From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
“We firmly believe that the state engineer and division engineer need to immediately cease curtailment of our local farmers’ seep water rights, restore the rights (and seep ponds) to the level that they were prior to the calls, and provide written assurance that such endeavors will not be pursued against them,” the letter states.
Seep ditch rights are intercepted return flows from other irrigation ditches, which were claimed after the senior water rights were established. Many have been used for more than a century.
Water Division 2 Engineer Steve Witte said the state wants to enforce the seep ditch rights to bring them into the priority system, which allows use of water when it is available based on when it was first claimed. By making the seep rights accountable to the river call, most would seldom be in priority.
More Arkansas River Basin coverage here.