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6 Ark River group plans next steps At a joint meeting of the Arkansas River Coordina- ting Committee and the Colorado Water Conservation Board in mid-September, state officials commended the committee's work and pledged to continue to support basin water users in their efforts to comply with the U.s. Supreme Court ruling that requires tighter regula- tion of ground water pumping in the Arkansas River valley. Governor Roy Romer created the group a year ago to provide the state with advice on a wide range of water-related issues throughout the Arkansas River basin, including problems resulting from Kansas' lawsuit against Colorado. The committee includes repre- sentatives selected by water conser- vancy districts, boards of county commissioners and water suppliers such as ditch and ground water associations. According to attorney David Robbins, who is representing Colorado in the lawsuit, the Supreme Court has indicated that its first priority is to ensure that current and future ground water pumping is regulated to prevent additional stateline depletions. A key element in achieving compliance with the court's ruling is adoption of rules requiring replacement of depletions from pumped groundwater begin- ning in 1996. Therefore, much of the discus- sion at the meeting focused on strategies for finding replacement water for depletions in the river that the Supreme Court deemed are the result of groundwater pumping within the basin. The committee presented recom- mendations developed by three sub- committees-augmentation water, water acquisition and recreation- and endorsed by the committee as a whole. They include: . A new, valley-wide entity to address augmentation needs in the basin is not needed; the state should look to existing augmentation groups and any new entities created by valley water users to meet future well augmentation requirements and prevent injury to senior Colorado surface rights. . In purchasing and changing the use of existing irrigation su pplies, a set of guidelines should be applied, including: do not purchase entire basin augmentation needs from a single geographic region to mini- mize local impacts; try to buy an entire water right as much as possi- ble to avoid minority shareholder problems; and attempt to purchase those systems or portions of systems that operate least productively. . The OOW and State Parks should continue to review their operations with respect to their water supply needs for recreation and wildlife in the area in order to coordinate their water supplies with those needed to provide replace- ment water. . DNR should review potential sources of permanent water supplies that can both serve recreation and wildlife needs and facilitate solu- tions to ground water pumping depletions, then report preferred alternatives to the coordinating com- mittee for further consideration. . The State Engineer and Attorney General should seek additional staff and operating funds to fully imple- ment a ground water regulation pro- gram within the basin. The board and committee agreed to postpone discussions of whether the state should seek to repay Kansas for past depletions in water, money or a combination of the two until November, when Kansas will specify the amount and form of payment it will seek as part of its claim for damages. P. 0( ~Z~ (J 0 thi~ Vl>-;;: l' Shll O>--Jq 0 ~C$: s: reo n~~ my 0 tTI 0 0 hat Vl ." tot bat fou the bra ci' t) c- Co -"" ~ fro " '" 802 ., '-~i ..~ ~ W! Tl Su lTj go Q r. '" ~ - '0 ~