Commissioners said they were concerned that if the rights are converted solely to instream flow, already limited water supplies on the county's West End could be further reduced.
As part of a 1987 consent decree, UMETCO Mineral Company's rights on the San Miguel River Ditch were deeded to the Colorado Water Conservation Board, while its rights on the Johnson Ditch were put into trust, said Bruce Whitehead, executive director of the Southwest Water Conservation District.
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These rights went into trust under a 1987 consent decree, as part of the company's Superfund cleanup agreement for the West End community of Uravan. The water rights for the Johnson Ditch went to the Uravan Water Trust.
Montrose County wants to be sure the towns of Nucla and Naturita are not left high and dry by whatever the state board should decide. It wants the rights to 40 cubic feet per second from the San Miguel River Ditch, 50 cfs from the Johnson Ditch and six wells near Uravan.
"We are very interested in being involved in the discussion as to ownership," Commissioner Allan Belt said. "We want to be considered as a recipient of the rights. Our concern is for future growth in the West End of the county, that there is water to accommodate that."
The state board holds the water rights along the canal, Whitehead said, but there is a 1991 memorandum of understanding giving Montrose County, Nucla and Naturita first right of refusal if the rights are going to be disposed of.
The memo calls for CWCB to exercise its statutory powers and duties, but to "fully and completely" consult with local governments.
"Right now what the Colorado Water Conservation Board is in the process of doing is looking at the use of these water rights and consulting with the local governments, including the Southwest Water Conservation District," Whitehead said.
"I think the SWCD is trying to address the concerns of the local community .. as well as potential impacts to existing water rights holders."
Possibilities are: transform all UMETCO water rights into instream flow; to use the water as decreed (the only option that would not require a change in water court); convey all UMETCO water rights to local governmental entities; sell all UMETCO water rights to the highest bidder; change the San Miguel Power rights to instream flow uses and convey remaining rights to local governmental entities, or some combination of the above.
"We have asserted that we want to aggressively pursue (discussions)," Belt said.
He and his fellow commissioners, Gary Ellis and Bill Patterson, said in a June 4 letter they opposed converting the water decrees into only instream flows.
Doing that, they said, "would have the effect of calling our more junior water rights held by area municipalities, agricultural users and industrial users," further reducing already scarce water supply to the West End.
It will be some time before the SWCD is able to make recommendations to the state board. Whitehead said there will be several discussions before any decision is made concerning the water rights.
"It will probably be a while," Patterson said. "We're just trying to get everything in line so the communities of Nucla and Naturita are not cut out of their water rights without a fight."
Both Patterson and Belt said that a storage site and storage capacity in the West End would be critical if the water rights are obtained.
The study should be completed by the end of the month, but Whitehead said the SWCD would need time to examine it in its entirety before making recommendations to the CWCB.
A public meeting to discuss water rights is slated for 1:30 p.m. June 18 at the Naturita Community Center.
In a separate proposal, the CWCB is looking at the possibility of a new instream flow filing. Whitehead said this is a preliminary proposal for the lower end of the San Miguel, from Calamity Draw to the Dolores River, and also on Tabeguache Creek.
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