Court order may allow wells to resstart

Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 19, 2007 at midnight

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More than 200 wells along the South Platte River — roughly half the number ordered shut down in May 2006 — may be allowed to start pumping again, but only if they can meet stiff new requirements for replenishing the river.

The ruling was handed down Thursday by a Greeley water court.

"Given the complexity of the court's order and the uncertainty of flow conditions in the future, it's not immediately clear to me whether this will allow the wells to pump next year and if so, how much," said Jim Hall, top water regulator in the South Platte Basin.

Senior water rights owners and several cities, who have long fought the well-owners, declared victory in the case, saying the court's complex 101-page order likely means farmers won't be able to restart their irrigation wells next spring.

"I don't know whether they will ever be able to pump those wells again," said Alan Curtis, an attorney representing senior water rights owners and cities such as Highlands Ranch and Boulder. "They lost on nearly every issue."

But officials from the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District, which serves the well owners, said they need more time to evaluate the ruling and to calculate how much additional water the well owners will need.

"It's a little early to tell what it means," said Greg Hertzke, Central's external affairs manager. "But this order gives us a framework to build upon. Without it, we were pretty much out of luck."

Senior water rights owners and several cities along the Platte had complained the wells were lowering the water table and reducing the amount of water in river.

New state rules, enacted after the drought struck, are designed to protect the river, but hundreds of farmers, including those in this case, have not be able to comply with them.

As a result, thousands of acres of land have been converted to less profitable dryland crops, such as wheat and millet, and others have been taken out of production, harming dozens of farm towns on Colorado's eastern plains.

Central said it plans to hold a public meeting Oct. 30 to outline what the court ruling means for future pumping and what the district plans to do. The meeting is set for 7 p.m. at the Island Grove Events Center in Greeley.

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