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<br />4 <br /> <br />AUGUST 20,1992 <br /> <br />TELLURIDE TIMES-JOURNAL AUGUST 20,1992 <br /> <br />~ <br />.." <br /> <br />Opinion <br /> <br />The town's new <br />water rights - <br />and how to <br />use them <br /> <br />At first look, it all sounds great. The plan, first proposed by <br />Jacobson, is also supported by Pamela Lifton-Zoline, director of <br />the Telluride Institute, who described it as a win-win at the Ideas <br />Festival. The river would get more water, the Metro District <br />would get the water itneeds and the town would get money in the <br />form of payments from the Metro District to upgrade its newly <br />acquired water storage facilities in Upper Bridal Veil Basin. Not <br />incidentally, the Zoline Family Partnership, which owns the ' <br />West Meadows and shares some key water rights with Telco and <br />the Metro District, might also benefit. If the Metro District can <br />get the water it needs from the San Miguel, the pressure could be <br />off of the water sources it shares with the West Meadows. <br /> <br />But let's take a deep breath, and a longer look before we leap. <br />The town's water wealth is recent, and town should not feel at all <br />impelled to quickly negotiate them away, or lease or sell them. <br />If the town is now the major player in resolving water disputes <br />in the region, that is good news (although some may disagree), <br />because the town is, after all, a public entity. The major water <br />assets in the region no longer belong to a private mining <br />company and they didn't go to a private developer: they went to <br />the public. <br /> <br />It is possible that the compact suggested by Jacobson and <br />Zoline could work to the benefit of all. But water law and <br />hydrology are notoriously complex, and the town mus~ co~sider <br />its options wisely and well, and must allow a full publtc dISCUS- <br />sion of the alternatives, before it acts. <br /> <br />How about the idea that came out of last month's Ideas <br />Festival, that the region's major holders of water rights negotiate <br />a pact managing the releases of water from Blue Lake and the <br />upper Bridal Veil Basin to provide sufficient water in the San <br />Miguel River at low-flow periods? <br /> <br />The Mountain Village Metro District says it needs additional <br />water from the San Miguel to fuel its growth. The town of <br />Telluride has opposed the Metro District's application for new <br />water rights, in large part because it questions the impact on the <br />river. But as of last month, when it received major new water <br />rights in Bridal Veil Basin from the ldarado Mining Co as part <br />of a legal settlement, the town is suddenly in a position to make <br />up for any water the Metro District takes out of the San Miguel <br />by releasing it from storage in Blue Lake, if it chooses to do so. <br /> <br />The town's dramatically strengthened hand is tribute the <br />negotiating skill and far-sightedness of town officials, in par- <br />ticular Mayor Peter Spencer and outgoing town attorney Steve <br />Johnson. They have guaranteed the town's, future, so far as <br />water supplies are concerned - no small feat. Now that the town <br />is water-rich should it enter into discussions with the Metro <br />District - and with EricJacobson, who operates the Bridal Veil <br />Hydroelectric Power Plant and has some significant non-con- <br />sumptive rights on the river -to arrange this sort of water deal? <br />