From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
Colin Thompson of Holly and Scott Brazil of Pueblo have been appointed to the Arkansas River Compact Administration, along with James Eklund, the executive director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board. Appointments are made by Gov. John Hickenlooper.
Thompson, who farms on the Amity Canal, was first appointed to ARCA in 2005. His term expires in 2015.
Brazil, who farms in the Vineland area, will begin his first term on the board. He replaces Matt Heimerich of Crowley County. His term will expire in 2017.
Eklund began his CWCB post in June and replaces Jennifer Gimbel.
ARCA administers the Arkansas River Compact, which was ratified by Kansas and Colorado in 1949 to determine how the waters of the river are shared.
In recent years, ARCA has been preoccupied by issues raised by Kansas related to storage and groundwater use in Colorado. A U.S. Supreme Court case filed in 1985 was resolved in 2009.
ARCA meets annually in December.
Meanwhile, here’s a report about administering the Arkansas River this summer, from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain:
Sporadic, often heavy, rains have created a “roller coaster” world of water in the Arkansas River basin this summer. “It’s been a real roller coaster the last couple of weeks,” Water Division 2 Engineer Steve Witte said Thursday.
Witte, who began issuing split calls of water rights on the Arkansas River during last year’s drought, created the first five-way call on the river this year to keep up with changed weather patterns that are dumping copious amounts of water, but only in some corners of the watershed. “The number of different calls are intended to take advantage of water where it is available,” Witte said. “It’s difficult for people to understand that with erratic conditions, there is an inconsistent supply.”
On Thursday, for instance, flows through Pueblo were at a minimum, about 100 cubic feet per second. Up around Salida, they were being maintained for rafting at about 700 cfs, thanks to releases by the Bureau of Reclamation for the voluntary flow program.
Fountain Creek was adding 345 cfs at the confluence with the Arkansas River because of rains Wednesday in Pueblo and Colorado Springs. The Purgatoire River near Las Animas was flowing at 1,400 cfs, and has reached 6,000 cfs in the past two weeks, even though it’s normally nearly dry at this time of year.
Storage also is problematic. Levels are at about 80 percent of average for August in Turquoise, Twin Lakes and Pueblo reservoirs, and extremely low at John Martin Reservoir, although some water is being stored — a rare event during the past three years. But Two Buttes Reservoir south of Lamar, under restriction since the 1965 flood, is brimming with water for the first time in decades. The state has had meetings with local residents in the past week on the best way to manage the situation.
“It’s been wild,” Witte said. “In years gone by, with conditions like this we would set a call and everyone would accept it. Now, we’re having erratic weather, coupled with increased scrutiny of the river.”
the map illustrates that Guymon, OK is east of the Beaver River/Palo Duro Creek confluence, this is actually the location of Beaver, OK. The town of Guymon, OK is approx. 60 miles due west sitting a mile south of the Beaver River in the center of Texas County, relative to your maps’ indicated locale.