Pipe dream: Water plan has a lot of hurdles
Depending on whom you ask, Aaron Million's idea is either the solution to Colorado's water problems or a quixotic scheme with no anchor in reality.
The Fort Collins entrepreneur wants to build a pipeline from western Wyoming to Colorado's Front Range, a 560-mile journey that would terminate at a new reservoir in eastern El Paso County. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold a series of public meetings this month on the proposal.
Water suppliers here aren't banking on the $2 billion to $3 billion pipeline being built.
"Physically, it's feasible. Politically, that is a whole different question," said Kip Petersen, general manager of Cherokee Metropolitan District.
The water supplier on the east side of Colorado Springs has chronic shortages, and on Wednesday limited lawn watering to two days a week.
"I think there are political issues. There are legal issues. There are technical issues to move water that far. Clearly Mr. Million has hurdles to clear," said Gary Bostrom, water resources manager for Colorado Springs Utilities. Utilities officials did not embrace the idea after meeting with Million in recent years.
Million wants to bring the water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir and the Green River, a tributary of the Colorado River. Since Colorado doesn't use its full entitlement under the Colorado River Compact, Million says the 250,000 acre-feet per year are available.
"This is a surplus water supply and probably the largest underutilized river in the western United States that's legally available to Colorado," Million said.
The pipeline would follow existing energy corridors across Wyoming and south along the Front Range, including a hydroelectric plant where the water drops from the Palmer Divide in El Paso County. Many details remain uncertain, including the location of the reservoir at the end of the pipeline.
But the reservoir site is a minor hurdle, considering the opposition Million's project has generated. Environmental groups, Western Slope water interests and the South Metro Water Supply Authority in Denver are reportedly opposed, and it remains to be seen how the state of Wyoming would react to a water grab.
"We just think it's a scam. The water is not there," said Eric Kuhn, manager of the Colorado River Conservation District, a consortium of 15 Western Slope counties.
"It's going to foreclose other water users," said Drew Peternell, with Trout Unlimited. The group is also worried how taking the water would impact endangered fish in the Green River.
Million says critics won't halt the project. And while some question his ability to pull together private funding, he said if the corps issues a favorable record of decision, he'll get the funding.
"Absolutely it's going to happen. It's really just an issue of timing at this point. Someone would have to come up with a reason why it's not realistic. To date we've heard nothing," he said.
He likened his effort to Colorado's early water pioneers, who trudged into the hills to find water for burgeoning settlements.
"The difference between what we're doing versus what they did in the 1890s is we've just got a little bigger mule team and sled than they did," Million said.
But there are a host of regulations and agencies that weren't in place then, and getting approval for a major water project can be long and difficult. Colorado Springs Utilities' proposed $1.1 billion Southern Delivery System pipeline is one-tenth of the distance of Million's plan, and it took five years and a $17 million environmental study to get a record of decision from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold public meetings on the proposed pipeline April 21 at West High School, 951 Elati St., Denver, and April 22 at Risle Middle School, 625 N. Monument Ave. in Pueblo. Both will be 6:30 to 9 p.m.
Comments can also be submitted to MCRG.EIS@usace.army.mil.
