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<br />
<br />more expensive. The cities could start buying Gunnison
<br />County ranches with good water rights (some ranches
<br />just below Crested Butte have 19th-century rights to
<br />about 300 cfs), and once enough water rights were as-
<br />semhled, build the diversion and storage systems.
<br />That's what happened in South P~(k and Middle park
<br />when the Denver Water Board went shopping decades
<br />ago.
<br />"They could do that:' Curry said when I asked, "and
<br />there wouldn't be much we [the conservancy district]
<br />CQuld do to stop that." But it would likely be very ex-
<br />pensive - rustic mountain land commands a much
<br />higher price today than it did in the 1920s and '30s,
<br />
<br />"T"'HEN THERE WOULD BE the matter of determining
<br />~ "consumptive use." Much of the water used to irri-
<br />.gate eventually seeps back to the river (the "return
<br />flow"), The water that doesn't return is the "consump-
<br />tive use," and that's all that a diverter could take under
<br />state law, because taking more would harm the down-
<br />stream users who had come to rely on the return flows.
<br />Also there would be proceedings in water court to
<br />change the use from agricultural to domestic. A
<br />"change in point of diversion:' another legal pmceed-
<br />ing, might also be required. Plus, a right-of-way would
<br />have to be acquired for transporting the water - one
<br />that would almost certainly cross federal lands, thus
<br />triggering a full-scale environmental review.
<br />Proposals for trans-basin diversions have gained
<br />popularity during our recent drought - even though
<br />Western Slope reservoirs sat empty last summer. With-
<br />out sufficient precipitation, there simply isn't enough
<br />.water available to store or transport, so new reservoirs
<br />and pipelines won't necessarily help matters during se-
<br />rious drought years.
<br />But all of this water development talk isn't merely
<br />about water, it's about money. Water can provide more
<br />money and trade for ColQrado - along with more peo-
<br />ple, businesses, manufacturing plants, suburbs, hous-
<br />ing develQpmems, and thirsty landscapes to suffer
<br />through .the next drought - if you can just get more
<br />water to the Eastern Slope.
<br />Getting water from the Gunnison River to the Fmnt
<br />Range is not a cheap or easy matter, or else it would
<br />
<br />Learning More:
<br />
<br />Cadillac Desert: The American WI1st and its Disappearing
<br />Water was first published in 1986, and updated in 1993. The
<br />latter edJtion is still in print in p3Perback Author Marc Reisner
<br />was 51 when he dieu of 'a.t~r !n th~ l\ummer of 2000.
<br />The Land and Water Fund of the Rockies published a
<br />well-researched report Ihis year, Gunnison Basin Water: No
<br />Panacea fbr tbe Front Range. It is available on-line at
<br />www.lawfund.org/\vater/Waler.html - click on the icon to
<br />download an Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF)
<br />file, and be patient, since it's 74 pages lon~ If they still have
<br />printed copies, you can request one from Ihe fund at 2260
<br />Baseline Road Suite 200, Boulder CP 80302.
<br />High Country Citizens Alliance, based in Gunnison County,
<br />will soon publish the paper edition of Gunnison River Basin:
<br />B/ueprintfbr Water Sustainability, which covers just aboUI ev-
<br />ery imaginahle issue concerning the basin. It is now available
<br />on-line as a PDP from www.hccaonline.orglwater.html-click
<br />on "Water Sustainability"
<br />Dave Miller's Natural Energy Resources Co. does not have
<br />an on,line presence, bUl you can write to him at Po. Box 567,
<br />Palmer Lake CO 80133, or call 719-481-2003.
<br />
<br />have been done years ago, and it's not going to get any
<br />easier or cheaper in the imaginable future. Just about
<br />any other conceivable water source - ground water,
<br />conservation, leasing agricultural water - would cost
<br />less.
<br />But as Marc Reisner observed in his 1986 master-
<br />piece, Cadillac Desert, "in times of drought, reason is
<br />the first casualty."
<br />Our legislature responded to our recent drought by
<br />agreeing to put a measure on the ballot, If we voters ap-
<br />prove, it would allow the issuing of up to $2 billion in
<br />bonds to finance new water projects, Put that kind of
<br />mQneyon the table, and all sorts of things start to look
<br />possible.
<br />And that, of course, is the time to be most wary.
<br />- Ed Quillen
<br />
<br />www.CusterGuide.com
<br />The New Home Page for Custer County, Colorado
<br />
<br />Featuring Ed Quillen's
<br />
<br />Denver Post column archive 1986-2003
<br />
<br />Weather, local and national news, financial news, visitor info, business
<br />database, free classified ads, discussion groups, and much more!
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />June 2003- Colorado Central Magazine.2
<br />001783
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