At Monday’s regular meeting in Parachute, Andy Mueller, executive director of the Colorado River Water Conservation District (CRWCD), asked the Garfield County Commissioners (BOCC) to pitch in between $2 million and $4 million to help defray the purchasing cost of the Shoshone water rights on the Colorado River. He said he preferred $4 million.
But, said Commission Chair John Martin, “I think we’re going to sell ourselves short if we don’t come up with at least $20 million in reference to this.” Commissioner Tom Jankovsky expressed surprise. “I’m just choking on the tea you brought me today, Mr. Chairman,” he said, laughing. “And that number!”
In December 2023, Xcel Energy entered into an agreement to transfer ownership of the Shoshone water rights to the CRWCD for $99 million. “This particular project benefits the region tremendously,” Mueller told the BOCC. “It is a permanent fix to a water security issue for Western Colorado.”
According to CRWCD materials presented at Monday’s meeting, the Shoshone water rights include the senior Shoshone Power Plant water right, which is 122 years old, for 1,250 cubic feet per second (cfs) and the 95-year old junior Shoshone Power Plant water right for 158 cfs. The total cost to CRWCD is $98,500,000, with a transaction fee of $500,000 tacked on.
The Shoshone water right is the oldest non-consumptive water right on the mainstem of the Colorado River. Mueller said that putting it in the hands of local entities would ensure that the water flows west to downstream users. So far, the CRWCD, through the Shoshone Water Right Preservation Coalition, has raised $11.5 million from local entities, including Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction, Rifle, the Basalt Water Conservation District, the Snowmass Water and Sanitation District plus three Western Slope counties and more. The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) ponied up $20 million in January and Colorado legislators approved another $20 million during the last General Assembly.
After some back and forth, the BOCC pledged $3 million, which will come due in 2027 and bring the total raised to a little over $54 million. “It’s a pledge,” explained Martin. “We won’t commit the dollars but we will say that we will do everything possible to have those dollars available [by 2027].”
The board said the money could come from the county’s Conservation Trust Fund and other sources, possibly including the county’s oil and gas mitigation fund. Mueller said that CRWCD is in talks with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to see if the federal government will come up with the remaining acquisition costs. Other things also need to happen before the actual transfer of water rights occurs, including negotiating an instream flow agreement with the CWCB.
When all was said and done on Monday, the BOCC seemed relieved. “I’m comfortable at the $3 million level,” said Jankovsky, adding that the Colorado River is the building block of the local economy. “It’s right here in the heart of Garfield County,” he said. “It’s recreation, it’s agriculture, oil and gas, it’s domestic water.”
In other meeting news, Commissioner Mike Samson was appointed to Parachute’s Urban Renewal Authority Commission. The BOCC approved a 120-day temporary liquor license for the Parachute/Battlement Mesa
Park and Recreation District dba Callahan’s at Battlement Mesa
Golf Club. They also reviewed calendar items into July, including a work session with the Carbondale trustees on Tuesday, June 18. County Manager Fred Jarman reminded commissioners that the proposed 6,000-acre Spring Valley Ranch development was on the list of items the Town wanted to discuss. But Jankovsky said to take it off the list. “Spring Valley Ranch is none of Carbondale’s business,” he added.
You can watch the entire meeting at the Garfield County website and find more information about the Shoshone water rights at www.keepshoshoneflowing.org