Gunnison Basin Water Plan open to compromise

State facing water crisis with more people, less water

The Gunnison Basin Roundtable that is coordinating with the development of an overall Colorado water plan must finish its work in less than a month. Frank Kugel, Bill Nesbitt and Steve Glazer of the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District gave an update on the Gunnison Basin Water Plan to the Crested Butte Town Council on Monday, March 16. Gunnison is one of nine basins putting together a comprehensive state water strategy.

“Our state is facing a real water crisis in 2050 and beyond,” Kugel told the council. “The population is expected to double by then and there is expected to be less water due to impacts of projected climate change.”
Kugel indicated that regional water experts have shifted their thought in terms of protecting water. While the Western Slope has most of the water in the state, the majority of the population is on the Front Range. The “Not One Drop” mantra of fighting for water and not even considering ways to supply water through trans-mountain diversions has softened.
“We face a real threat that if we don’t come to the table and negotiate, there is the threat of condemnation. It’s a real threat,” Kugel said. “We want to plan for state water shortages in the future. We have a lot of work to do in the next few weeks to get the report finalized. We are at the goal line and it’s been a lot of work but we want community input.”
“I’m not sure the ‘Not One Drop’ method is working anymore,” said Nesbitt.
Kugel outlined the basic ideas of how the Gunnison Basin was suggesting Coloradoans deal with the growing gap between water supply and water demand.
The “four legs of the stool” include conservation, dealing with agricultural water transfers, finding new supplies and identifying possible legitimate projects already on the books but hung up in bureaucracy.
“If we ask the Front Range to conserve water we have to show that we are willing to do so as well,” Kugel said. “We want to get away from the ‘buy-and-dry’ agricultural transfers. That is a relatively cheap fix for municipalities to come in and buy water from a ranch or farm but it dries up that land, so we are trying to discourage that. We want the Front Range to look for water supplies that don’t use trans-mountain diversions. We want them to implement more responsible growth practices. They can have fewer golf courses or smaller yards, for example. And we want to look at ways to prioritize old projects on the books—look at the ones that can really work and move them forward and find ways to perhaps streamline the process.”
“If anything comes out of the roundtables on a statewide basis, it is that we’re all talking and we all know we have a hard problem,” said Nesbitt. “We don’t look at each other as enemies anymore. I have some hope with this process. We need to figure it out for our children and grandchildren.”
“Both sides are realizing we have to find ways to share the water and do it equitably,” added Glazer.
“Our ultimate goal is to preserve all the uses we currently have with our water,” concluded Kugel.
The basins must have a draft plan finished and submitted to the state by April 17.