From The Crested Butte News (Alissa Johnson):
The Upper Slate River Committee, a new group formed by the Coal Creek Watershed Coalition (CCWC) in early 2011, is bringing together key stakeholders to develop a Slate River Watershed plan. The plan will identify potential non-point source pollutants and where to focus efforts to prevent contamination within the watershed…
In order to fully understand the Slate River, the committee has contracted with environmental consultant Ashley Bembeneck to compile an initial report to inform the group’s work. “[The report] will use existing water quality to assess spatial water quality trends…and identify areas or items for additional investigation,” Bembeneck said…
A more detailed summary of the report will be given at the next Upper Slate River Committee meeting on Tuesday, September 6 at 4 p.m. at the Crested Butte town hall.
“It’s additional data compilation,” said Poponi. “You identify where you would like more info, get that info and then roll it into the plan instead of doing the plan first with limited amount of data. We want to do the plan with most data possible.”
More Gunnison River basin coverage here.
Salida: Colorado water law workshop recap
April 3, 2011
From The Mountain Mail (Joe Stone):
Sponsored by Colorado Water Trust, water lawyers Marcus Lock and Kendall Burgemeister presented an overview of Colorado water law. Lock discussed the doctrine of prior appropriation, which provides the basis for Colorado water law, and provided an overview of state and federal laws that affect water rights…
Burgemeister provided an overview of methods for enhancing water supplies and optimizing water use, including changes of water right, which must be adjudicated in water court…
Terry Scanga, Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District manager, offered an overview of events that have influenced water use in the Arkansas River basin. He spoke about the 1948 Colorado-Kansas Compact, the 1969 Administration and Adjudication Act, the 1985 Kansas v. Colorado lawsuit, the voluntary flow management program and trans-mountain diversions. Scanga said 126,748 acre feet, about 20 percent, of water in the Arkansas basin comes from trans-mountain diversions.
Kaylea White, senior water resources specialist with Colorado Water Conservation Board, discussed the Colorado In-Stream Flow Program. Amy Beatie and Zach Smith, Colorado Water Trust executive director and staff attorney, respectively, discussed “hot topics,” including the Breem Ditch in-stream flow project near Gunnison and abandonment of water rights.
More water law coverage here.
Colorado Water Trust’s Breem Ditch instream flow deal
January 5, 2011
Here’s a look at the Colorado Water Trust’s Breem Ditch deal for instream flows in Washington Gulch from Zach Smith writing for the Summit Daily News. From the article:
One example starts with a ranch outside the high-mountain resort town of Crested Butte in western Colorado. The aging owner wanted to sell his land for subdivision and his water right along with it. The water right diverted water for irrigation from Washington Gulch, a tributary of the Slate River and eventually the Gunnison River. It was valuable because it was the most senior; during the irrigation season it could shut off other diverters upstream. And once the water reached the headgate, it took every last drop, leaving the Gulch’s stone skeleton to bleach in the sun. It was all perfectly legal, and acutely devastating. A nearby water district, looking to shore up its supply, began negotiating to purchase the water right. But the developer who had bought it wanted more money for it from the water district. It was at this point that the Colorado Water Trust got involved in the transaction…
Using this innovative tool [CWCB Instream Flow Program], the Colorado Water Trust works in the water market as a broker, making deals to acquire water from willing sellers or lessors to send water back into rivers. Seeing an opportunity in the Washington Gulch transaction, the Trust and the Board proposed funding the price difference if the water district would divert the water 2.5 miles farther downstream than the rancher had, past Washington Gulch’s confluence with the Slate, as well as grant the Board an instream flow right for the river stretch between the old point of diversion and a proposed new one. In simpler terms, the Trust asked that the water district use the natural path of the stream itself as its water delivery system. All parties agreed, and now the deal is off to water court for approval.
What did this all mean? The developer got the price he asked for. The water district got the water it needed. What’s new is that Washington Gulch will have a protected instream flow with the most senior priority on the stream. When the stream level drops, the board will place the call, and Washington Gulch and parts of the Slate will run wet. It is all legal, and wonderfully healing.
Here’s the CWT release.
More Breem Ditch coverage here. More Gunnison River basin coverage here.
Gunnison County: Mt. Emmons mine conditional water rights filing update
December 10, 2010
From The Crested Butte News (Mark Reaman):
District Court Judge Steven Patrick issued a ruling on November 23 dismissing a motion seeking the dismissal of water rights associated with the proposed mine. The High Country Citizens’ Alliance, the Crested Butte Land Trust and the Star Mountain Ranch Homeowner’s Association claimed that water rights for the mine should be dismissed on the basis that U.S. Energy Corp. had failed to file a plan for mining by an April 2010 deadline established in the company’s conditional water rights. HCCA executive director Dan Morse said the organizations feel the judge’s ruling is “flawed.”
The groups opposing the water rights had argued that the correct deadline for submission of a mine plan was April 2010. The court found that the deadline for the filing of a mine plan is instead April 2013 based on interpretation of the water right decree and related legal proceedings. Morse said that in its ruling declaring that 2013 is the mine plan deadline, the court did not evaluate whether or not U.S. Energy had met requirements of its water rights with documents submitted to the U.S. Forest Service prior to April 2010.
“The Forest Service has been consistently clear that the 2010 deadline is the correct deadline,” Morse said. “So we feel Judge Patrick incorrectly interpreted that deadline. We are looking for recourse but we are not yet sure what form that will take.”
Morse said he thinks it is possible to appeal Patrick’s ruling through the courts but is not sure how that would be accomplished…
The water rights at issue in the case involve water that would be taken from Slate River and Carbon Creek as well as potential reservoir sites in the Carbon Creek, Ohio Creek and Elk Creek drainages. Morse commented, “We are pursuing this case in order to protect river flows, riparian resources and other uses of these creeks. Water right holders in Colorado have certain obligations for the use of water and our motion to dismiss these rights was intended to ensure that state water law was properly applied.”
Ann Johnston, Crested Butte Land Trust executive director agreed. “The Slate River Valley contains a remarkable concentration of high quality wetlands, the protection of which is very important to our community. These wetlands provide habitat for birds, fish and mammals, as well as important water quality functions,” she said.
More Gunnison River basin coverage here.
From the Sterling Journal Advocate:
The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) and the Colorado Water Trust closed on the purchase of up to 5.45 cubic feet per second of water under the Breem Ditch water right for instream flow use to preserve the natural environment of two highly visible water-short streams — Washington Gulch and the Slate River, and to improve the natural environment of Washington Gulch. The June 28 acquisition was the CWCB’s first water purchase using funds authorized by the General Assembly in 2008 for instream flow water acquisitions. The CWCB purchased a portion of the water using those funds, and the Colorado Water Trust donated a portion of the water to the CWCB. “This is a great example of the benefits CWCB’s Water Acquisition Program can provide to our state’s streams through creative partnerships with water users,” said Jennifer Gimbel, director of the CWCB.
The Breem Ditch water acquisition is the result of a unique, collaborative approach by the CWCB, the Colorado Water Trust, the Skyland Metropolitan District and Verzuh Ranch, Inc., a local development company owned by Billy Joe Lacy and Dan Dow. Despite sometimes water-plentiful summers, irrigation diversions into the Breem Ditch would cause Washington Gulch to completely dry by the middle of July and reduce flows in the Slate River as well. The purchase of the Breem Ditch will allow Washington Gulch to flow year-round, even during dry summers, and will help fix flow shortages to the Slate River.
Under Colorado’s Instream Flow Program, the CWCB will protect the water decreed to the Breem Ditch on Washington Gulch and about two miles of the Slate River downstream of the confluence with Washington Gulch. Below this reach, the water will be available for Skyland Metropolitan District’s system, which from 2002 to 2004 — Colorado’s most severe recent drought period — was in danger of impairment.
More instream flow coverage here.
From the Crested Butte News (Mike Horn):
If the transaction goes through between the Colorado Water Trust, the CWCB, the Skyland Metropolitan District, and Verzuh Ranch, Inc., Skyland residents will likely have a little more drought-protection as well. After being used for instream flows in the rivers, the acquired water will be diverted into Skyland Metropolitan District’s system, namely Grant Lake reservoir. The diversion point would be just upstream of the Hwy. 135 bridge that crosses the Slate River…
According to Skyland Metropolitan District Manager Mike Billingsley, “The transaction is under contract but not closed; we’re about halfway through the 180-day diligence period. The CWCB approved their contribution during their January meeting, but we don’t have it in hand yet.” Billingsley said they’ve been working on the water right acquisition for four to five years. “It’s been pretty hot and heavy since I started a year-and-a-half ago,” he said. “The water right itself is important for Skyland to complete our water portfolio,” explained Billingsley. “In drought years, the reservoir goes low, the golf course goes dry, and it’s a struggle.”
As Billingsley said, “It’s still far from being closed.” But if the arrangement goes through, there’ll be more water in the rivers, the wetlands will get recharged, and Skyland will be hydrated, even if drought conditions arrive.
More CWCB coverage here.
FromThe Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Dave Buchanan):
The board acquired 5.45 cubic feet per second of water in the Breem Ditch water right for instream-flow use in Washington Gulch and the Slate River, two highly visible, water-short streams north and east of Crested Butte. According to the board, irrigation demands often completely dry up Washington Gulch by the middle of July and significantly deplete flows in the Slate River. The acquisition will allow Washington Gulch to flow year-round, even during dry summers, and it will help fix flow shortages to the Slate River…
A portion of this latest acquisition was purchased using funds authorized in 2008 for instream flow water acquisitions while the Colorado Water Trust donated a portion of the water. The acquisition will protect water through Washington Gulch and about two miles of the Slate River below the confluence with Washington Gulch.
More CWCB coverage here.
Here’s the release (I couldn’t find a link online):
The Colorado Water Conservation Board approved the acquisition of 5.45 cubic feet per second of water under the Breem Ditch water right for instream flow use in Washington Gulch and the Slate River, two highly visible water-short streams in Gunnison County.
The Breem Ditch water acquisition is the result of a unique, collaborative approach by the CWCB, the Colorado Water Trust, the Skyland Metropolitan District, Verzuh Ranch, Inc., a local development company owned by Billy Joe Lacy and Dan Dow. The CWCB approved the transaction at its January meeting in Denver. “This is a great example of the benefits CWCB’s Water Acquisition Program can provide to our state’s streams through creative partnerships with water users,” said CWCB Director Jennifer Gimbel.
Despite sometimes water-plentiful summers, irrigation demand would often dry up Washington Gulch completely by the middle of July and significantly deplete Slate River flows as well. This transaction will allow Washington Gulch to flow year-round, even during dry summers, and will help fix flow shortages to the Slate River.
After use in the river, the water will be used in Skyland Metropolitan District’s system, which from 2002 to 2004 – Colorado’s most severe recent drought period – was in danger of impairment.
The CWCB will protect the water decreed to the Breem Ditch through the state’s Instream Flow Program on Washington Gulch and about two miles of the Slate River below the confluence with Washington Gulch.
The CWCB is the only entity in the state that can hold instream water rights to preserve and improve the natural environment to a reasonable degree. Under its Water Acquisition Program, the CWCB can acquire water from willing water rights owners by donation, purchase, lease or other arrangement to include in the Instream Flow Program.
The CWCB purchased a portion of the water using funds authorized in 2008 for instream flow water acquisitions, and the Colorado Water Trust donated a portion of the water.
Additional information on the CWCB’s Water Acquisition Program is available on the CWCB web site: http://cwcb.state.co.us/StreamAndLake/WaterAcquisitions/
More CWCB coverage here.
