Study may look at taking water from Blue Mesa

Matt Hildner

Daily Press Writer

MONTROSE — The prospect of pumping water to the Front Range from Blue Mesa Reservoir is one of a host of transbasin diversion projects proposed for study by a state agency in the upcoming year.

When the Colorado Water Conservation Board makes its budget request to the state Legislature in January it is expected to ask for $500,000 to study six projects designated by a committee of the Statewide Water Supply Initiative.

The idea of diverting water out of the Gunnison Basin has long been opposed by local officials, but Rick Brown, the board’s section chief for Intrastate Water Management and Development, said the projects are being looked at to meet what the statewide study predicts will be a 20 percent shortfall across the state by 2030.

The other projects looked at by the study would also include agricultural water transfers in the Arkansas and South Platte basins, a pipeline from Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming, and the Colorado River Reconnaissance Study - also known as the Big Straw. Pumpbacks from the Green Mountain Reservoir and the Yampa River would also be examined.

Brown said the specific issues that would be looked at regarding the Blue Mesa would be pinpointed after the Legislature approved the funding.

“We have some initial concepts but we haven’t really fleshed them out to a common technical platform,” he said.

Rep. Ray Rose, R-Montrose, who serves as the ranking member of the House Agricultural Committee, said not knowing the specifics made it difficult to comment.

“It depends on what they’re calling a pumpback and the details of the bill, and the details of the study,” he said.

Rose said he did not expect the entire committee to be briefed on the bill, but he said the CWCB often consulted with individual members of the committee. Moreover, the Legislature does not see the full text of bills until it convenes in January.

Steve Glazier, water director for the Crested Butte-based High Country Citizens’ Alliance served on the technical gap committee. Glazier said there are unresolved issues in the basin - such as the court case for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park’s water right and securing in-stream flows for endangered species - that make moving ahead with a study impractical.

He believes the Gunnison Basin roundtable, which was set up along with eight other roundtables by the Legislature in 2005, should have been consulted by Brown and the CWCB.

“If he wants to maintain the trust and respect of this basin, he should have taken this to the roundtable before he took it to his own board.”

Brown said the technical gap committee, which identified the proposals, felt it was important to go ahead with the study despite the uncertainties.

“We will always be refining and updating our needs,” Brown said. “What we’re trying to do is address a very difficult water future for Colorado.”

Contact Matt Hildner via e-mail at matth@montrosepress.com