From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
Mauch was president of the Fort Lyon Canal during the 2002 drought, when many of the shareholders decided it was time to sell to High Plains A&M. The investors bought up nearly a quarter of the canal and persuaded others to vote with them. “We were this close to giving up control of the canal,” Mauch said. “Even though our lawyer said we’d be protected, I wasn’t so sure.” Since then, there have been other nettling water issues that Mauch believes continue to chip away at narrow profit margins.
Along with Don McBee, Mauch is helping organize a $200,000 study of leakage in 20 ponds that feed sprinklers. They want to prove something they believe is just common sense: Those ponds lose a lot of water. The Colorado Division of Water Resources has filed a court case on rules governing the consumptive use gains from irrigation improvements and could plug the information into a model that presumes 3 percent seepage. Steering his pickup onto the rim of one of his ponds, Mauch pointed to the curling mud chips on the bottom of the pond: “Three days ago, this was full of water. You’re telling me that’s a 3 percent loss?”
Driving past Harry Reed’s farm — Reed is one of several farmers whose seep ditch rights are under measurement requirements for the first time in 100 years — Mauch shook his head and waved an arm.
“That water never made it back to the Arkansas River,” he said. It’s too close to his own troubles with the state. “They can put a giant pipeline to suck the river out at Pueblo Dam. They talk about building dams on Fountain Creek and recapture water using the Holbrook. I’m 10 miles away from the Arkansas, and they say I’m cheating the river?”[…]The most important step farmers have taken in recent years to protect their water is the Super Ditch, in Mauch’s opinion. The Super Ditch is the only way to stop municipal water speculators from continuing to raid the Arkansas River basin, Mauch said. “You might think you can keep them away, but you can’t,” Mauch said. “The more prepared we are with a leasing program, the longer we can delay. We have to give them a place to shop, or they’ll buy the store.”
Mauch was among the farmers who incorporated the Super Ditch and praised the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District for helping get it off the ground. The leases should not be limited to the Arkansas Valley in order to realize the full value or the water, he said. Temporarily drying up some land can be beneficial, and in very dry years, water could be more valuable in an urban shower than put on a crop that’s not going to make it anyhow, he added.
More coverage from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
The most important tool in the Lamar farmer’s [Dale Mauch’s] shed appears to be the cell phone, even though he often would rather set irrigation tubes than try to deal with computers, global positioning systems and other technology that dominates modern farming.
More Arkansas River Basin coverage here.