Denver Water, the Colorado River District and others are making progress over the Shoshone water right and Blue River Decree
September 20, 2010
From the Aspen Daily News (Brent Gardner-Smith):
The legal settlement could stabilize the flows in the Colorado River at the Shoshone hydro power plant in Glenwood Canyon and reduce the need for large summer flows from Ruedi Reservoir down the Fryingpan River.
“I’m looking to this agreement to forge an entirely new paradigm in the relationship between Denver Water and the Western Slope, as to how we sit down, how we negotiate and how we work together on solving the common problems that we will face in the future,” said Jim Lochhead, the CEO of Denver Water at a water seminar in Grand Junction put on by the Colorado River District.
The pending deal provides for a “certain future for water management” at the Shoshone hydro plant, Lochhead said. And because the deal addresses the use of water from Green Mountain Reservoir, on the Blue River north of Silverthorne, it also could reduce demands on the Colorado River for as much as 500 cubic feet per second (cfs) of water from Ruedi, which disrupts summer fly-fishing on the Fryingpan…
The draft agreement would allow flexibility between the owners of upstream water rights, including Denver Water, in order to maintain consistent water flows past Shoshone as if the plant’s water rights were in effect. “This is a critical element for the economy, the environment and recreation on the Western Slope,” Lochhead said of the Shoshone agreement. The Shoshone water rights, the water in Green Mountain Reservoir, the water in Ruedi Reservoir and fly-fishing conditions in the Fryingpan River are all connected by the water diversion system in the Colorado River basin. And the new settlement with Denver Water could improve the fishing above Basalt.
More Colorado River Basin coverage here.
