San Miguel Guide to Basin Final Report

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32 JULY 30, 1992 TELLURIDE TIMES-JOURNAL' nvolved the preservation of ninimum stream flows in the .an Miguel River. There has ,een much recent conflict 'etween the town of Telluride Old the Mountain Village Metro listrict concerning the Metro listrict's application to pump has detennined is a minimum to preserve the stream's biotic life. But minimum low flows, Cooper pointed out, are not the same as optimum low flows. Moreover, he questioned the science that reached the 6.5 cfs figure in the fltSt place, and noted that the figure could vary depending on the river's width, which is increasing due to damage done to the river at various points where the banks have been eroded. The point, Cooper said, is that the community khas to decide what it wants here." " Do we merely want to divvy up water rights, in a legalistic sense, for pwposes of conswnp- tion, or are we interested in attempting some sort of restora- tion of natural systems? Perhaps the ultimate impres- sion left by the Ideas Festival was that while a restoration of natural systems, to some degree, would be in the ultimate best interests of the community at large, achieving any meatlingful restoration will be dauntingly difficult, given the many competing demands being made on limited water supplies. What makes this challenge all the 1 greater is that our system of water law is kByzantine," as attorney John Musick described in a morning talk, and is based on 19th-rentuIy water priorities. rUB PLAYERS - In a panel discussIon at the Ideas Festival, he maJor water rights holders In the San MIguel Basin IIscussed Its future. Pictured here; Charlie Haas (San MIguel lalley Corp.), Peter Spencer (mayor of Tellurlde), Jeff "wltchell (51'S Hydropower), Jim Dyer (Rocky Mountain . stltutel, Jim Wells (Mtn. Village Metro Dlstrlctl, Rick River "rado), Erlc Jacobson (Brldal Veil Hydropower plant) and "n Ufton (Zollne family partnershIp). Tlmea.Joumal photO/Rob A. Huber water from the alluvium adjacent to the river to meet the Metro District's burgeoning water needs. The town has argued that the new wells will draw the river down below the 6.5 cubic feet per second that the State Division of Wildlife Water continuedfrompage 3 The Telluride Institute is to be commended for once again focusing in on an issue that will to a large degree detennine our future in the Telluride Region, and for planning and staging an event that successfully brought the key concerns to the fore. Like its previous Ideas Festi- vals, notably its festival on Affordable Housing, this one is likely to exert its influence well into the future as participants take what they learned at the festival and apply it to their planning. Though Saturday's schedule of talks and panel discussions was intensive, the festival wrapped up Sunday morning with a kworksession" field trip . to the Bridal Veil Hydropower plant - and it proved to be a petfect conclusion to the event. Several dozen festivalgoers had the opportunity to explore the restored power plant, and see fltSthand how one of the water rights holders in the basin" is putting those rights to work, and to simply hang out or take a hike up into the upper basin. Of course it was beautiful. But speaking as one who had attended Saturday's panel talks, it also looked more vulnerable than it had ever looked before. The Bridal Veil plant, perched atop a 330-foot cliff so . sheer that the falls themselves are not visible from above, is a place of stunning scale. The force of water, turning turbines to produce electricity, and crashing down the falls to the rocks below, is awesome. But despite appearances, there simply isn'tenough water to meet all of the human needs in a region facing growth, and to preserve our natural environ- ment, too, without some new ideas and, indeed, a new and holistic approach to the prob- lem. The Ideas Festival was a good start in that essential endeavor. i