Laserfiche WebLink
In- Stream Flow: Wyoming (Draining the West ?) <br />Mayor Rose Skinner: "The citizens <br />of Pinedale, and as mayor I get <br />this, call and say, "the creek's <br />down, why can't we have water <br />in the creek? What are you doing <br />with our water ?" <br />E View the Full interview <br />Pinedale asked the state for a temporary water use <br />agreement. The plan was to take their own stored water <br />from Fremont Lake and use it to increase the flow in Pine <br />Creek in late summer. They found the water could far more <br />easily be diverted for a stock tank, a pipeline or highway <br />construction project but leaving it in the stream is not so <br />easy. <br />Patrick Tyrell: "Temporary water use is not the proper <br />vehicle for protecting water as an instream flow. You need <br />to follow the process the Legislature has outlined to obtain <br />an instream flow." <br />Rose Skinner: "I've been pretty much assured by those <br />people that there's a way to do this. But it's never been <br />done before, the way we're doing it, so we're kind of <br />plowing new ground. " <br />A pollution buildup in the Middle Popo Agie River alarmed <br />Lander citizens last summer. <br />Cale Case: "The river was actually posted for restrictions on <br />swimming, being in the river. The river I grew up on and <br />played in all my life. That's very disturbing. The reason it's <br />impaired is because of... warm temperatures, low flow, <br />very stagnant water. 1 proposed a bill to allow agriculture <br />users of water to temporarily give or sell their water for the <br />purpose of being used for instream flows. " <br />Senator Case's bill fell one vote short of introduction during <br />this year's legislative budget session. That close vote <br />signals that the issue won't go away. <br />Tom Annear: "It reflected this <br />growing interest in the public, <br />and particularly municipalities in <br />Wyoming, to get more flexibility <br />in administering Wyoming's <br />water resources, so that more <br />people can get more benefit from <br />Wyoming's streams, the water in <br />our streams, more easily. " <br />Laurie Goodman: "There's all sorts of fears and <br />misunderstandings and potential threats about the changes <br />in store. So I think that it's a movement similar to what <br />happened in 1986 that will have to start at the grassroots, <br />among the communities that find the water laws aren't <br />reflecting or allowing their needs. " <br />Page 3 of 4 <br />http: / /www.focuswest.org /water /instream.cfm 1/5/2004 <br />