Group cautious about water plan

Ellen Miller, Special to the Rocky

Published March 1, 2007 at midnight

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GRAND JUNCTION - On Wednesday, members of Club 20's influential water committee were cautious and skeptical about, but not hostile to, a proposal to pump massive amounts of water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming and Utah to the Front Range.

Aaron Million, of Fort Collins, is leading a private development group that wants to build the $4 billion project to provide more water to growing cities and water-stressed plains farmers.

"It has the flexibility to save agriculture, municipalities and environmental interests on the East Slope," Million told the group.

"The West Slope benefits because it diminishes strains between the East and West slopes, can bring additional flows to the main stem of the Colorado (River) and bring political peace."

The Front Range currently diverts hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water every year from the west side of the Divide. That has led to political battles between West Slope interests and cities and farmers in Eastern Colorado.

Million has scaled back from his original plan, which called for taking 250,000 to 400,000 acre-feet of water per year from Flaming Gorge, to 165,000 to 250,000 acre-feet. His new plan could provide water for 330,000 to 500,000 more homes from Fort Collins to Pueblo, with water available through reuse to Eastern Plains agriculture.

"I don't think Club 20 would oppose it, but I don't know if we'll support it," Steve Harris of Durango told Million.

Club 20, formed in 1953 in large part to protect Western Slope water, will need more information about the positions of other states, especially Wyoming, said Club 20 Chairman Kathy Hall.

Club 20's water committee expects to discuss the matter fully this summer and possibly take a position on the proposal then.

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