It turns out, if you want a large turnout at a meeting in Mancos, you just have to discuss water rights.
It was standing-room only as about 60 people filled the Mancos Mt. Lookout Grange Hall to talk water.
Tempers were quelled a bit because about 10 inches of snow had fallen days before the Feb. 25 meeting, easing worry about drought.
"We are hoping for more now," said Mancos Water Conservancy District Superintendent Gary Kennedy. However, that snowpack is 60 percent of the 15-year average.
Still, landowners spent a lot of time discussing priority water usage.
Last year, the Mancos Water Conservancy District stopped putting water down Chicken Creek, leaving some long-time farmers without enough water, including Kennedy.
"I grow hay, and most of us were only able to get one crop last year," Kennedy said. "We have been putting water down Chicken Creek, but as of last year, that ended due to an order by the state."
Rob Genualdi, Division 7 Engineer with the Colorado Division of Water Resources, said the Chicken Creek action violated state water law.
"We realized there were junior rights getting water when senior water users weren't getting water," Genualdi said. "That's Water Rights 101. When a junior is getting water and a senior next to him is not, we have a problem."
Genualdi, who displated a list of water rights according to seniority, said he couldn't allow that practice to continue.
"They are not going to let water go from the Mancos to Chicken Creek," Kennedy said.
Genualdi said Jackson Gulch Reservoir isn't on the river, and that it is not a priority to fill.
"If water is really short, the only guy getting water should be the one with Priority 1," Genualdi said.
Kennedy said he was happy with the turnout.
"Our goal was to get the division of water resources to explain the changes," he said.
Farmers murmured about the changes.
One summed up farmers' view:
"The shallower the water, the deeper we get," he said.
