Water

El Agua es Vida

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EL AGUA ES VIDA, OR TRANSLATED: WATER IS LIFE. The July ’22 issue of Colorado Central Magazine had no less than five items concerning water. The primary item was George Sibley’s article regarding the Colorado River Compact. With all that emphasis on the “life blood” of our region, state, nation and planet, this offering provides …

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Water in the West: Jenkinson as Powell

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CLAY JENKINSON, A HISTORIAN, AUTHOR and scholar with a heartfelt interest in the American West, will make a one-of-a-kind appearance at the Salida Steamplant Event Center June 25 as the incomparable John Wesley Powell. Well known for his various books and documentaries, Jenkinson is also a one-person interpreter of various historical figures. He shared that …

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The Problem with Nestlé

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By Jennifer Swacina When I first heard about Nestlé mining water— right here in Chaffee County—I wished I had been here in 2009 to have joined those who rallied against it. Be careful what you wish for! In late 2019, I happened to read an article covering a routine county commissioner’s meeting with discussion that …

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The Continuing Saga of Hill Ranch

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By Ron Sering Editor’s note: This article is a follow-up to one written in our January/February 2013 issue.  The long journey for the area near Nathrop known as Hill Ranch began in 1886, when irrigation rights were first established for use in agriculture and ranching. Exactly a century later, the Hill family sold the rights …

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Pipe Dream: One Couple’s Ideal Job of Moving Water Under Mountains

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The Schryver’s car emerges from the four-mile-long Twin Lakes Tunnel, which for many months of the year is the couple’s only link to civilization. Photo by Jamie Sudler, H2O Media, Ltd.

By Frani Halperin, H2O Radio

Glenn and Kim Schryver are the nicest people you could ever meet. The kind of people you’d love to have as neighbors – considerate, handy, friendly, and funny. Only, if you lived next-door to them, your driveway would be four miles long through a narrow tunnel barely wide enough to fit a car – and one that actively carries water. Glenn and Kim are the caretakers of Grizzly Reservoir, just east of Aspen, and the tunnel is, for many months of the year, their only link to civilization.

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Water Update

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By John Orr

November Election Recap

Normally this column deals with water issues and water folks in Central Colorado, but in the aftermath of the weirdest election season in my lifetime this iteration will take on a statewide and national flavor.

Del Norte rancher Travis Smith, currently serving on the Colorado Water Conservation Board, likes to remind folks in the water business, that “We are more connected than we’d like to admit.”

With all the uncertainty before us, is it possible to glean some idea of the effects the voters have wrought upon themselves?

President-elect Trump is rumored to be about to install a non-scientist, Myron Ebell, as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Ebell has spoken out against the “hoax” of global warming, and many hail his ascension as necessary to clip the wings of a federal government run wild under President Obama.

Martha Henriques writes in The International Business Times, “Climate deniers have been on the sidelines for years. What will happen now they’re in charge?”

A lot will happen no matter who is in power. Chris Mooney writes in The Washington Post:

“It’s polar night there now – the sun isn’t rising in much of the Arctic. That’s when the Arctic is supposed to get super-cold, when the sea ice that covers the vast Arctic Ocean is supposed to grow and thicken.

“But in fall of 2016 – which has been a zany year for the region, with multiple records set for low levels of monthly sea ice – something is totally off. The Arctic is super-hot, even as a vast area of cold polar air has been displaced over Siberia.”

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George Sibley: Down on the Ground with Groundwater

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Water again. Just can’t get away from the stuff – literally can’t, I guess, being myself about 70 percent just water that learned how to stand up and look around.

What’s caught my attention this month is a new study from the U.S. Geological Survey, finding that more of the water in the Upper Colorado River streams and rivers originates from groundwater than from snowmelt runoff. This is a little counterintuitive – especially now in May and June, with our rivers so exuberant – sometimes a little ominously – with snowmelt.

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Water Update

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by John Orr Hobbs to Say Adiós to the Colorado Supreme Court Greg Hobbs is calling it quits after 19 years as the Colorado Supreme Court’s “water expert.” Early in his career he clerked for the 10th Circuit, worked with David Robbins at the EPA, and worked at the Colorado Attorney General’s office. AG duties …

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Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory J. Hobbs Retires

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By John Orr

Greg Hobbs is calling it quits after 19 years as the Colorado Supreme Court’s “water expert.”

Early in his career he clerked for the 10th Circuit, worked with David Robbins at the EPA, and worked at the Colorado Attorney General’s office. AG duties included the natural resources area – water quality, water rights and air quality issues. He represented the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy district before forming his own firm, his last stop on the way to the Court.

He told the Colorado Statesman that he always had his eye on the Supreme Court. While serving at the 10th circuit, Judge William Doyle told encouraged him to set his sites on the Supreme Court, saying “They do everything over there.”

When he appointed Hobbs to the court, Governor Roy Romer told him to “get a real tie,” according to the Statesman. A bolo tie, as Hobbs usually wears, didn’t seem to qualify.

The justice is hardworking outside his court duties. He is often asked to speak at conventions and meetings around the state. He is deeply driven to learn about others and to share his knowledge of law and history.

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Antero Reservoir – Built to Quench Denver’s Thirst

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By Laura Van Dusen Antero, the sun-sparkled, windswept reservoir hidden behind low rolling hills seven miles west of Hartsel, will be drained beginning June 1 to repair and strengthen the leaking 106-year-old dam; water will flow downstream to Cheesman, Marston and Chatfield reservoirs. It’s nothing new. According to Denver Water, this drain is the eighth …

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On the Ground – Down on the Ground with Water Again

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by George Sibley By the time you read this, something about the future of Central Colorado – this place where the waters of the West start – will be at least written down. I’m writing this a day after I sent off my part of a Gunnison Basin Water Plan out to 2050: an “appendix” …

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Buy and Dry in Coaldale

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By Ron Sering

Leaving Bighorn Sheep Canyon and heading west toward Coaldale, the first thing you notice are the fields. In the spring, enormous center pivots distribute runoff from the Sangres, turning the fields green with alfalfa. These fields have been worked since homesteaders arrived in the Pleasant Valley in the 1800s. That could soon be changing.

Among the largest ranches is the 160-acre CB Ranch near Coaldale. Assembled from various smaller holdings by Kansas cattleman Clint Branch, after his passing the property was put on the block, along with the senior water rights. The property was eventually purchased by the city of Security. “It seemed like a good fit,” said Roy Heald, District Manager of the Security Water and Sanitation District. 

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Some Facts About Mountains, Water, Geology, Spirits and Early Law in Colorado

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Mountains by Jane Koerner • Colorado has 637 13ers (mountains over 13,000 feet but under 14,000). • Mounts Bierstadt, Grays and Torreys are the most popular 14ers for peak baggers. • There are seven total mountain ranges in Colorado: the San Juans, the Elk Range, the Sawatch (which include the Collegiates), the Sangre de Cristos, …

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Persistance – Food Production in the Gunnison Valley

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By Polly Oberosler Up until the 1950s, water running through small ranches in the Gunnison Valley and other rural areas in western Colorado were destinations for fisherman from the Front Range. Nearly every ranch had a cabin or two where the fisherman came to set up “housekeeping” for a few days, and the ranchers had …

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Water Update

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by John Orr Preston Frank Kaess Moves on to Greener Pastures Mr. Kaess passed on Nov. 6, 2013 in La Junta. Born in Rocky Ford, Kaess never ranged far from the Arkansas River and its tributaries, and in particular, Salida, where he graduated from high school in 1948 and married his wife, Patricia, in 1950. …

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The Fryingpan-Arkansas River Project at 50

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Part 3: The Fry-Ark Project

 By George Sibley

In 1948, after six years of study and planning, it finally happened: the Bureau of Reclamation released plans for a big project to bring water from the Gunnison River Basin through Central Colorado to the Arkansas River Basin. A really big project – exceeding the fondest dreams of Arkansas Basin water users – the “Gunnison-Arkansas Project” proposed transferring 600,000 acre-feet of water through the Continental Divide. That was twice as big as the Colorado-Big Thompson Project up north, moving West Slope water to the South Platte Basin.

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The Fryingpan-Arkansas River Project at 50

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By George Sibley

Part I: The “Political Infrastructure” for Trans-mountain Diversion

Driving down U.S. 24 from Leadville to Buena Vista, along the Arkansas River that carved the valley, you don’t have the feeling of traveling past a man-made waterworks. It is in fact a beautiful stretch of river that looks quite “natural.”

You have to know what you are looking for to see the waterworks – for example, between Granite and Buena Vista, looking up on the hillsides across the river, you’ll see a barnlike industrial structure – a pumping plant, pulling water from the river and pushing it through the mountains to another natural-looking waterworks across Trout Creek Pass, in the South Platte River tributaries.

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There’s something in the water, Part 2

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By Hal Walter

The sobering test results indicating our well water contains high levels of lead and nitrates, as well as E. coli and coliform bacteria, raised more questions than answers.

While lead seemed the most alarming concern, nitrates were another puzzle. Generally nitrates are found in areas where high levels of chemical fertilizers are used in agriculture. They also can be present as a by-product of bacteria.

But the presence of bacteria itself was also a puzzle. Over the years we have tested for bacteria several times. All of the previous bacteria tests were negative.

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There’s something in the water

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By Hal Walter

When you buy a home in the mountains, there’s the notion you’re on top of the world, the food chain and even the watershed.

You drill a well into the ground and out pours clear, sparkling “Rocky Mountain Spring Water.” Snowmelt filtered through ancient stone. That sort of thing. There’s a certain irony when someone who analyzes the ingredients list on just about anything he eats doesn’t even question what might be in the water. But that’s what happened here.

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Water Update

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by John Orr

State Representative Curry’s bill: What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been

State Representative Kathleen Curry’s bill, HB 10-1188, was designed to clarify the rights of outfitters on Colorado streams that have been traditionally used for rafting. The original bill meant to allow portages during high water and the right to float certain reaches around the state.

After the state house approved the bill by a margin of 40-25 – on pretty much a party-line vote – opponents dug in and started lobbying the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. They were hoping to keep the bill bottled up in the committee and avoid a floor vote.

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Water Update

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by John Orr

2010 Colorado legislative session

Gunnison County’s State Representative Kathleen Curry — who recently declared as an independent after winning her seat in the state house as a Democrat — plans to introduce a bill that would allow rafting companies and others to float through private property without being subject to trespassing charges from landowners. Her bill would clear up the current ambiguity in state statutes. According to the Colorado Independent the bill would “allow licensed outfitters to not only raft, kayak or fish on rivers and streams crossing private property, but also make contact with the riverbank without trespassing.” Outfitters would be limited to incidental contact and portaging necessary for safety reasons — say to portage around a bridge during high water. Meal stops or bathroom breaks would still be trespassing.

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Water Update

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by John Orr

Creede hydroelectric project

It makes sense to generate electricity with water and gravity where possible. Hydroelectric power is clean and as reliable as the water supply. Near Creede the A.E. Humphrey Ranch is going to get a shiny new hydroelectric plant for the dam there. Owner Ruthie Brown is ponying up over $900,000 in loans and federal stimulus dough to retrofit the dam her great grandfather constructed 90 years ago, according to a report from The Aspen Times.

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Clarification on Rainwater Collection

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To the Editor:

I saw the rainwater collecting note (August 2009, p. 19); it’s a bit unclear, so I’m offering clarification. I’ve even heard realtors express shock that it’s been illegal all along (damn, sigh…), but you’re right—this is the first time it’s legal, if the process is followed.

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Water Update – August 2009

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by John Orr

Nestlé Waters Chaffee County Project

As we go to press the Chaffee County Commissioners have yet to issue or deny Nestlé Waters a permit to build their pipeline, pumphouse and loading facilities to truck water from the Hagen Spring out of basin to Denver. The company bottles spring water under the brand name Arrowhead and has a facility for doing so down in the flatlands. The plan is to run tanker trucks over Trout Creek Pass, across South Park, over Kenosha Pass down U.S. 285 to the Denver Metro area.

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Down on the Ground with Water and Democracy

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by George Sibley

Colorado’s “Water for the Future Act” is now going into its fifth year. Is it working?

Well, I am betting that most Coloradans who read that paragraph will say, “Huh?” “Colorado’s what?” This could be taken as a measure of the extent to which the “Water for the Future” process is not working, not yet anyway – in part because it involves “water”, which we are all aware of needing, but which we have all been sort of psychologized to tune out on when someone brings up the technical, legal or legislative underpinnings of our water systems. “That’s too complex for us citizens to understand.”

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Water Update – April 2009

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By John Orr

Nestlé Waters’ Chaffee County project update

Most Colorado Central readers already know about Nestlé Waters North America’s plans to export water out of the Arkansas River Basin — from springs they’ve purchased near Nathrop — to their bottling plant in Denver. Nestlé plans to restore the area around the springs (Bighorn Spring and Hagen Spring), drill a couple of supply wells in the shallow aquifer, build two pump houses and pipe the water five miles to a new loading station along U.S. 285 near Johnson Village.

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Spigot Stays Open for Water Bottlers

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By Carl Hiaasen

(Originally published in the March 8, 2009 edition of the Miami Herald)

You probably thought there was a serious water shortage in Florida.

It’s why we’re spending billions to repair and repurify the Everglades, right? It’s why we’re not supposed to run our lawn sprinklers more than once or twice a week.

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Water Update

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Article by John Orr

Water – February 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

New advisory committee proposed to help regulate SLV water usage

Around the middle of December State Engineer Dick Wolfe let San Luis Valley irrigators know that he was planning to appoint an advisory committee to help draft rules that will govern groundwater use from the valley’s shallow aquifer. The rules are supposed to “protect senior water rights, prevent unreasonable underground water level declines, maintain sustainable underground water supplies and encourage the use of groundwater management subdistricts in Water Division 3.”

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Nestlé moves ahead on Chaffee water plan

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Brief by Central Staff

Water – February 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

Chaffee County is now considering plans by Nestlé, the global food-products company based in Switzerland, to haul mountain spring water in trucks to Denver for bottling under the company’s Arrowhead brand.

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Water Update

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Article by John Orr

Water – January 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

Fryingpan-Arkansas Project debt

The Fryingpan-Arkansas project affects the Arkansas River from stem to stern in Colorado. It moves water from the headwaters of the Fryingpan River under the Great Divide through the Boustead Tunnel to satisfy some of the agricultural needs in the Lower Arkansas Valley and to slake the thirst of Coloradans south of Monument Divide. The project’s facilities are also used for storage for water moved out of basin.

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Water District election decision appealed

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Brief by Central Staff

Water – January 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

A district judge’s decision to uphold the expansion election for the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District has been appealed.

At issue is a mail-in election held in 2006 wherein voters in eastern Frémont County, and a small portion of El Paso County voted to join the conservancy district. The election was required because the district collects a property tax. An area joining the district would thus see a tax increase, and a provision in Colorado’s constitution — the TABOR Amendment — requires voter approval of tax increases.

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Water Update

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Article by John Orr

Water – December 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

RGWCD – Special Improvement District No. 1

The management plan for the Rio Grande Water Conservation District’s Special Improvement District (Subdistrict) No. 1 was on trial during late October and early November; and on December 16th, Division Three Water Court Judge O. John Kuenhold plans to hear closing arguments in the case.

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Water Roundup

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Article by John Orr

Water – November 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Drought management and climate risk

In October Governor Ritter hosted the “Governor’s Conference on Managing Drought and Climate Risk” in Denver. According to the Rocky Mountain News, attendees were treated to information on historical droughts along with predictions about the effects of climate change on future water supplies.

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Central Colorado Water Update

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Article by John Orr

Water – October 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel

This past June — with the release of their LMDT risk assessment — Reclamation threw the Environmental Protection Agency under the bus over the possibility of a catastrophic blowout of water and debris. Readers may remember that a November 2007 letter from the EPA to Reclamation was the basis for the Lake County Commissioner’s local disaster declaration.

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UAWCD election ruled valid despite a misleading ballot

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Brief by Central Staff

Water – October 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Even though the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District put misleading information on the ballot, last year’s expansion election was valid, a district judge has ruled.

The ruling came from District Judge David Thorson of Frémont County on Sept. 15, in response to a suit filed by Ivan Widom of Cañon City and Mark Emmer of Salida.

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Water Update

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Column by John Orr

Water – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Great Sand Dunes National Park water right

In August, Division Three Water Court Judge O. John Kuenhold signed the decree for a water right for the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The decree was the final piece of the puzzle in converting the former Great Sand Dunes National Monument to a national park.

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Water Update

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Article by John Orr

Water – August 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel

The relief well for the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel came on line late in June. Peter Soeth from Reclamation said, “The plant is now treating between 2000 and 2100 gallons per minute,” combined flow from the LMDT and the relief well.

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Could Nestlé deal benefit Salida?

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Brief by Central Staff

Water – July 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

We’ve looked at the drawbacks. But perhaps it’s time for Salida residents to consider the possible benefits from exporting mountain spring water from Chaffee County.

Nestlé is a multi-national food products company, and one of its products is Arrowhead bottled water. Nestlé has proposed to take 0.3 cubic feet per second (cfs or cusec) from the Hagen Spring near Nathrop, and haul it to a bottling plant in Denver.

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Central Colorado water update

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Column by John Orr

Water – July 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

James Tingle Reservoir

Colorado is blessed with a water supply system that has grown up around the annual snowfall, unlike other states which rely on groundwater or rainfall. Our mountain ranges act as reservoirs during the winter, storing snowfall (most years).

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Appeasement, uranium, and South Park water

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Letter from Phil Doe

Water – July 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

As valuable as I find John Orr’s monthly water updates, I find his discussion of HB 08-1161 far too sanguine. The legislation requires uranium miners to clean up ground water that might become polluted from their operations. Orr states that the citizens of Park County “should feel a little more at ease with the project” since as one of the bill’s sponsors said, “If companies … are true to their word that they can do this without affecting groundwater, they should have no difficulty with this bill.”

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Central Colorado Water Update

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Article by John Orr

Water – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

2008 water legislation in review

Water and Stream Flow

In May HB 08-1280 passed both houses by large margins. Although it’s rare, every so often the legislature passes a water bill that almost everyone regards as needed and beneficial. Now, water rights owners who lease water to the Colorado Water Conservation Board to buttress stream flow won’t be risking their water rights.

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No reason to help Nestlé

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Brief by Central Staff

Water – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

There are frequently proposals to take water out of Central Colorado. Usually, though, the scheme involves a complex array of trnsfers of points of diversion, estimates of the consumptive use involved, more estimates involving transport losses, and other considerations that keep water lawyers and engineers gainfully employed.

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Regional water update

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Column by John Orr

Water – May 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel Update

Since the disaster declaration for the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel, it’s been learned that the actual cause of the rising water in the mine pool could be the result of a combination of factors including a collapse in the LMDT, increased precipitation over the last few years, and groundwater intrusion.

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Who owns the rain that falls on your roof?

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Article by Dan Fitzgerald

Water – May 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

IT’S BEEN WEEKS since a drop of rain has fallen in Tucson, but Brad Lancaster’s backyard vegetable gardens and fruit trees are thriving. By collecting and storing the rain that falls on his property, Brad harvests about 45,000 gallons annually from his modest home and 1/8 acre lot. As Brad shows me his pomegranate, olive, orange, and white sapote (a banana-like fruit) trees, it’s easy to forget that Arizona, like much of the West, is a desert.

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