UGRWCD improving relations with Colorado water leaders

“It puts a premium on face to face conversation”

Three of the state’s top water officials visited with the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District (UGRWCD) board on Monday, March 24 to introduce themselves and to learn about water issues in the Gunnison Basin firsthand.

The visitors included Jennifer Gimbel, director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB); Linda Bassi, section chief of the CWCB’s Stream and Lake Program; and Dick Wolfe, the Colorado Division of Water Resources chief engineer (also referred to as the state engineer).
One of the first things to greet visitors to the UGRWCD office is a comic pasted on the window that shows two ranchers in a field about to strike each other with shovels. The caption says, “Resolving water issues in Colorado.”
The idea behind this comic may be why UGRWCD board member Ken Spann said it was quite refreshing to have three of the state’s chief water officials in the same room for a casual discussion.
Spann said it had been quite a long time since the head of the CWCB sat in on a UGRWCD discussion, which led to a less than ideal working relationship with the former director, recently retired Rod Kuharich.
“It has been unfortunate,” Spann said of the relationship. “We live in an age where what goes on in Denver in the afternoon is known in Durango and Meeker that night. That changes the dynamic, and it puts a premium on face-to-face conversation.”
After the meeting, UGRWCD president Brett Redden agreed about the importance of their visit and the need to form a better relationship with the CWCB. Redden says many state officials limit themselves to working within the “Denver beltway.” Redden says, “Every time you get out of the beltway you see new things and meet some people you wouldn’t normally meet.”
UGRWCD manager Frank Kugel said all three of the guests had been appointed to their positions only last fall.
The state engineer’s office is a part of the Colorado Division of Water Resources, an office that administers all water rights in the state, including monitoring groundwater levels. The state engineer’s office reviews more than 10,000 water rights applications each year.
Wolfe was first to speak before the board. He said the main topics the State Engineer’s Office would be dealing with this year “are groundwater issues and conflicts with surface water rights… We’re creating new rules on well management for thousands of new wells to be in place by 2009.”
In addition to better monitoring ground water supplies, the rules would also help the State Engineer’s Office keep track of the variances between those who own the water rights and those who actually use them.
Wolfe said another important project was preparing a plan for compact calls. Seven states and a portion of Mexico all use water supplied from the Colorado River, which is divided by an inter-state compact. If one of the states is low on water and feels others are using more than their fair share, that state can make a “call” on the other states’ water. Wolfe said the division was in the process of making a plan that would make such a call easier to manage and more efficient.
Redden said a compact call could have a serious effect on the statewide agriculture industry, and the plan was eagerly anticipated.
Wolfe said the Division would also be overseeing a Compact Compliance Pipeline project in the Republican River Basin. This $71 million project would deliver water to the North Fork of the Republican River at the Colorado-Nebraska state line, to assist Colorado in complying with the Republican River Compact. The project is needed because analysts have predicted that in the event of a compact call the Republican Basin could lose thousands of wells, causing severe economic problems through loss of agriculture and decreased home values.
Kugel noted that the State Engineer’s Office spends quite a bit on travel in administering water rights. With flooding danger prevalent in many areas of the state Kugel asked if more money would be needed to make sure gates, diversions and other water structures are functioning adequately in a flood emergency.
Gunnison division engineer Wayne Schieldt, who also attended, said handling flood issues would be a top priority. “We’d just have to make that priority one instead of going out and getting readings,” he said.
Next up to meet the UGRWCD board were two members of CWCB. The CWCB was created in 1937 to aid in the protection and development of the state’s water resources. The agency is responsible for planning and financing conservation or storage projects, protecting streams and lakes, identifying flood hazards, coordinating weather modification, and planning for droughts. The CWCB also provides grants and loans for certain water projects, technical assistance and public education.
The CWCB’s Stream and Lake Protection Section, headed by Linda Bassi, is responsible for the acquisition and protection of in-stream flow and natural lake level water rights to preserve the natural environment.
Jennifer Gimbel is the director of the CWCB, where she carries out the policies and directives of the CWCB relating to the conservation, development and utilization of the state’s water resources. Gimbel works closely with the state engineer, the General Assembly, the executive director of the Department of Natural Resources, and the governor on water resource issues for the State of Colorado.
Gimbel said the CWCB was doing some interesting things with the Stream and Lake Program. For starters, the CWCB is putting $400,000 toward Wild and Scenic rivers, to coordinate work between CWCB, Bureau of Land Management and local entities to develop new management plans to better preserve the environment.
They’re also putting $1 million toward controlling the Tamarix invasion. Tamarix is an invasive shrub that grows in waterways and drainages.
Gimbel said the CWCB is also keeping a close eye on Zebra mussels, which have been found in waterways as close as Pueblo. She said they’re working on a statewide plan to contain the mussels. “The national parks and DOW are working very hard to contain them and keep it all right where it is,” Gimbel said. The mussels affect water delivery and pipeline systems and damage water quality and clearness, which could affect local recreation opportunities, she said.
Gimbel also discussed the CWCB’s water management partnership program (also called Policy 18). “We’re looking at a policy where maybe there can be a joint project in rehabilitating some reservoirs. In turn, the state gets some water from these facilities,” she said of the program.
There was considerable talk about the CWCB projects bill, a yearly bill that funds various water storage and development projects, such as a proposed overhaul of the Chattfield Reservoir in Denver.
Gimbel noted a section of this year’s projects bill (HB 1346), the In-stream Flow Appropriations Fund, and called it one of the more controversial aspects of the projects bill. With this fund, the CWCB is hoping to get $1 million for use in acquiring in-stream flow rights. “A million is not going to buy a lot of water,” she said, but the money will be used for engineering analyses and water court regulations.
Spann asked about a provision in last year’s projects bill (SB 266) that would allocate $500,000 in the 2008 fiscal year for the Colorado River Water Availability study. Spann asked specifically how the money would be used. “The river water availability study has languished for a year. There was $500,000 authorized a year ago… What has happened? Where is it?” Spann asked.
Gimbel said the money would be used in part for collecting and analyzing data and to produce computer models of water supplies. “There is data out there but it has not been collected and analyzed,” she said.
Spann said, “ I think there are a lot of us here that are interested in what those results are.” Spann said many developers are reluctant to build new water projects until the study is completed.
Gimbel agreed, and said they anticipated having more tangible results by June. “I don’t think this study is going to come out with a magic number. It’s going to be a range,” she said of the water supply study results.
Spann thanked the visitors again for coming to meet with the board. “The issues we face here in western Colorado and down the river are, in my view, not as immediately severe as in the Republican, or Arkansas or Platte (basins), but they’re just as big. We just have an opportunity to get ahead of them and do it correctly.”