WSP01021

• File Number: 8441
• Description: Colorado Big Thompson Project
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 1/1/1987
• Title: Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District Waternews
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

compensation for the' farmer. Cities will
move up to the front of the Hne and say
to the farmers, I\You'Ugetydurwater,- but
we're going to use it' first. 'J

Q. WhaudxlUt changes in the Bureau?
A. Well, the daY. of building. the C-BT
and other projects are over1 It's kind of sad
for me, because my father started with the
Bureau at the time ofBould.er Dam, so we
date hack to 1933. We really don't have a
federal water program any more. If the .
Poudre Project is developed, and I think it
should be,it will have to be. done by the
District or the state.

Q. What was the relati07lShip between the
District and the Bureauduringyour tenure as
Project Manager?
A. The Bureau used to be a great deal more
powerful, but I always viewed it as a partner
with the District. During-qlY time, the
philosophy and policy in Washington was
to be .less involved, especially after 1977
when President Carter decided there
should be a separate Department of Energy
and Department of Water, which forced us
to deal with another bureaucracy called the'
Western Area Power Authority.
Meanwhile, the District went ahead with
the Windy Oap Project while the Bureau
W;lS relegated to the job of carrying the
water over. Quite frankly. I don't think
we'll see any- more djversion projects.

Q. Do you have any views on changes that
might rake place in the future on East Slope
streams?
A. There Bfe some great things that can
be done in a river basin by exchanges with
one river system helping -out another in
case o{.shortage: The water"supply is .
seldom similarj it usually increases to the
south or to the north", :and there_ are many
opportlinities' for "exchanges wherever the
drought is worse. I would like to see a water
manager for the South Platte Basin, but I
think there is a lot of fear on the part of
these ditch companies and others about
who that manager would be. It would be a
powerful thing. Personally, I think the best
water system I know of in the world is the
. Thames Warer Authority in England
which serves London, and these people
have total authority over the water from
the time it fans as precipitation until it is"
discharged into the ocean. I think that
really makes the best use of the resource.

Q. What is the future for additional projects
Uke the C-BT?
A. In the Thirtiesl Forties, and Fiftiest the
Bureau was powerful enough; Congress and
the Senate supported it. That was the time
it seemed like we were able to do these
projects. I don't think the C-BT could be
built today with the environmental
consideration we have. At the same timeJ
I think the C- BT is an environmental
project. It made life for man better on me
East Slope, and I think that's why it's
worthwhile.

The District and the Bureau:
Thoughts on a PartnershiP

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Some have said that the roles are
reversing nOWj that the opee mighty
Bureau of Reclamation isitaking its cue.
from a previously silent p~rtner" the
Northern Colorado Water Conservancy
District. Others say that th~ Bureau's days
are numbered; that the C$rter
administration's decision eo create the
Department'o{Energy and Western Area
Power Administration in the Seventies
started the gradual demise ;of an
organization whose slngulari.mission was to
reclaim western lands. Wilh tight -money
andenvironmentallstpresst(res, the Bureau
appears to be in more ofa ca~taker's role,
and this tends to be di'tasrHul to some
employees who have long be~n accustomed
to building great water works!for (he West.,
Perhaps there is a kem,'el of truth in
these views. The Bureau-DlStrict
relationship is certainly cha~ging. But of
greater importance -to north~astem
Colorado in 1987 is the indisputable fact
that 8 partnership was formeld fifty years
ago between the two organi4Ltions, one
which has worked extremely: well through
some difficult times. How was this
partnership formed?,
From its beginning in 1902 until
1937, nothing prepared the BUreau for the.
unique relationship it would h4ve with the
NCWCD. At no time had at\y of rhe
BureauJs reclamation projects tserved an
area where farmers and their communities
already existed and to whom a ~ast network
of dams, tunnels, siphons and1ditches
would provide supplemental Water. Never
had the Bureau joined in an atrangemetlt
as unique as that which was c~ntractual1y
negotiated with the NCWCD i,\ 1937. In
addition to thesupplemenral \Va~erfeature,
rhe Colorado- Big Thompson. rel\resente<ia
departure from earHer Rec1a:ma~ion
projects by lifting the limitatioi' of 160
acres of farmland per person and by
providing that one-half of the ~payment
costs would come from hydroele4ric power
generation.
Above all, what needs to be
remembered is that both sides have
conducted themselves honorabl~ and to
the benefit of everyone concerned with
agriculture in northeastern Colorado.
.There have been few confli.cts ber{yeen the
Bureau and the Distrl-ct, even thPugh the
manufacture of power and deHver)\ of water
on a timely basis might seem to ~se
contradictory objectives.
What both sides have underlitood,
from 1937 to the present, is that;the
primary purpose of the C-BT is to P!'ovide
supplemental water to stablize th4 greatly
fluctuating runoff of the South PIIltte and
its four primary tributaries. Stated. clearly
in the Repayment Contract, this oHjective
h.. been respected by both partn~rs.

The Bureau's involvement with the
Districr began in 1935 when Secrhary of
the Interior Harold Ickes gave his approval

to a study of the proposed C-BT system by
the Bureau of Reclamation. During the
almost two years that this study was being
conducted, the V.S. Attorney General
gave his approval, and at each phase the
U.S: Oeological Survey furnished
Secretary Ickes with progress reports.
. The final Bureau report. known as the
Bunger Report, accomplished the
following:
1. an economic survey of northern
Colorado demonstrating the need and
. justification for the project.
2. a complete description al1d analysis of
the irrigable land and water supplies of
the Colorado River Basin proving the
existence of a surplus supply and
describing the measures necessary to
fully protect present and future
municipal and irrigation needs in
western Colorado.
3. description and plans ofoverJOof the
project's features, both'irrigation and
power1 and the function each one of
them would perform in this widespread,
mu.lti#purpose system.
Following the passage of the Colorado
Water Conservancy District Act and the
creation of the NCWCD, the District's
,Board of Directors negotiated a Repayment
Contract in which the Bureau accepted its
role as designer and builder of the system,
as well as owner and operator of its power
features.
It should be understood, however,
that the District also played an important
role in securing rights of way and in
developing the irrigation distribution.
system for the East Slope during the
twenty#year construction period. The
finished system began full operation in'
1957.
Now that the C- BT has been in .
operation {or thirty years, reflections of two
of its Bureau Project Managers have special
signi.ficance in this fiftieth anni.versary
issue of W A TERNEWS. Bob Berling was
Project Manager from 1973-1984 while
Ray Willms has been Project Manager
since 1984. The interviews have been
edited slightly to follow a more readable
question and answer format.

Bob Berling
Q. How do you think the farming situation
will change in the next 30 years!
A. I can see some of the marginal ditches
and marginal farms going out. I'm a farmer,
you know, and I still believe in farming,
but 1 would look /Or some of these farmers
to go out of business because it's so hard
to pay the operation and maintenance and
insurance. I look for some of them to fold,
which might be a way for cities to get more
water.
Q. What about water recycling?
A. I think there will be a day when the
people in the cities have to come first and
there will have to be some kind of

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