A plan to cover water shortages on the Crystal River lists four reservoirs as sources for the water, two of which would be newly constructed.
In December, the Rifle-based West Divide Water Conservancy District filed an application with the Division 5 water court for the Crystal River augmentation plan, which describes releasing water from Ruedi Reservoir, Beaver Lake, Rapid Creek Pond and Treasure Mountain Pond to meet downstream needs.
Rapid Creek Pond would be constructed on property near Marble and owned by Larry Darien and would hold 20 acre-feet. The Treasure Mountain Pond would be constructed on property owned by Treasure Mountain Ranch and near the ghost town of Crystal and hold 4 acre-feet from seeps, springs and surface flows tributary to the South Fork of the Crystal River.
“I think we have a good plan to keep as much water in the Crystal River basin as possible while also keeping senior water rights owners whole and preventing injury,” said Ed Olszewski, an attorney for West Divide.
This backup water-supply plan is needed to cover water shortages from downstream irrigators with senior water rights. During the summer of 2018, the Ella Ditch, which irrigates hayfields south of Carbondale, placed the first-ever call by an agricultural water user on the Crystal. That meant that upstream water users with water rights younger than the Ella Ditch’s 1902 right were targeted to be shut off so that the Ella could receive its full amount. Under Colorado’s system of water law known as prior appropriation, those with the oldest water rights have first use of the river.
The problem is that some of those upstream junior water rights that were slated for shut off were residential subdivisions that use wells to supply their homes. Most junior water rights holders have what is known as an augmentation plan, which allows them to continue using water during a call by releasing water from a backup source, such as those reservoirs and ponds included in the application. Some homes in the Crystal River Valley lack this type of plan.
Officials at the Division of Water Resources have said they would not turn off domestic water users as long as the subdivisions were working on a plan for a backup supply.
But the proposed augmentation plan covers only a portion of the total replacement water needs in the Crystal. Studies by West Divide and the Colorado River Water Conservation District found that about 113 acre-feet were needed to cover 90 structures, most of them wells. The plan would cover an initial 17 structures with about 68 acre-feet.
The plan would also cover an instream flow call, which state officials place when flows dip below the minimum needed to maintain the health of the stream.
But to cover all of the water shortages, they would need to find more reservoir locations — a challenge in the steep, narrow valley.
“This plan is a start,” Olszewski said. “It doesn’t cover every need in the Crystal River Valley. To do that, we’ll have to find more storage. So we’re starting the process with the available water that we have, but the program needs to evolve to cover everything.”
There has not been another call by an agricultural water user on the Crystal since 2018, despite a handful of dry years.
Pitkin County still evaluating
The reservoirs proposed in the augmentation plan would not be on the main channel of the Crystal. West Divide representatives have said they are not interested in a large storage project and are committed to maintaining the free-flowing nature of one of Colorado’s last undammed rivers. But Pitkin County officials in the past have worried that any storage in the upper valley could jeopardize a federal Wild & Scenic designation, something the county has supported for years.
A Wild & Scenic designation would prohibit future dams or out-of-basin diversions. Workgroups are still exploring different options for protecting the Crystal.
Pitkin County is in the process of evaluating the application, according to county Deputy Attorney Anne Marie McPhee. The proposal does not include an aquifer-recharge project on the Janeway property adjacent to the river that environmental group American Rivers studied.
The proposed Rapid Creek Pond on Darien’s property would also be able to be used for fish, wildlife, aesthetics and fire protection. According to the application, West Divide is still in negotiations with Darien about constructing the pond.
West Divide is also in negotiations with Treasure Mountain Ranch over use of the proposed pond. Treasure Mountain Ranch filed its own water court application for the pond in July, saying it would be used for recreation, fish and fire protection in addition to augmentation.
Darien said the Crystal can probably expect to see more calls associated with water shortages in the future, especially with this winter’s dismal snowpack.
“It’s not right for (homes) to not have water — that’s the crux of the whole thing,” Darien said. “You’ve got to have augmentation water for those people. If you go to your kitchen sink and you have no water, that’s kind of a big deal.”
Olszewski said most of the replacement water for a local call would come from about 22 acre-feet that West Divide has in Beaver Lake. West Divide also owns water in Ruedi Reservoir, on the Fryingpan River, which would be used to satisfy a Cameo Call. This call is placed nearly every summer by irrigators on the Colorado River near Grand Junction, and the subdivisions must replace their water used during a Cameo call as well.
Interested parties have until Feb. 28 to file statements of opposition to West Divide’s augmentation-plan application in water court.