Front Range concerns over purchase of Colorado River rights on Western Slope to get hearing

A dispute between influential Front Range water providers and a broad swath of the Western Slope over one of the most powerful water rights on the Colorado River will be hashed out in public view later this summer.

Four major Front Range water providers — Denver Water, Aurora Water, Colorado Springs Utilities and Northern Water — will present their concerns about the purchase of the Shoshone Power Plant water rights by the Colorado River District during a hearing in September before the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

The Shoshone Hydroelectric Facility in Glenwood Canyon. The Colorado River District agreed to a deal to buy the major senior water rights associated with the plant from Xcel Energy to protect the instream flows. (Christopher Tomlinson, The Daily Sentinel)
The Shoshone Hydroelectric Facility in Glenwood Canyon. (Christopher Tomlinson, The Daily Sentinel)

The board during a special meeting Tuesday decided to hold the hearing to hash out the urban utilities’ concerns about how much water should be allocated to the right. The board must decide by September whether to approve the new use of the water right proposed by the district.

The Colorado River District, a taxpayer-funded agency that works to protect Western Slope water, in 2023 announced a $99 million deal to buy the water rights from Xcel Energy, which owns the power plant. The purchase — a decades-long effort by the district — will ensure that water will continue to flow west past the plant tucked into Glenwood Canyon and downstream to the towns, farms and others who rely on the Colorado River even if the century-old power plant were decommissioned.

Each of the Front Range utilities have said they do not oppose the purchase itself. They do, however, question the river district’s calculations of how much water has been used historically under the rights. Under Colorado water law, that number will determine how much water must flow through the plant in the future.

The district’s calculations are too high, the four utilities argue, and would leave them with less water from the Colorado River for their own uses.

The river district has repeatedly said it plans to maintain the status quo and will not use more water than has been used in the past. Disputes about the amount of water historically used under a water right should be settled in water court, the district’s general manager Andy Mueller said Tuesday in a statement.

“We are deeply concerned that the Front Range entities requesting this contested hearing are asking the CWCB to encroach on the jurisdiction of water court,” Mueller said. “… We believe maintaining public trust relies on following the right path and avoiding political intrusion.”

The tension over the Shoshone water rights is another iteration of the decades-long friction between the highly populated urban Front Range and the more rural Western Slope.

Combined, the four Front Range utilities provide water to more than 3 million customers and source a significant amount of that water from the Colorado River. Denver Water, for example, draws about 50% of its supply from the river basin.

The 1905 water rights connected to the Shoshone Power Plant are the oldest major water rights on the main stem of the Colorado River, which means that they must be fulfilled before any rights established afterward. That includes more junior rights held by Front Range utilities to divert water from the river and bring it over the Continental Divide to their customers.

The power plant does not consume the water, instead sending it through its turbines before putting it back in the river. The plant’s rights can command up to 1,408 cubic feet of water per second year-round, or about 1 million acre-feet a year — enough water for 2 million to 3 million households’ annual use.

Local governments and organizations across the Western Slope have banded together and contributed more than $16 million toward the purchase. Along with its own $20 million contribution, the Colorado River District raised $20 million from the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

The financial plan also includes $40 million awarded under the federal Inflation Reduction Act by the Biden administration, but the Trump administration froze that money days later as part of a broad halt to spending by the previous president. The money remains in limbo, said Matt Aboussie, director of communications for the Colorado River District, though lawmakers from both political parties continue to lobby for its release.

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