produced water laws that protect transfers and keep water quality issues from interfering except where federal action. is indicated. Water transfers and exchanges havethe potential to dry up the Arkansas River through Pueblo unless action is taken now.-It would be unfortunate for Pueblo to lose the Arkansas River through town to lose that important part of its identity. It would be far more tragic for uueblo: s children of the future not to know the Arkansas River. In another column, I will discuss how H.R. 3881, legislation introduced in Congress at the request of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, will enhance the ability of other cities to dry up the Arkansas River. I will also explain why the city of Pueblo's r creational water rights application is important to preserving the Arkansas River, and why it is drawing heavy fire from the state's powerful water interests.: In the final part, I will offer some suggestions for water law reform Tony Florczak is an assistant city attorney for the City of Pueblo. ©1996 -2002 The pueblo Chieftain Online http:/ /www.chieftain.com/print/archive /2002 /mar /24 /edi2.htm 03/25/2002