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Proceedings: Colorado Water Workshop July 21-23, 1991 From the Dome to the Ditches-Translating Environmental Legislation into Practice Presented by Western State College Foundation Western State College of Colorado Information Series No. 68 PROCEEDINGS: COLORADO WATER WORKSHOP JULY 21-23, 1991 Presented by Western State College of Colorado Gunnison, Colorado From the Dome to the Ditches: Translating Environmental Legislation into Practice Colorado Water Resources Research Institute Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523 Robert C. Ward, Director Infonnation Series No. 68 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Opening Remarks Michael Callihan, Lieutenant Governor of Colorado ...................... .. 2 Reauthorization of the Clean Water Act: Implications for Colorado Bennett Raley, Legal Counsel, Senator Hank Brown 4 Melinda Kassen, Attorney, Environmental Defense Fund. .................. .. 13 Questions and Answers. ....................................... .. 21 Integrating Environmental Values Into Western Water Law and Policy: Minor Adjustments or Major Reform? 27 Greg Hobbs, Attorney, Davis, Graham, and Stubbs Marc Reisner, Author, Cadillac Desert and Overtapped Oasis Moderator: Larry McDonald, Natural Resources Law Center, University of Colorado Colorado's Non-point Control Program and Hydrologic Modifications Karen Hamilton, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency " 46 Non-point Pollution and Agriculture in Colorado Dan Parker, Director, Colorado Soil Conservation Board 53 Marketing Salvaged Agricultural Water David Merritt, Engineer, Colorado River Water Conservation Dist 60 Sara Duncan, Legislative Program Officer, Denver Water Board '. ........ .. 62 Moderator: Paul Frohardt, Water Quality Control Commission Debate: Non-point Pollution Control and Hydrologic Modifications 71 Larry Simpson, Manager, Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District Lane Wyatt, Engineer, Northwest Colorado Council of Governments Moderator: Lee Rozaklis, Hydrosphere Public Policy and the Management of Western Water Daniel Kemmis, Mayor, City of Missoula ............................ .. 82 Non-point Pollution Control and the Central District's Sustainable Agriculture Study David True, Central Colorado Water Conservancy District 91 TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Grazing Management and Non-point Control: Questions and Answers Louis Coszalter, Manager, Stirrup Ranch 95 California's Three-Way Water Agreement Group B.J. Miller, Water Resources Engineer, Berkeley, California ................ .. 97 Colorado River Operations: Coping with Changing Public Values Rick Gold, Assistant Regional Director, Bureau of Reclamation, Salt Lake City 110 Glen Canyon Power Generation and Environmental Protection Dave Sabo, Western Area Power Administration, Salt Lake City 116 Endangered Species and River Operations Reed Harris, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 122 Implications of the Re-Evaluation of River Systems Operations Jim Lochhead, Colorado Water Conservation Board 127 Dan Luecke, Environmental Defense Fund 132 Questions and Answers ........................................ .. 136 Mitigation Banking ............................................... .. 143 Charlie Jordan, Denver Water Department Jack Dale, Trout Unlimited Moderator: David Baumgarten, Gunnison County Attorney The Status of Colorado's Wetlands David Cooper, Biologist ....................................... .. 154 Wetland Definitions, Regulations, Implications Ken Jacobson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Grand Junction 160 Wetlands Protection and Agriculture Roger Mitchell, Vice President, Colorado Farm Bureau 165 Wetlands Regulations and Agriculture Steve Chick, Colorado Soil Conservation Service 172 TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Wetlands Protection and Water Development: The Muddy Creek Project Eric Kuhn, Colorado River Water Conservation District ..................... 174 Colorado Department of Natural Resources Report on Wetlands Peter Evans, Colorado Department of Natural Resources ................... .. 178 Wetlands: Questions and Answers ...................................... .. 182 Endangered Fish Recovery Program John Hamill, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 187 Dan Luecke, Environmental Defense Fund 191 Tom Pitts, Pitts & Associates. ................................... .. 194 Questions and Answers ........................................ .. 197 Managing Colorado's Water Resources for Multiple Purposes Ken Salazar, Executive Director, Colorado Department of Natural Resources .. ...... 200 CWRRI PUBLICATIONS LIST INTRODUCTION The 1991 Colorado Water Workshop was held July 21-23, at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado. For 16 years this annual conference has provided a valuable forum for frank discussions of water issues facing Colorado and the arid West. The 1991 Water Workshop focused on the progress and problems created by environmental regulations which affect water use. Thanks to the assistance of the Colorado Water Resources Research Institute, a printed volume of the conference proceedings is available for the second consecutive year. Western State College thanks and commends all sponsors ofthe Colorado Water Workshop for their support of education on water resource issues. --Lucy High Director, Colorado Water Workshop Gunnison, Colorado SPONSORS CITY OF AURORA * CITY OF GUNNISON COLORADO DIVISION OF WILDLIFE COLORADO RIVER WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT DENVER WATER DEPARTMENT NATURAL ENERGY RESOURCES COMPANY SOUTHWESTERN WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT CO-SPONSORS COLORADO DIVISION OF WATER RESOURCES COLORADO RURAL WATER ASSOCIATION COLORADO DIVISION OF PARKS AND RECREATION COLORADO WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH INSTITUTE COORS BREWING COMPANY * FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF GUNNISON GERAGHTY & MILLER * GUNNISON COUNTY * HIGH COUNTRY NEWS NORTHERN COLORADO WATER CONSERVANCY DISTRICT UPPER GUNNISON RIVER WATER CONSERVANCY DISTRICT U.S. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION * U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WHITE AND JANKOWSKI 1 Opening Remarks Michael Callihan Lieutenant Governor of Colorado This is the Sixteenth Annual Water Workshop, which is an impressive accomplishment. I have kind of a two-fold role this morning. One is to welcome you, and I'm going to do that. And I'm not going to give you the standard Chamber of Commerce speech. You all know Gunnison and it's delightful. It's been my home for twenty-one years. After leaving Western State College, (it took me five years to get a four year degree) I decided to stay in the valley and have gone on to serve the people here in a number of capacities, most recently, as Lieutenant Governor. But I do live here, and you know the beauty of the place. And you also know this is a timely and appropriate location for this conference. I don't think anyone who originated the original Water Workshop sixteen years ago had any idea how the future would unfold, or that we would be here in 1991 just twenty-four hours before final arguments are heard a few blocks away in the courthouse on one of the major, really landmark, water cases, here. The final arguments, eight hours worth of them, will begin tomorrow morning. If you are going to get a seat, I suggest you go early. That is going to be a major case. Additionally, Gunnison seems to be at the focal point of some kind of new dynamic creativity or dynamic tension, trying to in a micro way solve and address a lot of the problems that are confronting all of us in the Colorado basin. I think really the issue locally, the issue that you're going to be wrestling with at this conference and in future ones, is the issue of self-determination. Who has the right to decide? I think that is the fundamental core of what the argument's about tomorrow, and what many of your workshops today will be focusing on, as well as what is going to be brought to focus nationally. The last sixty days none of us could have missed the fact that both the National Geographic and most recently Time magazine have featured the Colorado River. If you haven't picked this issue up, I'd recommend you do that. The fact of the matter is control, or the battle for control, or perhaps even the focus for control of the Colorado River is shifting eastward, to the east, to the U. S. Congress. Let me quote Congressman Miller from California, as quoted in Time. "The heart of the West is water. It's about winners and losers, the future and the past. It's about economics. It will be the most important commodity in dictating the future. It's the most serious confrontation the West has engaged in 100 years." What Time neglected to add to that was that Congressman Miller is the chairman of the House committee on the Interior and Insular Affairs, and a very influential person. The focus is shifting, the control of the Colorado River, to the east. And it's interesting that California has its Congressmen very much in positions of influence, particularly Congressman Miller as Chairman of the Interior Committee. I think, then, that we're at a sea change, on the Colorado River. The issue for us is one of self­ determination, much as it is on a very micro level here in Gunnison in regards to Arapahoe County and the issues of Union Park. But our challenge is how those of us who are consumed by the issues of the 2 Colorado River can manage to retain control and determination of that river. And it's going to be very difficult. I've something of a reputation of being a minor predictor of trends, but one that I don't think even requires much skill is the fact that this situation following the decision which will come out of the hearings tomorrow, following the new attitude in Congress,

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