Storage and Supply

One of the best sources for sustainable water is runoff from the snowpack. As in every year since the ancestral puebloans roamed southwest Colorado, securing water rights, along with building and expanding storage was at the top of many lists. Big plans for new storage were discussed up in northern Colorado including Chimney Hollow Reservoir and Glade Reservoir along with an expansion of Halligan-Seaman Reservoir. Proponents of the proposed Genesee Dam introduced a plan for visual mitigation. Colorado Springs tried to move on Jimmy Camp Reservoir while Pueblo looked at expanding Clear Creek Reservoir. Colorado's U.S. Senators hoped to transfer control over some of the Big Thompson project to local management.

Late in the year the Million Project Pipeline was on everyone's radar. At the end of the year the project was moving full steam ahead.

Ag water continues to be targeted by municipalities, including Aurora's continual quest for long-term exchange deals. The Southeast Water Conservancy Board is watching them closely. There is also pressure on agriculture to provide augmentation water. In January we learned about the high cost the City of Lafayette has incurred buying ag water. Parker's arrangements up in Logan County were in the news.

HB06-1124 was an attempt to ease water law so that farmers could enter into leasing agreements with water utilities without giving up their water permanently.

Congressman John Salazar set the tone of the debate over transmountain diversions saying, "They take good water and then let crap down the river." As usual, the Gunnison River was at the top of the list for transmountain water for the unbridled growth on the Front Range. Union Park Reservoir surfaced briefly. The venerable Grand Ditch was in the news both for failing and for being a sticking point in wilderness protection for Rocky Mountain National Park. Late in the year the Northern Water Conservancy presented a study on the feasibility of moving water from the Yampa River to the Front Range. We're calling it Big Straw North. Earlier in 2006 the second largest water transaction in the history of Northern Colorado history was consumated with the Tunnel Water Transfer.

The Elkhead Reservoir expansion project was completed. Colorado Springs reminded the Upper Arkansas Valley that the city may still be interested in buiding the Elephant Rock Dam. The Upper Ark District looked at the feasibility of expanding Boss Lake. Over near Grand Junction a new reservoir was proposed. It was to be named Grand Valley Lake before being shot down towards the end of the summer. A study of Cherry Creek dam raised fears that it may fail.

The Animas La-Plata project marched steadily towards completion in 2010, reaching the halfway point in July . The contract for the Ridges Basin inlet conduit was awarded in December. The conduit will carry water to Lake Nighthorse from the Animas River. The big project is said by some to be the last of the large-scale water projects for the west.

The legislature looked at increasing underground storage with SB 06-193. The bill directs the Colorado Water Conservation Board to study the feasibility of underground storage in the Arkansas and South Platte river basins. Governor Owens signed SB 06-179 setting the stage for funds for small communities to pay for studies required before new water projects can be built.

Breckenridge proposed to fight gravity with the Blue River Pumpback. Part of the holdup was over the county's 1041 authority.

The East Cherry Creek Valley Water District brought a new pipeline online for their customers southeast of Denver. South Metro water district officials checked their guns at the door and attempted to solve their impending water supply crisis. Rueter-Hess reservoir kept morphing towards Super-Rueter. Castle Rock drafted a new water plan.

Up North H2Oil? was treating water from oil and gas wells for use in agriculture.

The Eagle River Water and Sanitation District is in court trying to prove that Denver should relinquish water rights that the city has not developed.

The lower Arkansas valley was very active in 2006. Three items include the formation of a Super Ditch and the Arkansas Valley Conduit. Another plan floated on the Lower Arkansas River hoped to use water from John Martin Reservoir for an interruptible supply to serve cities in dry years.

The Arkansas Valley Conduit is being planned to supply tap water to several southeastern Colorado communities that are currently suffering from the low water quality and declining supplies in the lower Arkansas River basin. The project, originally part of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project, has never been built because of the difficulties in financing and the desire of some to tie it's funding to the Preferred Options Storage Plan. Money started flowing towards the project in 2006.

There was much talk around the Preferred Options Storage Plan in 2006. In May the Lower Arkansas Water Conservancy District was still undecided about the plan as proposed legislation languished and water districts and utilities fought. Since the PSOP involves Fryingpan-Arkansas water the rainy side of Colorado also wants a voice further mucking up the prospects of the stalled project. Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District president John Singletary made it clear that they were developing strategies that would not allow Arkansas Valley water out of the basin.

Another project in the Arkansas basin, causing much rancor, is Colorado Springs' proposed Southern Delivery System. Consultant (working for Pueblo) Ray Petros' plan for Fountain Creek would have used effluent to augment Colorado Springs supplies and would have obviated the need for SDS. At the end of the year a new option was added to the SDS Environmental Impact statement, that is the no action alternative.

Some in Southeastern Colorado said that Pure Cycle's purchase of Fort Lyons Canal water was a water grab. The company promised a slow careful approach before building any pipeline, including taking water close to the Kansas border, where it's much more polluted.

The Colorado River Conservation District hoped to buy some Fryingpan-Arkansas project water to help them meet future demand. A secondary benefit would be increased stream flow in winter downstream from Ruedi Reservoir.

Part III in a couple of weeks.

John Orr