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",' ~RECEIVED AUG 1 5 1995 rD;~- ._-~~- CuuJJ:.' sc : ASC F "n I I ~ Colorado Waler L I: August 14, 1995 Conservation Board E .:~____ __ ___ Colorado's Painless Answer For Droul!:hts And The Kansas Water Silit ~~ . ~- rg~- The U.S, Supreme court recently decided that Colorado is guilty of stealing Kansas water with excessive pumping from irrigation wells in the Lower Arkansas River Valley, Because of this serious, long-term violation of the 1949 Arkansas River Compact, Colorado taxpayers are now faced with a $100 million claim from Kansas for reimbursement Colorado's innocent Arkansas Valley farmers are also faced with either drying up their family farms or buying expensive water to maintain Arkansas River flows for Kansas during the critical dry years. Meanwhile, Colorado's vast undeveloped Colorado River Compact waters are stilI flowing freely to Arizona, Nevada, and California growth areas, Colorado's Kansas debacle was caused by three major water management blunders: Blunder No, I started about 30 years ago when state officials began issuing hundreds of high-volume well permits without considering the depletion impacts on the Arkansas River Compact, Blunder No, 2 also evolved during this time when state and federal officials lost their farsighted vision to store and use Colorado's threatened undeveloped Colorado River Compact entitlements, The largest casualty of this unwritten policy shift was the US Bureau of Reclamation's proposed Gunnison -- Arkansas Project, This major Upper Gunnison storage project would have doubled Colorado's transmountain water for its much dryer Arkansas and South Platte River Basins. Incredibly. Colorado continues to dry up its eastern environments, while its wettest untapped basin loses enough snowmelt during heavy run-off years to satisfY the drought cycle needs for both slopes -. including the Kansas suit Blunder No, 3 is probably the worst single water mistake in Colorado's history, On the 22nd day of March, 1993, West Slope water managers quietly transferred Colorado'S most valuable undeveloped water storage right to the federal government This Taylor Park Reservoir Refill Decree was originally justified in Gunnison Water Court to provide more water for Taylor River fish during the heavy run-off years, However, every fisherman in Colorado knows fish do not require more water when rivers are flooding, The Taylor River flushing mistake was caused by misinterpretation ofa Colorado fish flow study, and pressure from activists, who are determined to keep Colorado's water flowing freely downriver as "Mother Nature intended," Their uncompromising slogan is ....Not One Drop Over The Hill"