Western State College of Colorado

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DUANE VANDENBUSCHE: WATER WORKSHOP- JULY 27, 2005

30 yeas ago when the water workshop was started at Western State College water was, as it had been for 100 years, the most important issue in Colorado and the West. It was then great to be in the company of such great minds on water as Glenn Saunders and Wayne Aspinall.

With the same amount of water today and a population that exceeds 4 million in Colorado, 2 ½ million in Phoenix and over a million in Las Vegas it is not just an important issue today it is a critical issue.

Stephen Long, Zebulon Pike, John Wesley Powell and Walter Prescott Webb early declared the West to be an arid land, but few have ever listened.

Los Angeles today has a local water supply capable of supporting about 10% of its people. Las Vegas , Phoenix , and Tucson have much less. All have an impact on Colorado .

Here are some realities about water in Colorado and the West today:

1) The Western Slope of Colorado has about 10% of the population of the state, 33% of the land area and 70% of the water.

2) John Love, ex-governor of Colorado 's famous comment: "Water runs uphill towards money."

3) Nothing but great amounts of money spent, much time wasted, many water lawyers made rich and little gained has come from water litigation between Western states such as in cases like Kansas v. Colorado - 1907, Wyoming v. Colorado 1922, and the fairly recent fight between Kansas and Colorado involving the Arkansas River .

4) The Colorado River Compact of 1922 which estimated that the Colorado River produced an average of 20 million acre feet of water a year was wrong. The actual amount produced since 1922 has been 13.7 million.

5) Few people in the West and in Colorado accept that we live in a near desert - water is cheap, blue grass lawns continue and very little conservation exists, while the population continues to rise dramatically.

6) Attempts to divert Western Slope water to eastern Colorado by Denver , Colorado Springs and the Arkansas Valley have been ongoing for over 100 years and show no signs of abatement today.

7) Colorado and the West have one of the highest population growth rates in the nation and yet there is a finite amount of water. What is the inevitable final result?

8) Western Colorado needs its water for its future - recreation, industry, agriculture, protection of the environment and our future is every bit as important as that of the Front Range .

9) The "Great Eastward Movement" is only about 25 years away as water problems multiply. With regard to water, I quote President Gerald Ford who once said: "Education is expensive but ignorance costs a lot more."

10) Once again some legislators in Colorado want to talk about water and pass bills. Western Colorado regards much of this as a harbinger for water diversion. We believe that the Front Range accepts the premise that "What's mine is mine, and what's yours in negotiable."

11) The only thing that will stop growth and ensuing greater use of water is economics. When water bills get to a certain level (and they are incredibly low now), then population will stop moving into an arid region. (Aspen home example)

12) The problems of water in Colorado and the West are enormous and must be solved sooner rather than later. Men and women of vision and fairness representing every section of the state and especially all water users of the state must get together and act.