State board approves water trust with PitCo

by Brent Gardner-Smith

Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) on Monday approved a proposal from Pitkin County to hold 4.3 cubic feet per second of water in a trust in order to leave the water flowing down Maroon Creek and the Roaring Fork River. The trust agreement allows the county to ultimately retain its water rights, without weakening those rights, and empowers the CWCB to manage the water under its minimum streamflow program to the benefit of the rivers’ aquatic environments.

Pitkin County’s proposal, which has been in front of the CWCB since January, had the support of the Colorado Water Trust, Trout Unlimited, and the Colorado Environmental Coalition.

http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/137663

Pitkin County to donate water to boost Roaring Fork flows

Trust agreement a first in Colorado

Janet UrquhartThe Aspen Times

DENVER — Pitkin County will become the first holder of water rights in Colorado to donate water to a river in order to augment in-stream flows.

The nine voting members of the Colorado Water Conservation Board approved a trust agreement with the county Monday in Denver after a four-and-a-half-hour hearing.

“Everybody had smiles on their faces — except the opponents,” said John Ely, county attorney, in a telephone interview at the close of the proceedings.

The CWCB staff, Pitkin County and representatives of Trout Unlimited and the Colorado Water Trust spoke in favor of the trust arrangement, as did the city of Aspen's water counsel, Ely said.

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20091116/NEWS/911169978/1077&ParentProfile=1058

Colorado Supreme Court clamps down on water rights

By Bob Berwynsummit daily news

According to Drew Peternell, of Colorado Trout Unlimited's Western Water Project, the Supreme Court laid out a new test for public utilities. In the Pagosa Springs case, the court ruled that the city's claim for water based on a 100-year planning horizon was not reasonable.

“They have to show that claim for water is based on realistic projections for population growth. They can't just pull numbers out the air,” Peternell said.

http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20091113/NEWS/911129968/1078&ParentProfile=1055

Dry Gulch case: back to water court

By Chuck McGuire

PagosaSUN.com staff

In its most recent appeal, TU argued that the districts’ revised figures were still not in line with credible future water use projections and amounted to speculation. In Monday’s decision, the high court unanimously agreed, finding insufficient evidence to support the quantities of water Lyman awarded, either in direct flow rights or storage.

In its decree, the Supreme Court ruled that the 23,500-acre-foot size approved by the water court is based on “speculative claims, at least in part.”

In response, TU insists that, “Unless the Pagosa districts can now demonstrate a ‘substantial probability’ that a reservoir of that size is needed to meet future needs, the water court must reduce the amount of their claimed water.”

TU went on to say, “We’re ready to talk with the Pagosa Springs stakeholders and craft a solution that meets a range of valid needs, including municipal growth, agriculture and recreation and wildlife. But any solution has to be based on credible, substantiated numbers about future water supply and needs.”

http://www.pagosasun.com/archives/2009/11november/110509/pg1drygulch.html

PAWSD Dry Gulch Plan Rejected by Supreme Court

Pagosa Daily Post The Colorado Supreme Court today handed down a decision that reinforced the principle that Colorado municipalities must base water projects on clearly demonstrated and credible projections of future need.   In the case, Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District and San Juan Water Conservancy District v. Trout Unlimited, the Court ruled that Pagosa area water districts had not sufficiently demonstrated a need for the amount of water they claimed for the proposed Dry Gulch Reservoir, based on projected population growth and water availability over a 50-year planning period.   “The Supreme Court reaffirmed today that it will not tolerate public utilities speculating in water,” said Drew Peternell, director of  TU’s Colorado Water Project, who argued the case before the state’s highest court. “This is a victory for reality-based water planning.”

http://www.pagosadailypost.com/news/13636/PAWSD_Dry_Gulch_Plan_Rejected_by_Supreme_Court/

Trout Unlimited: Upper Colorado ‘on the brink'

By Bob Berwynsummit daily news

SUMMIT COUNTY — Increased diversions from the Fraser River, in Grand County, could put the entire Upper Colorado ecosystem at risk, a coalition of environmental groups warned Friday.

“We're really nervous. The rivers are only so resilient,” said David Nickum, director of Colorado Trout Unlimited. “You can't talk about these systems in isolation,” he said, referring to a Denver Water proposal to take more water out of the Fraser River and across the Continental Divide.

“Multiple water diversions have pushed the Fraser River to the brink of collapse,” said Kirk Klancke, president of the Colorado Headwaters Chapter of TU, based in Grand County. “This is a river on life support.”

Nickum and Klancke were referring to a draft environmental study on the Fraser River project. The conservation groups said they've already been talking with Denver Water, and that the utility is open to discussing the issues. The draft study was released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Friday.

http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20091102/NEWS/911019987/1078&ParentProfile=1055

Upper Colorado River an ‘Ecosystem on the Brink,' says Trout Unlimited

Ski-Hi Daily News “We have already met with Denver Water's staff, and they seem open to discussing some of these concepts,” said Mely Whiting, Legal Counsel for Trout Unlimited's Colorado Water Project. “We hope the Denver Water Board seizes this opportunity to create a legacy, where water development and environmental protections can go hand in hand.”

 “Front Range residents must recognize the connection between our water use and the health of our rivers and streams, fisheries and wildlife habitat,” said David Nickum, executive director of Colorado Trout Unlimited. “We can't continue to take and take from these rivers without accounting for our impacts. The glass is not even half full—it's almost drained dry.”

http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20091102/NEWS/911029998/1079&ParentProfile=1067

Colorado cities eyeing Wyoming water

by DP Opinion on August 20, 2009

Re: “Thirsty cities eye Wyo. water,” Aug. 16 news story.

In your article, Parker water manager Frank Jaeger asserted that “We’re going to have to have more water. It’s going to have to be imported.” Jaeger called the scheme to pipe water 500 miles from Flaming Gorge Reservoir across Wyoming to the Front Range the “least intrusive of anything you could do.”

The truth is, a pipeline of this magnitude would be highly intrusive and damaging to the natural environment, depleting flows in the Green River and destroying habitat for the world-famous trout fishery below the reservoir and for the endangered warm-water fish species farther downstream. Moreover, the monetary and energy costs of building the project and pumping water 500 miles to the Front Range would be staggering.

There are better options. Smart water strategies — like water conservation, reuse, small-scale storage, aquifer recharge and water sharing arrangements — carry a fraction of the cost and environmental impact of transbasin pipelines. Together, these smart strategies would eliminate the need for a Flaming Gorge pipeline or other costly and environmentally damaging transbasin diversion.

Drew Peternell, Boulder

The writer is director of Trout Unlimited’s Colorado Water Project.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/eletters/2009/08/20/colorado-cities-eyeing-wyoming-water-2-letters/

Saving South Boulder Creek

Daily Camera By Clay Evans Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The cities of Boulder and Lafayette and Trout Unlimited, the national conservation organization with an office in Boulder, aren't exactly thrilled with the idea of further allocating water from the Fraser. But if it's going to happen, as most expect it will, they'd like to see 5,000 acre-feet of storage added to the proposed 72,000-acre-feet expansion and use it to ensure adequate winter flow in South Boulder Creek.

"It's a stream that needs help," said Drew Peternell of Trout Unlimited.

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/aug/11/saving-south-boulder-creek/

Colorado & Western Water Project Notes

We had a great WWP staff retreat in Wyoming, with: a guest presentation on how the media in the Rockies report on climate change and water; a field trip and slide shows of WY restore/reconnect projects; good discussions about strategic issues as well as upcoming grant applications and reports; a cancelled telemetry tagging opportunity due to high, muddy water conditions (which also meant "challenging" fishing that resulted in two rods broken); and inspiring camaraderie with hard working folks who love their jobs.

We attended and spoke at the Natural Resources Law Center's Annual water law conference.

The Denver Post published an oped commentary by the WWP Director about why the Clean Water Restoration Act matters for Colorado: http://www.denverpost.com/guestcommentary/ci_12736157

We have been working several other conservation groups on an analysis of the gap between water supply and demand on Colorado’s Front Range. We hope to offer an alternative to a future, additional diversion of water from Colorado’s Western Slope.

The water judge referred Shell’s water rights application to a water referee to preside over preliminary, informal proceedings in the case. The first status conference before the referee will be held mid July.

TU’s Dry Gulch oral argument to the Colorado Supreme Court was held in June. We await a decision from the Court.

Scoping comments on the forthcoming environmental impact statement for Aaron Million’s proposed Flaming Gorge Pipeline project are due to the Army Corps of Engineers at the end of July.

We are performing an analysis of barriers to Colorado River cutthroat trout in the Yampa basin. An aerial survey of barriers was made last week, identifying nearly 400 potential barriers. The next phase of the effort is to narrow our focus to a more workable number of barriers and then perform ground-level surveys.