From The Watch (Samantha Wright):
Irrigators and other upper Uncompahgre River water users took preliminary steps last week to form a new organization which can act as a unified voice for various Ouray County water users in local, regional and statewide water use negotiations.
Ridgway attorney Andy Mueller, a senior partner at the Tisdel Law Firm in Ouray, led the discussion, which occurred last Thursday, May 9 at the Ouray County Land Use building, with about 30 water users and other interested parties in attendance.
Mueller is a member of the Colorado River District Board of Directors representing Ouray County, and has extensive water law experience. He expressed growing concern that as water becomes ever scarcer throughout the West, Ouray County water users still do not have an organized entity through which to assert their collective interest.
This puts them at a distinct disadvantage compared to entities such as the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association, Tri-County Water and the Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District, “all of whom are very organized and very well versed in water administration and protecting their own rights and how they can best be served,” Mueller observed. “I wouldn’t suggest by any means that these folks are enemies, but just like anybody else, they are not necessarily there to look out for us. I think that’s our job as water users.”[…]
The association would take the form of a nonprofit corporation whose members use water from the Upper Uncompahgre River for any number of beneficial uses that are recognized by the state constitution. The entity would be self-governed and independent of county government. And, Mueller stressed, the organization first and foremost would respect the ownership and control of water rights as utilized within Colorado’s prior appropriation system – the “first in time, first in right” doctrine which in times of water shortage, permits a senior right to place a “call” on a stream to obtain a full supply. “This is not an effort to subvert water appropriation,” Mueller said. “It’s more to understand it and work within that system to the benefit of the water users.”[…]
The group could also focus on flushing out the “big picture” of water usage in the county, studying when and where shortages occur, and focusing on various solutions to address those shortages. Ultimately, the association could propose the formation of a new Water Conservancy District, the formation and funding of which would need to be put to a vote in Ouray County. Such an entity would have the authority to construct and acquire upstream reservoirs for county-wide water rights augmentation purposes that could be operated for the benefit of the county’s municipalities and irrigators alike, as well as for other water users, Mueller said…
A stakeholders group comprised of local ranchers Daris Jutten, Ken Lipton, Jack Flowers and Ken Orvis, and representatives from the Town of Ridgway and the City of Ouray, agreed to meet again in the near future to further explore the concept of forming a Ouray County Water Users Association. The next community-wide meeting on the topic is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, June 13 at 7 p.m. at the County Land Use building north of Ridgway.
More Uncompahgre River Watershed coverage here.