Water interests on both sides of the Continental Divide are continuing to investigate whether a water banking plan could be used to protect Colorado’s interests in the Colorado River.

The Arkansas Basin Roundtable wants to advance a plan to protect transmountain diversions by setting up a storage account at Blue Mesa Reservoir on the Gunnison River. The roundtable is developing the plan in conjunction with the Gunnison Basin Roundtable.

As reported by the Pueblo Chieftain’s Aug. 15, 2010, article, Colorado’s Arkansas and Gunnison Basin Roundtables are working on a joint proposal to use the Bureau of Reclamation’s Blue Mesa Reservoir for potential Colorado River Compact calls by Arizona, California and Nevada.

The largest waterfall in Colorado was here Wednesday, a gushing torrent that plunged 227 feet, surpassing Niagara Falls, swelling the Gunnison River to levels unprecedented in the age of dams and diversions. The misty, rainbowed spectacle, with spray felt two football fields away, was seen by few in the gated recesses of Crystal Dam in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

For a third year in a row, the state water board has made a call on a stretch of the Slate River to protect stream flows. But those junior water users along the stretch who have augmentation plans through the local water conservancy district have already met their obligation to provide the missing water. 

Changes in the amount of water released from the Aspinall Unit could be altered to benefit endangered fish in the Gunnison River. The EIS will evaluate impacts on hydropower, flood control, recreational fisheries, reservoir levels, existing water uses and endangered species.