Water parley makes history
River basin reps gather to discuss Yampa project
Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News
Published September 27, 2007 at midnight
WALDEN - As a line formed for lunch at the River Walk Cafe, 12 of Colorado's most saavy water chieftains held a historic meeting in a back room.
They came from the east and the west of the state, gathering on what's considered neutral ground in Colorado's increasingly fractious water world.
At issue: whether a $4 billion, 227-mile pipeline should be built to carry 300,000 acre feet of water annually from the Yampa River in northwestern Colorado to the Front Range and fast-growing communities on the West Slope.
Six men in the room were from the South Platte River Basin east of the Continental Divide; six from the Yampa and White river basins on the west.
It marked the first time under a new state law that formerly hostile interests have met voluntarily to discuss a water project before any money has been spent, before any decisions have been made, before lawsuits have been filed.
The purpose was to establish ground rules for what will become one of two things: a battle over the Yampa River or a landmark effort to see if Colorado's rural and urban interests can be united.
Under the 2007 Colorado Water for the 21st Century Act, the state formed public roundtables to represent each of the state's nine river basins. The process is designed to ease tensions between the thirsty Front Range and water- rich Western Slope and to ensure each region is treated equitably.
Eric Wilkinson, manager of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, explained why he thought taking a giant gulp from the Yampa is a good idea.
The often fiery West Slope officials, listened carefully.
"A lot of this is out-of-the-box thinking," Wilkinson said. "But this project is not going forward unless the citizens of Colorado agree that it needs to go forward."
For more than a century, Front Range cities have trooped across the Divide and staked claims to the streams there, as is allowed under water law. But the process has caused deep bitterness and anger on the West Slope.
Now, with Colorado facing water shortages, the pressure is on to find a new way to develop supplies without hurting tourism or the state's fragile wilderness.
Whether the process moves forward or ends in a fight won't be clear for several more months.
"We have a lot of angst," said Tom Sharp, a water attorney from Steamboat Springs and former member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
At the end of the six-hour session, the river basin reps agreed to meet again.
"I guess I'm encouraged," said Mike Shimmin, a Boulder water attorney. "I didn't hear anyone say no, or hell no, or not over our dead bodies."
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