Water users across Colorado's Western Slope can rest a little easier. Last week’s landmark agreement on how to share the Colorado River during drought conditions provides some relief to worried water users, including ranchers and ski resort snow makers. At issue is how the Colorado River is divided up among seven states, and more specifically, between the Upper Basin (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) and the Lower Basin (Nevada, Arizona and California). Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne signed a record of decision on a set of new rules for allocating water in drought conditions, and for operating Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the giant Colorado River reservoirs in the Lower Basin. Until last week, the rules of the river were set under a 1922 compact specifying how much water the Upper Basin has to deliver downstream based on a 10-year average. In drought conditions, that water (8.23 million acre feet) might not be available. The biggest fear in Colorado and the rest of the Upper Basin was that the Lower Basin states would exercise their rights under the compact, resulting in curtailment of water use upstream. Based on the first-in-time, first-in-right doctrine, about half of Colorado’s water is subject to being lost to a downstream call, according to Scott Balcomb, a Glenwood Springs water attorney who was appointed by Colorado Gov. Bill Owens to the negotiating team. Balcomb said most of that water is dedicated to municipal and industrial uses on the Front Range. Many agricultural water rights in Colorado pre-date the 1922 compact, and would not be directly affected by a downstream call. But there could be indirect effects to the West Slope, said Jim Pokrandt, education specialist with the Colorado River Water Conservation District, headquartered in Glenwood Springs. A ripple effect would be felt on the Western Slope, with increased diversions to the Front Range and less water available on the western side of the Continental Divide, he explained.

To view the full article, visit the Aspen Times. For a copy of the original article contact the WIP at (970) 247-1302 or stop by the office at 841 East Second Avenue in Durango.