Colorado Water Idea is Rejected: Pueblo Chieftain

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DEC -14 -95 THU c-9:00 PUEBLO BOARD OF WATER WK P.01 Colorado water idea ected Kansas won't buy : . t V. ater- replacement '13E C 13 1 95 a s craft proposal By JAMES AMOS ... ' . •uns�rvd® Water The Puehlo Chic, ar,i Z ,., r ; $ti ®ri,d3aarc3 , •LAMAR Kansas con Tues- , . ' )Yater ' ° day rebuffed Colorado efforts to ; L116 bald Kansas' 'proposal lien- orate a special water - replacement - • Contltued from Page lA' `' long as Colorado wanted. ited the account to transmountain ' account at John Marntt Reser- Kansas attorney, John Draper, water even though well -user volt: ; Water. officials discussed the : j said his state wanted the account groups are very unlikely to be able to expire after'hne year. ,•, to buy transmountain water to re- plan at a meeting of the Arkansas Colorado objected, saying it place what their wells use. ' River Compact Administration couldn't gather. depletion data for Compact Chairman Larry Tru- here: 1� 1 3 — � future. years and therefore needed jillo of Pueblo said the two sides year la -time just to get the ac- would meet 'in late January to a y g J • continue discussions. count up and running. R. elated story Then, Colorado voted against Both states did agree that a ! :? awn proposal for a spe- treasure allowing more recreation on Page 3B Kansas vial account. Montgomery said water to be stored at *.Trinidad Colorado wouldn't approve a Reservoir should be approved: Colorado water attorney Den - measure in which Kansas con. A final resolution for the pco- rus Montgomery said water would trolled the account but wouldn't posal hadn't been finished Tues- have. been stored at John Martin give Colorado credit for delivering day, so compact officials will the water to Kansas. approve the measure at the Jahu- Reservoir about '.,0 miles west of onion of Kansas ary meeting . the border to ensure that Kansas Another p receives the water it is entitled to measure troubled Colorado water The move would expand the under the 19at Arkansas entitled to officials,'according to Chuck Lile, lakes recreation pool from 4,504 Compact. executive director of the Colorado acre -feet to almost 16,000 acre - Water Conservation Board. feet.'. Colorado and Kansas are in the ' midst of a decade -old lawsuit con- cerning Arkansas River wilier. Kansas has argued — and the ; U.S. SupreMe Court has agreed — that Colorado users of large- capacity wells have taken water that should have flowed into Kan- sas via the Arkansas River. Colorado's penalty for the de- pletions has yet to be worked out. The :proposed account would have allowed Colorado large -well users to store water at the dam and release it to Kansas when needed, Montgomery explained. "Kansas could call for water from this account at times when ' (the water) would be most useful ; to Kansas;' he argued. Any proposal that would change the operation of John Martin Reservoir or the interstate compact would need agreement from both states. " Colorado originally wanted the account to last as long as the Compact Administration allowed. ii..{ V nr• nn „iai MtA.� !•\I111A ��tl�