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Last modified
8/16/2009 3:04:33 PM
Creation date
10/4/2006 6:59:17 AM
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Board Meetings
Board Meeting Date
5/19/2003
Description
CWCB Director's Report
Board Meetings - Doc Type
Memo
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<br />e) <br /> <br />e) <br /> <br />el. <br /> <br />Politico's pond makes waves <br />Former GOP leader clashes with state over water diversion <br /> <br />By Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News <br />Aprll 28, 2003 <br /> <br />When Bruce Benson, fonner gubernatorial candidate and chairman of the state Republicat\. Party, decided to build a smaIl pond on his <br />Summit County ranch using water from Brush Creek, it didn't seem like a major undertaking. <br /> <br />But appearances - especially when instream flows and state water officials are involved - can be <br />deceiving. <br /> <br />Eighteen months ago, the Colorado Water Conservation Board notified Benson that filling the pond <br />might interfere with its own water rights. <br /> <br />Since then, the politico and the state have gone round and round. Last week, after the state set a June <br />trial date to resolve the issue, the two sides reached a settlement. The state said Benson's diversions <br />were damaging stream flows necessary to ensure minimum water levels in Brush Creek, a Blue River <br />tributary. <br /> <br />Messing with water, inadvertently or not, isn't a laughing matter in Colorado, where rivers and streams <br />serve a host of endangered fish, as well as 18 other states. <br /> <br />Among those watching the state's streams most closely is the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the <br />largest holder of water rights in the state. The board controls 1,200 different water rights on more than <br />8,000 miles of streams, according to water board scientist Ted Kowalski. <br /> <br />"We got into this case to protect our instream flow decree," Kowalski said. "This winter (Benson was) <br />diverting 3 cfs (cubic feet per second), and it's our understanding the stream was being dried up." <br /> <br />Benson's attorney, GlelUl Porzak, said the issue is less clear cut. <br /> <br />"Honestly, I'm baffled that a case this small - it's a piddling amount of water - warrants this much of <br />the state's time," Porzak said. <br /> <br />How much water is "piddling?" The pond holds about 3 acre-feet. One acre-foot equals 326,000 <br />gallons, enough to serve a family of four for about one year. <br /> <br />But state officials, who spend much of their time monitoring their water rights portfolios, believe every <br />drop counts. <br /> <br />"We had a slightly different perspective," Kowalski said. <br /> <br />Last week, Benson and the water board fmallyagreed, among other things, to install a stream-diversion <br />structure to protect the state's water, Kowalski said. <br /> <br />Benson has agreed to pick up at least half the cost of maintaining the structure, Porzak said. <br /> <br />Benson, an oil and gas producer, said he hasn't been too concerned with the mini-water war at his <br />ranch. <br /> <br />"I've got a lot of other things to do," Benson said. "1 [mally told GlelUl, 'Look, settle this damn thing. <br />The legal fees are killing me.' " <br /> <br />26 <br />
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