Water plan faces familiar foes
$4 billion pipeline from Wyo. would supply Front Range
Deborah Frazier, Rocky Mountain News
Published October 7, 2006 at midnight
A proposed $4 billion pipeline from Wyoming to Colorado's water-craving Front Range faces the same foes that killed similar projects.
Fort Collins entrepreneur Aaron Million has proposed a privately funded 400-mile pipeline to claim the state's share of the Colorado River and deliver it to Front Range communities.
"This is the first new idea on the table in Colorado in a long time," said Chips Barry, manager of Denver Water.
"Whether the idea can overcome the economic, institutional and practical barriers is the big question," he said.
The pipeline would start at the Flaming Gorge Reservoir on the Wyoming-Utah border, run east across southern Wyoming and turn south near Cheyenne to reach Colorado Springs.
The pipeline would carry between 250,000 to 450,000 acre-feet of water to customers each year, he said.
An acre-foot is roughly equivalent to the water consumed by one to two homes in a year. Million's project could supply up to 900,000 homes.
"No one has found a fatal flaw in the project," said Million, a Colorado State University graduate student.
Million has spent two and a half years refining the plan and presenting the project to investors, water suppliers and government officials.
He said federal and state officials predict a water crisis in Colorado by 2025 because of the limited supply and development's increasing demand.
However, history shows Million's idea faces significant hurdles to become a reality.
In 1989, the Environmental Protection Agency vetoed Denver Water's half-billion-dollar Two Forks project as too costly and environmentally damaging.
Two years later a water court judge ended a privately financed project to export ground water from the San Luis Valley to suburbs south of Denver.
Judge Robert Ogburn said the withdrawal proposed by American Water Development Inc. would alter streamflows in the San Luis Valley, which would harm farmers, residents and the environment.
The "Big Straw" project, estimated at up to $15 billion, would have piped Colorado River water from the Utah border to the Front Range, died in 2003 when voters rejected a bond issue.
Million's project faces the same environmental, institutional and economic barriers.
The environmental issues will be minimal in Colorado because he'll use existing reservoirs, easements and pipeline routes, he said.
"Done right, a pipeline project causes very little land disturbance," said Million.
However, Melissa Kassen, of Trout Unlimited's Western Water Project, said taking a large volume of water from the Flaming Gorge could harm the endangered fish recovery project on the upper Colorado River.
Million said the Flaming Gorge, larger than any reservoir in Colorado, holds enough water to protect the recovery project if Colorado draws its share of the river from the reservoir.
To lower the institutional barriers, Million has briefed Wyoming, Utah, federal officials and many local water districts on the proposal.
Eric Millis, head of Utah's Water Conservation Board, and Mike Besson, executive director of Wyoming's Water Development Commission, said they're concerned about the fish recovery project too.
Both said there may be less Colorado River water available for Colorado to use than Million believes.
When the Colorado River Compact doled out the river to Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California the figures used came from high water years with above normal flows. During normal years, there isn't enough water to meet the allocations.
"You already have a water-short Colorado River system because of the drought," Besson said.
"What would the consequences have been if the pipeline had already been built?"
There's already some opposition in Colorado to the project.
"It's unacceptable that the unused portion of the river would all go to the Front Range," said Eric Kuhn, director of the Colorado River Water Conservancy District in Glenwood Springs.
The district oversees the state's use of the Colorado River.
Kuhn said Million's estimates about the water available were inflated because projects under construction, including the Animas La Plata in Durango, will tap half the state's unused share of the Colorado.
Million said his estimates come from the Colorado Water Conservation Board, which puts the available supply at 500,000 to 1.2 million acre feet.
Cost, the last traditional barrier, isn't a problem either, Million said. He said the project will deliver water at the market price.
Other water experts disagree because the financing the engineering, environmental work and construction will add significantly to the price. Local, state and federal funds are used to build most large projects.
"To get the first gallon, you have to build the whole $4 billion project, and it's hard to get that kind of financing," Bob Lembke said.
Lembke, a residential developer, overcame similar obstacles on a water project that will sell water from the South Platte to the suburbs south of Denver.
Lembke said Million might be able to get financing if he had firm purchase contracts for the water, something Million is still working on.
"We don't anticipate any problem with the costs," Million said.
He said revenue from using the water to generate electricity, resale of used water to farmers and other features of the project will offset costs.
If Million succeeds, Douglas County water providers are interested in buying the water - but after the project moves farther ahead.
"It could satisfy all of our needs," said Frank Jaeger, manager of Parker's water district. "We'd take a good hard look at it. It deserves a good hard look."
"I'm interested in anything that would mean more water," said John Hendricks, manager of Centennial's water district.
"If this becomes a reality, folks would be real interested," said Ron Redd, head of Castle Rock's water district.
Centennial, Parker and Castle Rock are Douglas County's major water suppliers and rely heavily on the rapidly declining ground water.
Million declined to discuss financing sources, but said he's had offers from banks and private investors.
"Unless something comes up that we haven't thought about, there is nothing that can stop this project," Million said.
frazierd@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5308
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