Click the link to read the article on The Denver Post website (Elise Schmelzer). Here’s an excerpt:
February 26, 2024
A small hydroelectric power plant on the banks of the Colorado River has inspired a unique coalition in a state where water scarcity and politics often pit environmentalists, growers and recreationists against each other. Yet those groups recently set aside their competing interests in western Colorado, banding together to safeguard the water rights tied to the squat brown building tucked just off Interstate 70 in Glenwood Canyon. It still generates power, but its true value has been in the water that flows through it — which just might be the key to the river’s future…
Peter Fleming, the general counsel for the district, said of the interests along the river, from agricultural producers to the recreation industry: “Uniformly, across the board, they are in support of protecting the Shoshone flows. It’s pretty unique. People don’t always see eye to eye on water issues.”
[…]
Environmental protection plans exist based on the assumption that the water will be in the river. If the plant’s right were to disappear, those plans likely would need to be rewritten. The flows also keep water temperatures down for endangered fish and keep salinity low in drinking water for towns on the river…For agricultural producers in the Grand Valley, the water is crucial for growing Palisade peaches, wine grapes, wheat, corn, hay and alfalfa, said Tina Bergonzini, the general manager of the Grand Valley Water Users Association…The consistent flows provided by the Shoshone right also are critical for the $4 billion recreation industry centered on the Colorado River on the Western Slope, according to the river district.
More Coyote Gulch coverage of the Shoshone right.