Colorado lawmakers touring for water remedy

Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 22, 2007 at midnight

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STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Colorado lawmakers are touring the Yampa Valley today to examine the potential for delivering new water supplies to the Front Range.

One idea, floated by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, would draw water from the Yampa River near Maybell and pipe it back to the Front Range for eventual delivery to Barr Lake.

Early cost estimates show such a project would cost roughly $4 billion. Northern has said the proposal could help several regions of the state, not just the Front Range, but that it would take a large number of players to finance the deal.

"This is not something we could do on our own," said Brian Werner, a spokesman for the water district.

Northern's proposal comes as the state pushes to finish a collaborative planning process designed to ease tensions between the Western Slope and the Front Range. The goal is to ensure everyone gets a say in new water projects and that small, rural communities aren't shorted as the urban corridor races to find its own new supplies.

By 2030, Colorado is expected to need roughly 630,000 acre feet of new water supplies, according to the Statewide Water Supply Initiative. Most of the new demand is coming from fast-growing suburbs of Denver, such as Parker and Highlands Ranch, and areas around Greeley and Fort Collins.

But communities such as Winter Park, Granby, Vail and Breckenridge, also need more water and have few options for developing new supplies because cities made claims to mountain streams decades ago.

Cities have said they can develop much of the water they need through projects already under way, but a gap of as much as 374,000 acre feet still exists — hence the need for new water projects, cities and state officials say.

Others believe Colorado could meet all the future demand simply by using less water and by learning to transfer back and forth between cities and farms.

Still several ideas for new projects are being proposed around the state, including one by Fort Collins entrepreneur Aaron Million. His proposal is to tap water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir and pipe it across southern Wyoming and down to the Front Range.

smithj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5474

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