OPINION: Support Colorado River Environmental Flow Rights at State Board Meeting

At tomorrow’s Tuesday, July 1 meeting, the powerful Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) is considering a request by large Front Range water providers to have a “hearing” about the proposed environmental flow water right for the Colorado River connected with the Shoshone Powerplant upstream of Glenwood Springs.

See the full story here in the Colorado Sun.

The hearing, if it occurs, would give the large Front Range water providers a direct voice before the CWCB which is the decision-maker.

Save the Colorado supports the idea of this hearing, and we want to make sure that all Coloradans — not just large Front Range water diverters — have an opportunity to speak to the CWCB. The hearing should be open to the public, have a virtual option, and be held on the West Slope in Glenwood Springs or Grand Junction.

Save The Colorado also points out that two voting members of the CWCB will have to recuse themselves from the hearing and the entire process — Brad Wind who works for Northern Water, and Greg Johnson who works for Denver Water — to insure that no direct conflict of interest occurs. Both Northern Water and Denver Water are a part of the four large Front Range water providers requesting the hearing and officially ‘opposing’ the environmental flow right for the Colorado River.

Save The Colorado will provide testimony at the hearing about how the entire water right, which exceeds 1 million acre feet, should be dedicated to environmental flows, as opposed to the Front Range cities contention that only about 600,000 acre feet are eligible.

The Colorado River must flow downstream to the West, not uphill towards money over the continental divide. The is one of the biggest opportunities in history to protect Nature’s flow right and disrupt the never-ending water and power grab by the Denver megalopolis.

Save The Colorado created a “Call2Action” on its website where the public can send emails to the CWCB to support the environmental flow right. Hundreds of people have already sent in emails: https://savethecolorado.org/send-email-to-the-cwcb/

Save The Colorado is a program of Save The World’s Rivers.