S. Platte water woes bog down task force

Ritter urges panel to 'find some solutions'

Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 28, 2007 at midnight

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Time is running out for a task force looking for solutions to the water crisis on the South Platte River.

Lack of water has idled hundreds of irrigation wells and dried up farmland from Brighton to Fort Morgan.

In June, Gov. Bill Ritter seated a task force to find ways to manage the river so that surface water users and well owners can co-exist.

But the tone Monday was less than optimistic, with members expressing doubt that anything meaningful will come from Ritter's initiative.

"The reality is there is not much that can be done," said task force member Manuel Montoya, manager of the Brighton-based Farmers Reservoir and Irrigation Co.

"There are small tweaks that can be done, but they are not going to amount to much," he said.

The group, which has met five times since June, must craft a plan for lawmakers by Sept. 30.

Monday, Ritter urged the group to put self-interests aside.

"The whole hope of this was that we could take the decisions that have been dealt us and find some solutions," he said.

Ritter formed the group roughly one year after the state was forced to shut down several hundred irrigation wells because they had not been able to comply with strict new rules designed to protect the South Platte.

Even before the mass shutdown, hundreds of other wells had been shut off or had their use sharply cut back under the new laws.

The crisis began in 2002 when the drought left much of the South Platte River dry, endangering the farmers and cities who rely on its surface supplies.

In response, those groups sued, forcing the state to bring hundreds of irrigation wells into compliance with a 1970s-era law that requires well users to replenish the river.

The irrigation wells draw from the same aquifer that supports the river.

The South Platte River supports the state's largest irrigated farm economy as well as the urban corridor.

Whether this task force, whose members have been battling one another for five years now, can find any solutions isn't clear yet, despite the governor's directive to keep trying.

River management

Ideas that have been considered

• Dredging century-old farm reservoirs to create more storage capacity.

• Forgiving a small amount of old water debt that well users owe the river.

• Giving state water regulators more flexibility to manage the river during the winter, when irrigators and cities need it less.

smithj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5474

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