From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
More storage is needed to prevent flooding and provide certainty for Western agriculture during droughts, U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton said Tuesday.
“Without the ability to store the water that falls on Colorado’s slopes, the West as we know it would not exist,” Tipton said during a House water and power subcommittee hearing.
The committee heard testimony from water experts, including a hydrologist, a state regulator from Oregon, a Trout Unlimited lawyer and a farmer on how federal red tape in water projects could be reduced.
“There has never been a more prescient time for development of water projects,” said hydrologist Robert Shibatani of Sacramento, Calif. He made the case for storing excess flows of water in any basin where they exist.
Witnesses urged more multi-purpose projects that meet environmental, flood control and supply for cities and farms.
Committee members agreed on the need for more storage, but differed in approach. Democrats said other approaches such as conservation or market approaches that don’t increase federal spending to be developed more fully. Tipton and other Republicans said federal regulations have hindered water development that could have benefited Colorado.
“Unfortunately, radical groups have failed to realize the potential environmental benefits from increased storage and have held up the development of new projects with endless litigation and a variety of other tactics,” Tipton said.
Tipton said more storage is needed to avoid continued dry-up of agriculture.
“Colorado farmers and ranchers have been enticed to sell over 191,000 acre-feet of water for municipal and industrial use since 1987,” Tipton said, adding that farmers who now rely on leases from cities found their supplies cut back this year as cities sought to replenish their storage.
“The growing West needs new water projects and the federal government should be fostering a regulatory environment that encourages new surface storage production rather than stifling these efforts,” Tipton said.
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