It is not often in a 24/7 news cycle, that a tiny story on Page 3 can make you sit up and shout out loud, “Well, I’ll be darned, that is the biggest story of water in Colorado in the last 50 years.”
That recent article, originating from The Colorado Sun that ran in The Durango Herald and The Journal on Nov. 16, discussed the potential purchase of the Shoshone Power Plant (Shoshone) by a coalition of Western Slope entities from Xcel Energy for $98.5 million. The purchase of Shoshone will benefit Western Slope agriculture, healthy rivers, native fish as part of the endangered Fish Recovery Program, recreational enthusiasts, and ensure safe drinking water.
A look back at history is required to understand the importance of the purchase of Shoshone. In less than 100 years, the seven states on the Colorado River have overused water through dams and diversions. Colorado River water no longer reaches the Sea of Cortez. One-hundred years is a mere millisecond in geologic time compared to the 5 million to 6 million years the river carved 2-billion-year-old rock in the Grand Canyon. Simply put, water demand has exceeded our water supply. That overuse, trans-basin diversions, and the 23-year-old drought led to dangerously low levels of water In Lakes Powell and Mead.
Shoshone is on the mainstem Colorado River in Glenwood Canyon and is one of two mainstem Colorado River water rights that “makes the river flow.” Shoshone’s senior water rights from 1902 are among the oldest in western Colorado, and can call out and curtail junior water divertors, including trans-basin diversions that take water to the Eastern Slope. Shoshone’s water right is a 1,250 cfs, nonconsumptive, year-round water right, or 10 times the flow of water in the Animas River today through Durango.
To understand why Shoshone is so important, let’s look at the history of trans-basin diversions. Water is plumbed to divert water from the Western Slope to a thirsty Eastern Slope through tunnels, dams, canals and pumps. Much of that infrastructure was oversized to allow for additional future diversions.
Water necessary for growth can only come from three sources: agriculture, Western Slope rivers and conservation. Appropriating Western Slope water was the default source over the last century, resulting in 44 trans-basin diversions that transfer over 500,000 acre feet annually from west to east. Three additional trans-basin diversions are in various stages of planning, permitting and implementation. As a result, our rivers have seen reduced flow, degraded water quality, diminished ecosystems and higher temperatures resulting in trout mortality.
However, Shoshone’s call has stopped the transfer of additional water.
Shoshone is owned by Xcel Energy, a private electric utility. Multiple attempts have been made by Front Range water interests to purchase Shoshone so they can extinguish the call, allowing increased diversions to fuel growth. In fact, Denver Water negotiated an agreement with Xcel in 2007 that allows the reduction of the Shoshone call.
We must change the paradigm that our rivers are drainage channels, hydrological statistics, and an unlimited source of water to support our addiction to land use growth. Rivers are complex living bodies and ecosystems that support a rich diversity of life and culture.
As John Stulp, a colleague who managed Colorado’s Water Plan said: “We can’t develop the state over the next 100 years like we grew over the last 100 years. We must do things differently. We must be more efficient. We must conserve more.”
Purchasing Shoshone to prevent additional water from leaving the Western Slope will be a good starting point and leave the water to those that depend on it the most. Please, support the purchase of the Shoshone Power Plant.
Louis Meyer is a retired civil/water engineer engaged in Western Slope and statewide water issues for the past 45 years. He lives on a family farm in the north Animas River Valley. In 2013, he was the lead author for Colorado’s Water Plan for the Colorado Basin.
