'THE DEVELOPED RESOURCE'
with links to many of the presentations (highlighted names)
Conference held July 26-28, 2006, at Western State College of Colorado in Gunnison
“We are no longer developing a resource; we are learning to share a developed resource.”
- Justice Greg Hobbs, Closing address at 30th Water Workshop
Justice Hobbs' observation has presented the regional water community of users, providers and protectors with a new set of challenges and opportunities for the 21st century. The 31st Water Workshop tried to broadly explore some of the areas of concern and potential that we are facing over the coming decades.
CLICK HERE FOR SHORT BIOS OF ALL PRESENTERS
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON 7/26: “Water Policy for ‘A Developed Resource': What should we carry forward?”
Is the Water Resource "developed"? Opening remarks by Conference Coordinator George Sibley.
Water has played a major role in every successive stage of the development of the American West since the entrada here of the first Euro-American settlers in the 16 th century C.E. In each stage of that development, water has played different roles, been assigned different values, by people perceiving different sets of challenges and opportunities. These roles and values have been carried along by co-existing cultures and subcultures, in an era that did not pay much attention to the possibility of natural limits, which might impose a need to make choices. Now, as we confront a future of “learning to share a developed resource” in an era of growing demands, this is a good time to look at the roles and values water has had in the West, to see what role or roles, what value or values, might work best as we move into that future.
The first modern-era culture in the American West was Hispanic, developing on the West Coast and up into the Gila and Rio Grande Basins in the 16 th Century. Joseph Gallegos, a Centennial Farm rancher in the San Luis Valley and a Costilla County Commissioner, addressed how water has been used and valued in that culture, and what water-related policies could be carried forward from that culture.
The entrada of Anglo-Americans in the 19 th century led to the development of an “appropriations doctrine” throughout the arid and semi-arid West. David Schorr, law professor and student of the appropriations culture, addressed the role and value of water to these Americans, and what from the appropriations doctrine fits with policies for “a developed resource.”
As the West grew more populated through the late 19 th and 20 th centuries, it also became more urbanized, with governance more centralized around national and regional priorities. A major debate began over water and other resources, as to whether these resources, principally water, were a public good, to be administered politically to achieve “the greatest good for the greatest number for the longest time, or were best treated as commodities to be distributed economically by markets. Rick Cables, United States Forest Service Region Two Forester, and Peter Binney, Director of Utilities for the City of Aurora, made the case for water as a public good—Mr. Cables looking at the historical development of the allocation of resources as a public good, and Mr. Binney on the development of public water allocation, and what from those “public good” ideals fit the new century. Dr. Charles Howe, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, addressed the idea of considering water as a commodity to be distributed by markets, and what works today.
Through the last third of the 20 th century, the consequences of two centuries of careless and aggressive development became manifest in significant deterioration of our whole resource base, especially water and air. Melinda Kassen, Director of Trout Unlimited's Western Water Project, spoke to the emerging role and value of water as the foundation of all life systems.
Justice Greg Hobbs moderated this session, and led the ensuing discussion of potential conflicts and unexplored connections as we confront the realities of developing policy for a “developed resource.”
THURSDAY MORNING 7/27: Do we need a more integrated approach to the “Water-Energy-Food Equation”?
Water, energy and food are the three absolutely essential resources for human society on any level. Earlier advanced cultures in the West like the Ancestral Pueblans succumbed to complex convergences of energy, water and food crises; and today, in our most complex of all cultures, water, energy and food are linked in ways that make changes in any of the three reverberate through the other two.
Today, we know that a) the development of western energy resources will make increasing demands on water resources; b) the re-use and movement against gravity of finite water resources will make increasing demands on energy resources; and c) our food supply is already massively dependent on increasingly expensive energy resources and water resources that will be increasingly diverted from agriculture to urban/energy needs. We want to try to take a more integrated look at what's in store for "the developed resource" in the face of these interrelated challenges.
The Basic Water-Energy-Food Equation
8:30-8:35: Introductory Remarks, Catherine Shrier, Golder Associates, Calgary, Session moderator
8:35-9:00: Basics of the water-energy-food equation, Randy Udall, Community Office for Resource Efficiency, Roaring Fork Valley
9:05-9:25: The water-energy equation in irrigated agriculture, Bill Orendorff, Tri-State G&T, Denver.
9:30-9:45: Conserving water and energy through reuse, Jack Flobeck, AquaPrima, a report from the national reuse conference.
Break
New Energy development in Colorado and its potential impact on water
10:00-10:15: Introductory Remarks, Catherine Shrier, moderator: "Environmental Impact Assessments and Sustainable Development for Energy Resource Projects (An Overview)"
10:20-10:40: Where the Energy is--and where the water is. Chris Schenk, U S Geological Survey
10:45-11:00: The Big Questions that Big Energy development raises about Water Quantity and Quality. Paul Vonguerard, U S Geological Survey (on USGS monitoring programs and predicted needs for monitoring)
11:00-11:15: Colorado's Experience with Oil Shale and the State's Permitting Approach. Russell George, Executive Director, Colorado Department of Natural Resources
11:20-11:45: The Canadian Oil Sands Experience. Sue Lowell, Director of Sustainability Strategy, SunCor, and President, Cumulative Effects Management Assn.
11:45-12:00: Questions & Discussion with all morning presenters.
Lunch
THURSDAY AFTERNOON 7/27: “Science, Management, and Water from the Southern Rockies.”
The Southern Rocky Mountains are the principal source for most of the major rivers of the American Southwest and Lower Midwest—the Platte, Arkansas, Rio Grande and Colorado Rivers: more than 40 million people and thousands of food producers in 19 states, served by hundreds of public utilities, conservancies, ditch companies and other water management organizations, depend to some extent, directly or indirectly, on these rivers and their alluvial basins. The region's water managers--many of whom are facing significant growth--need a high degree of certainty about present and future water supply. But the scientists who have been trying to bring predictability to the region's water supply seem increasingly certain of only one thing: that the water supply may "grow" only in the sense of "growing more erratic" in the future. What are the managers to do? These sessions will explore that tension between political necessity and scientific reality.
1:15--Dr. Robert Ward, Director of CSU's Colorado Water Resource Research Institute for 17 years prior to his recent retirement, will give an experience-based overview on “Water Resources in Colorado : Planning for Uncertainty.” (15-20 min plus 5 min. questions)
1:45-3:00 Panel: “The Science and Politics of Uncertainty in the Southern Rockies ” Panel:
• Chris Landry , Director, Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies: “Is desertification in the Southwest affecting the Southern Rockies snowpack?”
• James Newberry, Grand County Commissioner, and Lurline Curran , Grand County Manager: “When Development runs ahead of Analysis: Living with the Consequences of Major Out-of-Basin Diversions”
• Allan Berryman , Head of Engineering Services, Northern Colorado WCD, on the Platte River Recovery Implementation Plan: “How do you administer a bird call?”
Break
3:15-4:15 Is the Colorado River ‘a Developed Resource'? Three Perspectives:
Don Ostler, Director, Upper Colorado River Commission, "Update on the Colorado River Drought Plan"
Brad Udall, Director, CU-NOAA Western Water Assessment: “An Upper Basin Scientific Perspective on the Colorado River water supply in the 21st Century.”
Kay Brothers , Deputy Gen. Manager, Operations and Engineering, Southern Nevada Water Authority: “Developing a Water Supply for a Growing Desert City.”
4:30 in the Cottonwood Room, College Union:
Bill Ritter, Democrat candidate for governor, will discuss water issues and answer questions, with Richard Bratton, Gunnison attorney and member of Rep. Bob Beauprez's water committee representing the Repbulican perspective. If you have water questions you would like them to consider in advance, please email them to water@western.edu.
THURSDAY EVENING: Banquet, followed by Dr. Patricia Limerick, University of Colorado, renowned western historian, who will examine the implications and consequences of our “Suddenly More Finite West.”
FRIDAY JULY 28
8:30-8:50 Zebulon Pike's Epic Journey at 200 years: When the Cultural Compass of the Southern Rockies started to swing south to east. Ed Quillen, Denver Post columnist, Colorado Central publisher, regional historian and curmudgeon.
FRIDAY MORNING 7/28 MAIN SESSION: 1177 and “Educating the Democracy”
170-plus years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville observed in Democracy in America: "The first duty imposed on those who now direct society is to educate the democracy...to replace its blind instincts with knowledge of its true interests...to adapt government to the needs of time and place, and to modify it as men and circumstances require...." That is probably as good a description as any, for where we are now with the “ Colorado Water for the 21st Century Act”--last year's HB 05-1177, possibly the state's most democratic measure in water allocation since the appropriation doctrine went into the constitution. With a year of Roundtable meetings behind us, and an Inter-basin Compact Charter laying out a negotiating process, we are moving into the process of “educating the democracy” to responsibly take on the tasks of allocating and reallocating our “developed resource.”
9:00-9:10 Introduction to Session. Moderators will be Rep. Kathleen Curry (D), 61st Dist., Colorado House, and Sen. Lewis Entz (R), Dist. 5, Colorado Senate.
9:15-10:00 Concurrent Sessions on Efforts around the Southern Rockies to “Educate the Democracy”
- Grand Valley Wise Water Use Council. Leigh Fortson , CSU Cooperative Extension, Dan Crabtree , Bureau of Reclamation, Rita Crumpton , Orchard Mesa Irrigation Dist., Greg Trainor , Grand Junction Utilities and Drought Response Information Program.
- Educating the Watershed. Teresa Steely , North Fork River Improvement Association, Rio De La Vista , various Upper Rio Grande watershed efforts, Jeff Crane, Colorado Watershed Assembly.
- Educating the Democracy:
Understanding Beliefs and Values in order to Move from Debate to Dialogue.
MaryLou Smith , Aqua Engineering, Ft. Collins, and Dr. Robert Ward, retired Director, Colorado Water Resource Research Institute, CSU.
- The Colorado Foundation for Water Education and the IBCC Education program. Don Glaser, Exec. Director, CFWE, and Rita Crumpton, IBCC Education Committee.
Break
10:15-11:00 Report on the State of the “ Colorado Water for the 21 st Century Act” and its Implementation. Russell George , Executive Director, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, will respond to presentations from Jeris Danielson, Arkansas Roundtable (Eastern Plains), Ray Waterman, Metro Roundtable, and Bill Trampe (invited), Gunnison Basin Roundtable, and speak about upcoming plans for the future.
11:00-12:00 Breakout discussion groups on the “last waterholes” (such as possible unappropriated Colorado River water)—Keeping in mind what's been said about “the water-energy-food equation,” scientific prognoses for the Southern Rockies, and other considerations, what should we try to do with that water? What principles, precepts and guidelines should we apply as we move into management of "a developed resource"? Members of the Colorado Foundation for Water Education "Water Leaders" class will facilitate the discussion groups.
12:00 Get lunch and return to room for reports from breakout groups.
1:00 A Few Last Words from the WW Director, Introduction of new Director, Peter Lavigne, and Adjournment.