The Arkansas and Gunnison Basin roundtables are hoping to push along a storage pool of 200,000 acre-feet of water to protect transmountain diversions junior to the Colorado River Compact. Here’s a report from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
The roundtable is developing the plan in conjunction with the Gunnison Basin Roundtable. It would release water from storage in Blue Mesa to prevent curtailment of diversions if downstream states in the Colorado River Compact issue a call on the river…
The plan of the Arkansas and Gunnison roundtables would be to store up to 200,000 acre-feet of water to release during dry times in order to allow transmountain diversions to continue. “Our motivation is that almost all of our transmountain rights are junior to the conditional rights of energy companies on the Western Slope,” said Gary Barber, chairman of the roundtable. “For the Gunnison folks, it would shift management to within the state of Colorado.”
The process of getting the Bureau of Reclamation to agree to a storage contract that would renew annually is complicated and the roundtables want to send a team to Washington to explore the possibility, rather than a letter which was proposed at the last meeting…
The group voted to send [Jim Broderick, vice chairman of the Arkansas Basin Roundtable], who has worked with top Reclamation officials through his position as executive director of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, to Washington. Under the joint proposal, the Gunnison roundtable would send a representative, and top state water officials would also attend. “We want to see if the water in Blue Mesa could be put to use for the whole state,” Broderick said…
The plan would not allow water from the Gunnison River to be pumped over the Continental Divide, which is still fiercely opposed by water interests in the Gunnison basin, said Jeris Danielson, a water consultant and former state engineer. The storage account proposed in the agreement would provide protection for absolute water rights — water that has been put to a beneficial use rather than simply claimed — prior to Sept. 10, 2010, explained Alan Hamel, executive director of the Pueblo Board of Water Works. It would allow for protection of existing water rights or against depletions in the Arkansas, South Platte and Colorado basins, but would not preclude development of future transmountain projects, he said. “The idea would be to develop a pool of water to be used against a call from the downstream states,” Hamel said. “Other entitlements within the state could still be developed.”
Colorado’s Front Range imports nearly 500,000 acre-feet (160 billion gallons) annually from the Western Slope. The Arkansas Valley imports about 130,000 acre-feet (42 billion gallons) annually, through the Twin Lakes, Boustead, Homestake and Carlton tunnels, as well as several ditches.
More IBCC — basin roundtables coverage here.