Water Realities Set in for Farmers: Denver Post

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Water verdict tough WATER from Page 1 B can't get any more water," said John Singletary, an alfalfa grower from Boone in eastern Pueblo County. Sin- gletary, who leases the fields he farms, figures it will cost him twice as much as last year to grow his crops. Property values also could wither on farms no longer allowed to pump unlimited water. Singletary, who wanted to buy a farm, is leery now because "I don't know what it'll be worth in the future." While most along the river are re- signed to the court's order, a few may not go quietly. State Sen. Don Ament, a Republi- can candidate for the U.S. Senate, re- called last week an angry farmer who phoned in during his recent ap- pearance on a radio talk show in La- mar, in the heart of the affected area. "He said, 'Any guy you're gonna send out here from the state to turn my well off is gonna be lookin' down the barrel of a shotgun,' " said Ament. "These (farmers) are over- whelmed. They say, `What the hell. We can't make money in good years, and now they want our water.' " Former State Rep. Steve Arves- choug, now general manager of the Pueblo -based Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, noted a blunt, unsigned reply to his mail -in questionnaire on the water case. "Kansas," the anonymous corre- spondent had scrawled across the blank questionnaire, "can go to hell!" Kansas had sued over a 1949 com- pact that apportioned the river's wa 1 ters between it and Colorado, where the Arkansas rises in the snowbound peaks above Leadville and flows 350 UF miles southeast to the border. But over the years, Colorado failed �� to limit consumption, allowing farm- ers to drill some 1,500 new wells to . get them through dry times. Kansas' stretch of the stream dwindled to a Wa trickle. The cities of Colorado Springs and Pueblo may have yearly supplies to sell. But with future growth, those won't be available forever. The politi- cal drumbeat could resume for more dam - building and "trans- mountain" diversions — pipelines from water - rich western Colorado. Arveschoug's district, which man- ages Pueblo's own imports from the Fryingpan- Arkansas Water Project, will offer the city's return -flow wa- ters to farmers downstream. Two groups that represent about 700 val- ley farmers — La Junta -based Colo- rado Water Protection and Develop- ment Association and Manzanola -based Arkansas Ground- water Users Association — plan to merge this year, pooling their pur- chasing power for augmentation wa- ter supplies. A third group, Lamar's Lower Ar- kansas Water Management Associa- tion, already has aggressively bought other water rights to help replace what its members will lose. That kind of action lay at the heart of a parable that retired Colorado Water Court Judge John Tracey told the river forum last week. The tale Acqui concerned an Arab man whose will in on( ordered that his 17 camels be divided among three survivors — half the an- • On imals to the first, one -third to the sec- tui and and one -ninth to the last. • Gr, Mathematically impossible? Not • Fri for the pragmatic lawyer called in to Stu settle the matter. The lawyer, said Tracey, brought Regul; along his own camel to round out the total to 18. That way, the first survi- vor would get nine, or half. The sec- ond would get six, or one - third. The third would get two, or one - ninth. And the wise lawyer would take his own camel home again. "Sometimes it re- ally helps," says Tracey, "if you bring a little something extra to the table."