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Can Colorado develop in-state agreements to ensure water is available for Western Slope uses in the future?
Or will it all go to the rapidly growing Front Range simply because it needs the water now?
These questions and more will be examined at this year’s annual Colorado River District Water Seminar that takes place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 19, at the Two Rivers Convention Center in Grand Junction. The cost is just $25 and includes lunch. Early registration ends Sept. 16 and the cost is $35 at the door.
This year’s seminar focuses on how Colorado should deal with the last increment of the Colorado River that can be developed. By law, Colorado must let about 70 percent of the river and its tributaries flow by the state border to satisfy the Colorado River Compact and meet downstate obligations in California, Nevada and Arizona. It is a goal of the Colorado River District to avoid a compact curtailment in Colorado. In other river basins, such as the Arkansas and the South Platte, local water users feel the economic pain of compact administration every year.
Sitting on the lead panel of this year’s program are Colorado Supreme Court Justice Greg Hobbs as moderator, renowned water attorney David Robbins, Colorado River District General Manager Eric Kuhn and State Sen. Josh Penry, discussing if and how the Colorado River should be shared statewide.
Other panels will examine how a water rights bank might stave off an interstate curtailment order, the Front Range Water Council’s vision for a water supply future, Denver Water’s innovative conservation plan and an update of a soon-to-be-released study of the energy industry’s future demand for water supply on the Western Slope.
The lunchtime keynote speaker is Upper Colorado Regional Director Larry Walkoviak of the Bureau of Reclamation.
To register for “What Would an Intra-State Colorado River Compact Look Like and How Would It Work?” (Are There Any Modern Day Delph Carpenters Out There?), visit www.ColoradoRiverDistrict.org, call Mandi Ebeler at (970) 945-8522 or e-mail mebeler@crwcd.org. Continuing education credits are available for attorneys and real estate professionals.
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