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Respect for the land translates into protection of natural environment for Carol Ellinghouse Carol Ellinghouse has been managing the City of Boulder's water rights portfolio and raw water supply system for 11 years. As Boulder's Water Resources Coordi- nator, Ellinghouse is responsible for opera- tion and maintenance of the City's raw water supply system that includes 10 dams, 25 miles of pipeline through high mountain ter- rain, and 7 hydropower plants. Ellinghouse also manages eight square miles of vvilderness watershed area that Boulder ovvns just east of the continental divide. Last but not least, Ellinghouse is in charge of maintaining instream flow water rights on Boulder Creek and tributaries. Ellinghouse has put a lot of effort toward the rehabilitation of Boulder's aging water supply facilities. She has high regard for her prede- cessors and the Boulder citizens, who devel- oped, as she put it, "a fantastic water system-vvith good facilities and structures, and a century of protection of the water qual- ity in its watershed." Ellinghouse believes that city council's support for providing a reliable water supply while maintaining the Boulder Creek instream flows has provided a healthy balance betvveen municipal supply and other public interests. Maintaining the instream flows has been an interesting challenge for Ellinghouse. Over the past decade, Boulder has donated valu- able senior water rights to the CWCB to sup- plement other CWCB instream flow water rights on Boulder Creek and North Boulder Creek. As a result, the lower reach of Boulder Creek that would previously dry up by July now has water running through it year- round. Ellinghouse gives credit to Lee Rozak- lis and David Harrison who motivated the city council to support the protection of instream flows on Boulder Creek. "My responsibility was to make the plan func- tion," says Ellinghouse. To implement the Boulder Creek instream flow plan, Ellinghouse worked closely with the CWCB staff Dan Merriman and Anne Jan- icki, and vvith Boulder's legal counsel Ronni Sperling and consultant Lee Rozaklis. The combined effort resulted in a monumental donation agreement betvveen Boulder and the CWCB, where Boulder donated water rights, valued at over $12 million. The process did not end here. Shortly after, Boulder and the CWCB fIled a joint application in the water court to change Boulder's donated water rights to instream flow use. Several local water users and dovvnstream municipalities opposed the application, which ended up in a lengthy trial. The court issued a decree in 1993, adjudicating the donated rights for instream flow use as well as for irrigation and municipal use. "First decree ofits kind," says Ellinghouse. The CWCB designated Boulder as its agent to monitor and administer the Boulder Creek instream flows-a task that Ellinghouse directly supervises. With technical assistance from Lee Rozaklis of Hydrosphere, operational assistance from Joanna (Tisdale) Stansbury (whom Elling- house hired away from the CWCB), and much cooperation from Water Commissioner Bob Carlson, Ellinghouse had to make a number of adjustments in order to properly adminis- ter the instream flows. "It had never been done before," notes Ellinghouse. But their effort was fruitful. Boulder has now estab- lished instream flovvs that are rarely called out and the water is ushered down the creek past various diversion structures. "The process proved that instream flow water rights are fully compatible vvith Colorado's way of administering water, demonstrating that streams can be kept wet without adversely impacting water use or water devel- opment," asserts Ellinghouse. Unlike many that look at use of instream flow rights or bypass flovvs as a means of restoring a river system to its natural pre-settlement condition, Ellinghouse vievvs instream flows as an added use within the existing water rights system. "In order to make the instream flow rights work, I've found it helps to view them as fitting into an already heavily man- aged and developed stream system and work to make them fully compatible and integrated with other water rights. And it takes a lot more than just donating the water rights to maintain a wet stream." She adds, "The trade- offfor Boulder in donating its senior water rights is having a beautiful stream running through the town for the enjoyment of its citi- zens." And she points at the people outside of her office vvindow leisurely walking along Boulder Creek. The donation of water for instream flows also smoothed the progress of Boulder's negotiation vvith the US Forest Service concerning permitting and bypass flow requirements for Boulder's pipeline facil- ities on federal land. The USFS accepted Boul- der's joint efforts vvith the CWCB on instream flovvs in Boulder Creek as meeting all USFS requirements. Ellinghouse believes that the transfer of water rights to instream flow use and implementa- tion of the decree are the necessary compo- nents of a successful donation. "But above all, it requires close cooperation with many enti- ties, including the staffs at the CWCB and the 3 Colorado Division of Water Resources." Ellinghouse appreciates the Boulder city council for supporting the instream flow pro- gram. She emphasizes that her primary responsibility is to protect and deliver Boul- der's municipal water supply, "but also to look for opport~nities to do other things vvith the same water. Recently, the City of Boulder successfully completed negotiations with Denver Water to acquire use of storage space in Gross Reser- voir at times the space was not needed for Denver Water's municipal supplies. The City of Boulder and Denver Water have now entered into an agreement whereby Boulder can annually store up to 2,500 acre-feet of water in Gross Reservoir. The stored water will be donated to the CWCB to supplement the South Boulder Creek instream flow water rights. "It is not unreasonable to speculate the South Boulder Creek donation vvill be func- tional in five years," asserts Ellinghouse. Ellinghouse's interest in the protection of land and water began early as a result of growing up in an environment influenced by the Sioux Indians' tradition of "respect for the land" in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Wit- nessing a major flood in Rapid City in 1972 left a strong impression on her about the power of water that perhaps inspired her to pursue her education in a water-related field. Ellinghouse has a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree in civil engineering with an emphasis in water resources, both from the University of Colorado in Boulder. She has lived in Colorado since 1973. Before joining Boulder, she worked for the City of Thornton and for a consulting firm in Fort Collins. She lives on a small acreage in unincorporated Adams Countyvvith her 14-year old son, Ben, and 12-year old daughter Cayla. In addition to keeping up with the homestead, Elling- house enjoys reading, hiking, skiing, and spending quality time with her children..