Grand Junction Free Press
May 20, 2009, Sharon Sullivan

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — A public meeting Thursday at city hall will address potential water shortages in Colorado's future.

State water experts project major gaps between supply and demand for Colorado's water as early as 2030.

The transfer of water rights from irrigated agriculture is currently meeting municipal demands, but if future demands are met through agriculture transfers, it would mean a 70 percent reduction in irrigated acres on the Eastern Slope, and 65 percent reduction on the West Slope, according to the Colorado Foundation for Water Education — a statewide nonprofit, non-advocacy organization providing water resource information and education.

The 1922 Compact, and the subsequent Upper Colorado River Basin Compact of 1948, requires a sharing of Colorado River water amongst several western states. Colorado currently uses 2.8 million acre feet of its 3.8 million acre allotment.

The water agreement came from data gathered in wetter-than-average years. It would be impossible for all the compact parties to get what they're expecting at current lower river flows, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

The Mesa County Water Association and the Colorado River District are hosting the annual Mesa County State of the River public meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Grand Junction City Hall Auditorium, 250 N. Fifth St.

Keynote speaker will be Colorado River District General Manager Eric Kuhn, who will talk about water supply challenges facing the Colorado Basin, followed by a discussion by a panel of local water experts.

Panel members include Plateau Valley rancher Carlyle Currier; Dick Proctor, Grand Valley Water Users Association manager; Greg Trainor, Grand Junction's utilities manager; Larry Clever, Ute Water Conservancy District manager; and John Woodling, retired Division of Wildlife fisheries biologist.

The Colorado River is the only basin with significant unallocated water to develop, and one way to fill the gap between need and supply is to divert and store more water, or transfer agricultural water to municipal and industrial use.

That could have drastic consequences for anyone with water rights dating later than 1922, because of the possibility of running out of water before delivering downstream users' allotted amount, said Hannah Holm, Mesa County Water Association coordinator.

The Energy Development Water Needs Assessment — a joint effort between representatives from Colorado's various river basins — found that the amount of water required to develop natural gas, coal and uranium could be met with available supplies.

Oil shale development, however, along with associated power production and population growth, could require up to 400,000 acre feet of water annually, according to the study.

A full-scale oil shale industry could use up the balance of water available under the 1922 Colorado River Compact, Trainor said.

Shell Oil spokesman Tracy Boyd told Headwaters magazine, a publication of the Colorado Foundation for Water Education, that those estimates are high.

At an Energy Conference held in Grand Junction earlier this year, Boyd said no one knows how much water will be necessary for oil shale development.

Reach Sharon Sullivan at ssullivan@gjfreepress.com.