Celebrate WATER FLUENCY

Gunnison Basin

Roundtable in cooperation with the

Negotiating our Water Futurein Colorado & the Colorado River Basin

Water 2012.org

OverviewColorado Water Overview (Water 2012 Speakers Bureau –

statewide education effort)

How water is used/ constraints on useThe West Slope’s predicament Statewide water planning:

How you can participate

•Key Players•The “gap”•Basin Roundtable role

•Trade-offs•Next Steps

Celebrate…because water is important for all that we do

Celebrate…because Colorado is a headwaters state

Snow falls in the mountains

Builds as snowpack

And drains in the spring and summer. Nourishing 19 states and Mexico

Celebrate… because water has shaped Colorado’s

historySince the beginnings of settlement, mining and

agriculture

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Then what’s the problem?

Population is increasing but there’s no “new” water

Many uses compete for a scarce and limited water supply

Communities

Agriculture Recreation

Environment

How water is used in Colorado:

86.5 % Agriculture6.7% Municipal3% Recreation, fisheries & in-stream flows (legally

dedicated for those purposes – much more is used recreationally on the way to other uses).

1.9% Commercial, Industrial and Institutional1.9% Augmentation and replacement of

groundwater in shallow aquifers.

Source: Statistics on water deliveries provided by the Colorado State Engineer’s Office to the Colorado Foundation for Water Education in

2002.

Constraints on water use: Colorado Water LawColorado River Basin Compact

Basics of Colorado Water Law:First in time, first in rightWater rights are property rights.

Significant Gunnison Basin Water Rights

1922 Compact: Upper Basin states must “not cause the flow of the River at Lee Ferry to be depleted below an aggregate of 75,000,000 acre feet in any 10 consecutive years.”

Western Colorado’s Predicament

•The 80/20 problem•Growth – in-basin as well as statewide•Imbalance between supply and demand Colorado Basin-wide

- 80% of Colorado’s population is on the Front Range.- 80% of Colorado’s precipitation falls on the Western Slope.

Gunnison River Basin Growth Population increase to

2050 projected to be 96-129% - to >200,000

Projected increase in gross water demand by 2030 is 14,900 acre-feet (underestimates municipal requirements in North Fork Region)

Virtually the entire Gunnison Basin is already over-appropriated (due to historic shortages at Redlands Power Canal near Grand Junction)

Imbalance between supply and demand appear to be increasing throughout the entire Colorado River Basin

(Bureau of Reclamation Study)

CO Water Planning - Key Players

Interest Groups Institutions

Water utilitiesFarmersIndustryEnvironmental

AdvocatesRecreation

AdvocatesLocal governments

CO Water Conservation Board (CWCB): State studies & funding

Basin Roundtables: Stakeholder groups established by the legislature for “bottom-up” planning

Inter-basin Compact Committee (IBCC): Roundtable of Roundtables

CWCB Identified “the Gap”

Gunnison Basin Roundtable: Seeking Solutions

Assessing NeedsConsumptiveNon-consumptive

Funding ProjectsFixing infrastructureStudiesNon-consumptive needs

Planning and NegotiatingAnalyzing the GapWeighing Trade-offsNegotiating with other Basin Roundtables

IBCC called for the “4-legged stool” Already planned projects (Windy Gap firming, Moffat Collection System, others) plus:

Conservation Ag to Urban

Transfers

New Projects(Colorado Basin development)

Roundtables developed preferred portfolios of these elements to fill the gap.

Trade-off issues: Agricultural losses east of the divide generally go

up as Colorado River Water development goes down.

Agriculture on the Western Slope is highly inter-dependent with agriculture on the eastern plains.

Many are worried about risk: To eastern plains agriculture if we “underdevelop” the

Colorado.Of a “compact curtailment” if we overdevelop it.

Disagreement exists over how much can be saved via conservation: more regulation may be required to get bigger savings.

Next Steps in the Planning Process

How You Can Participate: Monitor developments via e-newsletter; sign up at

www.coloradomesa.edu/watercenter to subscribe. Attend Gunnison Basin Roundtable meetings: 1stth Monday

each month, 4-7pm, Holiday Inn Express, Montrose. Talk to your Basin Roundtable Representatives. Find the

info and list at: http://www.coloradomesa.edu/watercenter/RoundtableEducationProject.html

www.ColoradoMesa.Edu/WaterCenter

Water2012.org