{"id":1314242,"date":"2019-09-03T16:28:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-03T22:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/water-equity-a-concern-for-western-slope-water-users\/"},"modified":"2019-09-03T16:28:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-03T22:28:00","slug":"water-equity-a-concern-for-western-slope-water-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/water-equity-a-concern-for-western-slope-water-users\/","title":{"rendered":"Water equity a concern for Western Slope water users"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.4071661237785\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-987079-223\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/09\/wateruse-atd-082719-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/09\/wateruse-atd-082719-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Brent Gardner-Smith\/Aspen Journalism | A large irrigation canal in the Grand Valley, which relies on water from the Colorado River to irrigate fields. The state is exploring how a voluntary, temporary and compensated water-use reduction plan, known as demand management, might work.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"13\">\n<p><strong>A large irrigation canal in the Grand Valley, which relies on water from the Colorado River to irrigate fields. The state is exploring how a voluntary, temporary and compensated water-use reduction plan, known as demand management, might work.<\/strong><br \/>Brent Gardner-Smith\/Aspen Journalism<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/09\/wateruse-atd-082719-1.jpg\" alt=\"A large irrigation canal in the Grand Valley, which relies on water from the Colorado River to irrigate fields. The state is exploring how a voluntary, temporary and compensated water-use reduction plan, known as demand management, might work.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/09\/wateruse-atd-082719-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/09\/wateruse-atd-082719-1-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"|\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/09\/wateruse-atd-082719-1-1.jpg\" alt><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/water-equity-a-concern-for-western-slope-water-users\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/water-equity-a-concern-for-western-slope-water-users\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">Colorado\u2019s agricultural-water users have concerns about how exactly the state would fairly implement a voluntary water-use reduction plan known as demand management.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That was the takeaway from some of the first meetings organized by the Colorado Water Conservation Board as part of its investigation into how a demand-management program might work in the state. Water managers discussed the issue of equity at the first meeting of the agricultural-impacts workgroup in Delta in early August and again at Colorado Water Congress in Steamboat Springs Aug. 29.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">If Western Slope agricultural-water users don\u2019t see cuts being taken by water users in municipalities, on the east slope and in the lower Colorado River basin, they won\u2019t want to participate in a demand-management program, said Ken Curtis, chief of engineering and construction for the Dolores Water Conservancy District.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIf (Western Slope users) don\u2019t see that question of fairness, they don\u2019t even want to open the conversation,\u201d he said at the meeting in Delta.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">This sentiment is not surprising to Colorado State University doctoral candidate Kelsea Macilroy, who spent last spring interviewing about 40 irrigators and water managers on the Western Slope. At CWC last week, she unveiled her Nature Conservancy-funded research on the social and cultural perceptions of demand management.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">There are three key conclusions of the report: Awareness and understanding of demand management vary greatly, defining what demand management is and how it will work is not straightforward, and conversations about demand management are connected to other tensions that create a general sense of vulnerability and fear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cPeople don\u2019t see this as a discussion about feasibility,\u201d she told Thursday\u2019s audience. \u201cIt feels like something that\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The CWCB has formed nine workgroups, each tasked with helping to identify and solve one of the following issues: agricultural impacts, law and policy, water-rights administration, environmental considerations, economic considerations and local government, funding; education and outreach, monitoring and verification, and tribal interests. The workgroups began meeting this summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">At the heart of a demand-management plan is a reduction in water use by agriculture on a voluntary, temporary and compensated basis, all in an effort to send up to 500,000 acre-feet of water downstream to Lake Powell to meet Colorado River Compact obligations. Under pilot programs, the state could pay ranchers and farmers to leave more water in the river.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But the description \u201cvoluntary, temporary and compensated\u201d also is the crux of the problem for many water users.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cCompensation is one of the stickiest and hardest to define,\u201d Macilroy said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just a number; it\u2019s an idea and a value. Is it even truly possible to compensate for reductions in water use? Water is more than just a commodity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Water and agriculture on the Western Slope are tied to Colorado\u2019s rural identity, culture and landscapes. Demand management provokes an emotional response for some who fear that without irrigated, green fields, a community\u2019s way of life is threatened.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Some said they feared that demand management is a back door to \u201cbuy and dry.\u201d Several people invoked the tough lesson of Crowley County, a formerly agricultural hub on Colorado\u2019s southeastern plains. Many of the county\u2019s agricultural-water users sold off their water rights to Front Range municipalities. As irrigated farmland dried up, so did the county\u2019s economic base.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI\u2019ve been worried about this because these communities are smaller and ag-dominated,\u201d Cindy Lair, program manager for the State Conservation Board of the Colorado Department of Agriculture, said at the Delta meeting. \u201cThey don\u2019t have the resiliency for decreased water. They don\u2019t have the buffering capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Macilroy\u2019s results also revealed a complicated relationship between \u201cvoluntary\u201d and \u201cparity.\u201d Water managers want to ensure that a demand-management program would spread the burden across different user groups and basins in the name of fairness. But that conflicts with the requirement that participation in any program be voluntary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cA voluntary program appeals to people,\u201d Macilroy said. \u201cIt also has some major weaknesses. Because it is voluntary, it serves as a direct challenge to implementing parity. You can\u2019t have voluntary and parity at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Brent Newman, head of CWCB\u2019s section on Colorado River issues, said the research findings were not surprising. Helping people understand demand management is a key part of the program, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI think that\u2019s a question all the workgroups have identified as one of the key threshold questions: How do you have a voluntary program but also disincentivize negative proportionate impacts to basins?\u201d he said. \u201cWe are just starting to wrap our heads around that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\">Editor\u2019s note: Aspen Journalism is collaborating with the Aspen Times on coverage of water and rivers. For more, go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aspenjournalism.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.aspenjournalism.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/water-equity-a-concern-for-western-slope-water-users\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A large irrigation canal in the Grand Valley, which relies on water from the Colorado River to irrigate fields. The state is exploring how a voluntary, temporary and compensated water-use reduction plan, known as demand management, might work.Brent Gardner-Smith\/Aspen Journalism Show CaptionsHide Captions Colorado\u2019s agricultural-water users have concerns about how exactly the state would fairly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1314242","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 22:19:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1314242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1314242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1314242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1314242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}