Here's an in-depth look at water exchanges under Colorado water law from the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article, "Two new exchange decrees are being sought by Colorado Springs; one by Aurora with its lease partner, the Highline Canal; and two by the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District. Pueblo is still deciding whether it will jump into this round with its own filing as well. Quantifying exchanges is a difficult task, especially when water gets moved through contracts and trades as well as by physical exchanges on the river. The state tracks the daily movement of water along the river, but cannot account for every trade within reservoirs without the help of the cities, said Water Division 2 Engineer Steve Witte...
"Water can be moved from its historic point of diversion or storage in several ways:
"River or reservoir exchange - A river exchange stores water out of priority, and replaces it with some other source of water, including sewer flows, lawn or irrigation flows or reservoir releases. No one else's water rights can be injured, so exchanges can be made only when there are sufficient flows in the river. Such exchanges must take transit loss (water soaked up by stream banks) and evaporation into consideration.
"Alternate point of diversion - Water is stored in priority, but its function is the same as an exchange. Only the consumptive use is stored, with return flows left in the river.
"Contract or paper exchange - Two parties agree to move water from one reservoir to another. When the water moves, it retains its 'label of water' or decrees on how it will be used.
"Trades - Trades must be used according to the account they are stored in. In both paper exchanges and trades, no water actually flows in the river, so there is no transit loss. However, there may be monetary fees and fees for storage are taken into account."
Read the whole article before it scrolls behind the Chieftain paywall - lots of good detail.
Here's a short article about predicting water quality from increased water exchanges, from the Pueblo Chieftain. They write, "Future exchanges in the Arkansas River could increase salinity in the river by as much as 11 percent if they are fully used, according to a 1999 study. Prior to 1998, the average rate of exchange on the river was about 30 cubic feet per second, but under decreed exchanges by Colorado Springs and Aurora, along with 24,000 additional acre-feet of storage at Lake Pueblo, it could increase to 180 cfs, according to a 1999 study by Michael Lewis of the U.S. Geological Survey. The study does not take into account future exchanges from Aurora's 1999 purchase of Rocky Ford Ditch Rights, Pueblo's full use of its decreed rights or current exchange cases, including Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District exchanges for the Arkansas Valley Conduit. The exchanges would cover development of Colorado Springs' Southern Delivery System, a plan to build a 78 million gallon per day pipeline from Pueblo Dam. It also does not measure limitations to exchanges made under post-1999 agreements in water court or through intergovernmental agreements."
Category: Colorado Water
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