Water Rights: Laws, Guns, & Money

Precipitation amounts
·       Great Basin drains toward Great Salt Lake
·       Colorado River watershed
Total Use of water 
·       Agricultural use
·       Municipal use
Reserved water rights
·       Indian claims
·       Other reserved rights

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Indians may have right to 25% of Colorado River water
·        Water rights in the Grand Canyon
·        Other Indian water rights
Water rights came with establishment of reservations
·        Better to sue or negotiate?
·        In any case, wait is so long as to maybe never come
·        Moral obligation to supply Indian water

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Bureau of Reclamation steps in
·        Largest cut to Arizona
·        Not enough cuts to trim deficits in Mead and Powell
California is the largest user
·        Most goes to Imperial Valley Irrigation District
·        Some of Metropolitan Water District
·        With 19 million customers, MWD will need more

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1041 Regulations upheld
·        What is in State’s interest
·        Thornton in a bind
Colorado Water Conservation Board
·        Updated state water plan
·        Call for public input
Colorado River problems
·        Impact on 7 states and Mexico
·        Covered in future episodes

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Changes needed in Colorado water law
·        Speculation
·        Statistics support change
Colorado water owned by the Public?
·        Past huge government investments
·        Should government simply give away rights?

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Equal time to agricultural interest
·        Don Schwindt, farmer near Cortez, Colorado
·        Dan Keppen, Family Farm Alliance president
Upcoming negotiations on guidelines for Colorado River Compact operations
·        New interim guidelines coming in 2026
·        Ag communities want to play a major role

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Components of NISP
·        Glade reservoir
·        Galeton reservoir 
Operate in tandem
·        Projected yield from project
·        Physical sizes and water quality considerations

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Greg Dewey, NCWCD Project Manager/Water Resources Engineer
·        Permitting for 18 years
·        History of Poudre and project
Poudre designated as Wild and Scenic
·        Proposals for 3 on-stream reservoirs dropped
·        Reservoir water rights transferred to off-stream Glade

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Greg Dewey, NCWCD Project Manager/Water Resources Engineer 
·        Permitting for 18 years
·        History of Poudre and project
Poudre designated as Wild and Scenic
·        Proposals for 3 on-stream reservoirs dropped
·        Reservoir water rights transferred to off-stream Glade

Stan Linker, manager of Central Weld County Water District
·        How rural districts were formed
·        Take Advantage of clean water in the CBT system
Raw water sources and costs
·        CBT, Windy Gap
·        Prices skyrocketed in 10 years
·        Other sources of water

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