We shared an op-ed yesterday by ‘river warrior’ Gary Wockner, concerning plans to build new reservoirs in Colorado’s high country, and he included an image of Lower Mohawk Lake, by noted Colorado photographer John Fielder.
Mr. Wockner makes the case, in the op-ed, for preserving our natural environment whenever possible, rather than destroying it with dams and reservoirs.
That’s an easy argument to make, in the sense that we don’t need to spend time or money preserving the natural environment, if we can simply leave it natural. But that’s so hard to do…
Of course, once we’ve destroyed it, then we might find ourselves spending time and money trying to undo what we did.
The dams and reservoirs discussed by Mr. Wockner would — if approved and built — allow for population growth in certain Colorado cities and towns. It’s a bit like a hamster on a wheel. Build more water storage… encourage more growth… then you need more water storage to accommodate the growth… and so on…
Round and round we go.
Of course, that’s not the current argument in favor of new, and more, dams and reservoirs in Colorado. Relatively few people are still suggesting “population growth” as an ideal economic model in the American West. The water-related arguments, in 2023, are more likely to focus on ‘aridification’ and ‘tribal water rights’.
Many people believe ‘climate change’ will reduce the amount of snowfall and rainfall in the American West, and will make life more challenging for the folks who already live here.
Additionally, the American West was — as we readily admit — stolen from its original inhabitants, because settlers of European descent wanted the land, and held themselves up as racially superior, and as more civilized. (Which is not to suggest that the ‘original inhabitants’ hadn’t fought over territory, among the various tribes, before the arrival of the Europeans.) When the tribes were forced onto reservations, however, they were granted water rights by the U.S. government.
Tribal water rights were, for example, the primary justification for the $600 million Animas La Plata (ALP) Project in Durango, which pumps water from the Animas River uphill to an artificial off-stream reservoir called Lake Nighthorse, supposedly to help meet historic tribal water rights. But the Bureau of Reclamation engineers forgot to include the pipelines necessary to deliver the water, so the lake has essentially become an expensive recreational playground. From the Undercover Colorado website:
Recreation is only allowed in developed areas, as the park is set on sacred land. Dogs are allowed, on a leash; meanwhile, alcohol, glass containers, and campfires are not permitted.
The federal government and the Colorado water industry were delighted at the opportunity to construct the ALP pumping station and Lake Nighthorse. The Durango taxpayers? Maybe not so much. Here’s one view of the situation, as published in the Durango Herald in 2017:
Water rate fiasco related to cost of ALP
The irony in the cost of water in Durango being raised so high people in Durango can’t use the water (Herald, Aug. 2) is tremendous.
The price increases are not for anybody presently using Durango water; the city has sufficient water rights and infrastructure to ensure residents of water in the driest of times and in perpetuity. The rate increases [are to serve] future water users. And the boondoggle Animas La Plata Project of course.
Durango is investing in a very expensive Rube Goldberg plan to put that ALP water to use. The irony being that Durango was the only customer ever considered who could actually pay the enormous cost of the ALP water, and yet the Bureau of Reclamation failed to engineer any delivery system to their only legitimate customer. Additionally, the Durango City Council is investing in urban sprawl because the only way Durango can pay for that water is with a population of more than 40,000 people. All of which is resulting in extremely “Dumb Growth” and forcing any Durango residents of modest means out of the city.
The crowning irony being that by raising water rates so high to pay for the ALP, the city is making Durango browner, not greener.
Michael Black
Durango
You can get a sense of how the Southern Ute tribe feels about Lake Nighthorse in this story on the tribe’s website. The story includes a quote from Southern Ute Vice Chairman Cheryl Frost:
“I would like to remind everyone here today that Lake Nighthorse was made possible as a result of the settlement of [Ute] water rights. The Tribe asks that the City of Durango be stewards to this land, the waters — please don’t forget that our Ute water rights were settled with this lake.”
Yesterday in Part Three, I discussed, briefly, a letter from the San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) board of directors to the Southern Ute Tribal Council, asking for a joint meeting, to talk about building a reservoir on the former Running Iron Ranch, north of downtown Pagosa Springs.
We will note that SJWCD is funded by taxes paid by property owners within the district, and as such, presumably has a mission to serve the people who live within the district.
Does it make sense for SJWCD to be developing plans for delivering water — water that some people believe is threatened by climate change — from the upper San Juan River, to a tribe located outside the district — using property paid for by PAWSD customers?
In particular, working to provide water to a tribe that has already had its “water rights settled” by a dysfunctional (but recreational) $600 million reservoir in La Plata County?
Has SJWCD lost track of its purpose?
I suppose we can understand the attraction of hamster wheels. Hamsters just like to run, and they don’t really care if they are getting anywhere.
