Colorado’s top water agency approved a plan Wednesday to acquire and use the powerful Shoshone water rights in Glenwood Canyon to protect fish, the environment and the overall health of the Colorado River.
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The plan is a $99 million bid from water users on Colorado’s West Slope to ensure some of the state’s most valuable and senior water rights, which are currently used to power a hydroelectric power plant, continue to keep a huge volume of water in the river.
It took more than 20 hours of public hearings, months of negotiations and tens of millions of dollars of investment from a wide range of West Slope stakeholders to arrive at Wednesday night’s vote from the Colorado Water Conservation Board advancing the deal.
The Colorado River District, which represents 15 counties on the West Slope, is planning to purchase the water rights from Xcel Energy and co-manage them with the Water Conservation Board.
While the deal was still being debated on Wednesday night, Grand Junction city councilor Anna Stout underscored the importance of the state securing the water rights for the benefit of her community by taking the audience 150 years back in time.
She read from a newspaper account written about the Grand Junction area in 1875, where the Colorado was described as “a great river, oceans of water, a wealth of it, precious as gold in this desert land.”
“That's the river that we're talking about,” Stout told the water board. “And that is the river that made Grand Junction in western Colorado, what it is today.”
Many supporters of the proposal, including Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, said the water rights deal was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. McCluskie said acquiring the water rights is “more than a transaction.”
“It’s a chance to protect a defining piece of our river system, permanently, for the betterment of our entire state,” she said.
But the proposal created a divide between the coalition of West Slope groups and some of the biggest water providers on the Front Range.
Front Range water providers, including Northern Water and Denver Water, opposed some terms of the sale. They raised concerns that the transfer of the water rights could end up cutting off some water they divert upstream to millions of their customers from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs.
Much of the friction centered on who would control decisions about potential water reductions in times of water scarcity.
Dan Gibbs, Colorado’s director of Natural Resources, said the plan to permanently secure the water rights to protect ecosystems in the river is especially important as Colorado faces a hotter and drier climate.
The deal now heads to the state’s water court for further approval.
This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by KUNC in Colorado and supported by the Walton Family Foundation. KUNC is solely responsible for its editorial coverage.
