From The Sterling Journal-Advocate (Jeff Rice):
Joe Frank, general manager of the Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District, was involved in writing the plan. He was on one of two South Platte Basin roundtable committees — the other represented the interests of the Denver metro South Platte users — that helped the IBCC formulate the plan.
Frank said while he hasn’t yet seen the final draft of the plan — no one will until it’s unveiled later this week — he’s happy with the direction it is taking. He said he thought a previous draft, on which the public has been commenting for several months, didn’t put enough emphasis on new storage projects.
“I’ve heard through staff members that they’ve taken our comments to heart,” Frank said. “The state has written a whole new chapter on storage (for the final draft.) Of course, funding is a big question on that, but at least now there is a direction.”
Frank said the importance of the comprehensive water plan can’t be overstated.
“It’s out there, and it’s a living document, and I hope stakeholders in water will take a piece of it and say, ‘I’m interested in that,’ and go out and implement it,” he said.
While the plan signals a new direction in cooperation, especially among the state’s eight river basins, it can’t replace necessary water litigation.
“Litigation is necessary to protect water rights, but with the plan out there, hopefully this is the new norm of groups getting together and negotiating it and not just fighting over it,” he said.
Don Ament, former Colorado Agriculture Commissioner who has represented Colorado in water negotiations with Nebraska, Wyoming, and the Department of the Interior in developing a recovery plan for the South Platte River, said he likes the plan because it dovetails with his group’s work.
“I like it because the governor has said we’re not going to make agriculture the default for our shortages,” Ament said. “We have shortages, primarily for municipalities, and they’ve bought water and will continue to (buy water) if we don’t harness some of that leaving the state. We’re faced with buy and dry on ag land.”
Ament referred to the practice of municipalities buying agricultural land with senior irrigation water rights and using the water to supplement domestic water use. Cities like Parker and Sterling have bought thousands of acres of river-irrigated farmland in Logan County for the purpose of using the water and allowing the land to “go dry.”
Ament said current management practices have allowed 4 million acre feet of water to run out of Colorado on the South Platte in the past six years. Only 500,000 acre feet was attributed to flooding in 2013.
“The water plan asks each basin to come up with their own plans on how to make up shortages in their own basins,” Ament said.
The water plan will be delivered to Gov. Hickenlooper Thursday morning at a press conference at 10 a.m. at History Colorado in downtown Denver.
