From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
When talking about a plan for the future, Gov. John Hickenlooper used an example from the past to illustrate why he has a sense of urgency on this issue. “Because of a number of factors, we are looking at a municipal supply gap of 500,000 acre-feet,” Hickenlooper told the Colorado Water Congress Wednesday at its summer convention. “But it’s more than that. This affects our quality of life and economy.”
The governor then launched into lessons he said he learned on a drought tour of the Eastern Plains last week. “Crowley County used to be alive. Corn, melons and families used to be grown there,” Hickenlooper said. “Without water, they can’t put down roots. Families with children can’t put down roots.”
Most of the irrigation water rights once used in Crowley County were sold to Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Aurora in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.
In May, Hickenlooper signed an executive order for the Colorado Water Conservation Board to develop a state water plan by 2015. “Water is essential to Colorado,” he said.
The Colorado Water Congress, a confederation of state water interests, devoted much of its summer convention looking at activities within the state and the existing plans of other Western states.
The goal of Colorado’s effort won’t be to turn water law on its ear, but to learn how basins can work together to meet common state problems, Hickenlooper said. “We plan to distill — I like using that word when talking about water — all of the activities of the basin roundtables into a strategy for action,” he said. “This is not a topdown process.”
Hickenlooper asked each basin to broaden its perception of self-interest as a way of reaching solutions on such things as completing projects, developing new projects, sharing water between farms and cities, and conservation. “It’s time for the state to move past narrow self-interest,” Hickenlooper said. “Reasonable people can reach sound solutions. There don’t have to be winners and losers.”
More coverage of the meeting from Michael Schrantz writing for Steamboat Today. Here’s an excerpt:
Industrial and municipal uses are projected to grow, and when that happens, those users often look toward irrigated agriculture as a place from which to acquire new water sources.
But as a presentation given Thursday morning by John Salazar, commissioner of the Colorado Department of Agriculture, showed, agriculture has a sizable economic impact in Colorado. Agriculture also contributes to the quality of life for Colorado and Front Range residents, as Gov. John Hickenlooper noted in a Wednesday speech. Salazar reiterated that Hickenlooper is committed to minimizing agriculture dry up.
But the panel Salazar was participating in wasn’t about why to save agriculture or how to measure its economic impact. Five members of disparate groups, including Salazar, were gathered to talk about what the process of saving agriculture in Colorado will look like and how their constituencies can come together to see it happen.
“I’ve made it my passion to try and fight and keep water on the land all of my life,” Salazar said. “I believe agriculture is really a cornerstone of Colorado’s economy and this nation’s economy.”
To deal with Colorado’s projected population growth and resulting water demand, Salazar suggested conservation and land-use planning as topics to consider, citing reduced water use by people living in apartments relative to single-family homes as an example…
Marsha Daughenbaugh, executive director of Community Agriculture Alliance, asked the audience how many of them were involved in production agriculture. And while a number of hands raised into the air, her next question about who of those in the room eat or wear clothes spoke to wide consequences of ignoring agriculture. “We need you to be aware of the pitfalls of not having production agriculture,” she said.
Daughenbaugh spoke about the impacts of Routt County’s working landscape and cultural heritage tourism and agritourism…
Doug Robotham, of The Nature Conservancy, said Carpenter Ranch near Hayden is “a great example of how agriculture and conservation can come together.” The Nature Conservancy owns Carpenter Ranch, but it holds conservation easements on many more acres in Routt County and across Colorado…
Terry Fankhauser, of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, echoed the need for creativity and said there are efficiency gains being made in agriculture. “Agriculture doesn’t deserve to be saved,” Fankhauser said. “But agriculture does deserve the opportunity to survive.”
More coverage of the meeting from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain:
The concept of a water bank has been kicked around for 12 years in the Arkansas River basin. It seems like a good way to provide water where and when it is needed without disrupting the legal stepladder of water rights.
The only problem: It’s never been used. “It’s a tool that’s evolving,” state Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass and chairman of the interim water resources review committee, said this week.
A water bank for the Arkansas River basin was authorized by the state Legislature in 2001, and was operated by the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District. In 2006, legislation changed to broaden water banking to the entire state. The Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District took over operation in 2010. “It was meant to be a Craigslist or eBay for water, but no transactions were made,” said Terry Scanga, general manager of the Upper Ark district. The bank never got rolling largely because there was insufficient storage and water could not be delivered at the right place at the right time.
Recent studies of groundwater movement make alluvial storage a possibility of overcoming those problems, Scanga said.
The need for a water bank has been illustrated this year when the Pueblo Board of Water Works chose not to make spot leases available, he added. Because of the drought, wells were shut down or restricted. Businesses like cattle feed yards were left to scramble for water. Creating a water bank would provide another option. “I think it helps with optimizing use of water, but it won’t be a panacea for meeting the state’s entire gap,” Scanga said.
More statewide water plan coverage here.