Some people in Colorado are facing a problem you’d never expect to find in the arid West: too much water. In places along the South Platte River, rising groundwater has flooded basements, damaged sewage systems and laden farmers’ fields with salt, robbing them of productivity. The tiny town of Gilcrest, 12 miles south of Greeley, had to spend $1.3 million to repair its water treatment lagoons after rising water tore the liners. After years, the state legislature has intervened.
The cause of the problem is related to Colorado water law known as the "prior appropriation system.” It allocates water according to seniority. In 2002, the state engineer curtailed the pumping of groundwater in the area because of litigation by users downstream who claimed they weren't getting their legal appropriation. Not only could farmers not use their wells to irrigate their crops, the lack of pumping caused the groundwater to rise. Even as water seeped into basements and fields, farmers couldn’t put it to beneficial use because legally, it wasn’t theirs.
Those who want to pump are required to replace it because of users who may have a more senior right. Since 2006, that has meant getting an “augmentation plan,” which involves hiring lawyers and engineers. The costs can be prohibitive; not to mention buying more water to replenish the South Platte’s system.
The situation has been the subject of numerous meetings of state officials, farmers, and water experts. But no lasting solution has been found.
One possible solution, advocates say, is House Bill 1248, which passed through the legislature this week and is on the way to the desk of Gov. John Hickenlooper. It provides $325,000 for Colorado Water Conservation projects that respond to high ground water damage in areas of the river basin, including a well to "de-water" the area, the enlargement of a pipeline to move water from the town to the river and monitoring equipment that would help farmers determine when it is best to irrigate their crops.
This story is reported by H2O Radio in collaboration with KUNC News.