Water supply pipeline ready for EIS review

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

A water supply idea first publicized two years ago--piping water from the Green River in Wyoming to Colorado's thirsty Front Range--crossed two hurdles in November.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed that it has retained a third-party contractor to work on the environmental impact statement for the Regional Watershed Supply Project proposed by Aaron Million, a north Fort Collins resident.

Million also told the North Forty News that he recently signed an agreement with a publicly traded leading manufacturer of pipelines to provide financial capital and professional expertise for the proposed project. Million said the agreement was worth "several million dollars" but declined to disclose the name of the company.

Jim Winters, special assistant in the operations division for the Corps' Omaha District, said the EIS is still in the "early stages." He noted that the Million Conservation Resource Group will have to pay for the studies needed for the EIS.

Million is optimistic that review of the water supply project will go smoothly, which means a time frame of up to three years. He anticipated that the draft EIS will be out for public comment in early 2010 and that the Corps could issue a decision by fall 2011.

Million is relying on the Colorado River Compact that allocated an average of 7.5 million acre-feet of water annually to four upper basin states-- Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. The three lower basin states-- Nevada, Arizona and California--also are allocated 7.5 million acre-feet, and Mexico is allocated 1.5 million acre-feet of water through the compact. An acre-foot is the amount of water required to cover one acre a foot deep.

Those allocations, however, are dependent on the Colorado River Basin producing about 16.5 million acre-feet a year, a concept that has some experts worried because the water estimate was made in 1922. The Flaming Gorge Reservoir straddling the Wyoming-Utah border, which can store up to 3.8 million acre-feet of water, also is key to the compact.

Among the upper basin states, Colorado is supposed to get 51.75 percent of the water produced. Million is convinced that there is plenty of untapped supply for a new 400-mile pipeline to bring that water to the east side of Colorado. The cost is estimated at $2 billion to $3 billion, and it could deliver about 200,000 acre-feet of water, according to Million.

"There are no legal or institutional policy constraints that would prevent this project from moving forward," he said.

If the water reaches eastern Colorado, Million said, it could benefit agriculture and municipalities as far south as Pueblo. "Rather than dewatering river systems on the Front Range, this water supply could actually enhance those flows directly and through exchanges," he said, listing the Poudre, South Platte and Arkansas rivers.

For example, Million said, the pipeline could deliver water to Glade Reservoir if it were built, thereby avoiding the need to take water out of the Poudre River. Million added that he would not weigh in on whether the proposed Glade Reservoir north of LaPorte is a good project.

The Green River, with headwaters on the western side of the Continental Divide in the Wind River Mountain Range, is the chief tributary of the Colorado River. Million's water supply concept comes at a time when residents of the Western Slope are becoming increasingly anxious about the number of proposals to divert even more water from the Colorado River to the growing cities to the east.

Among the upper basin states, Wyoming also has not yet fully developed its share of the basin, which is 14 percent.

Harry LaBonde, deputy state engineer for Wyoming, noted that a number of studies say there is unappropriated water in the Green River basin. "In most years, there appears to be water available to Colorado in the Green River," he said, adding that Wyoming also wants to make sure that it can fully develop its apportionment.

Million has filed for two permits with the State Engineer's Office, LaBonde said, one to divert water out of the Green River and one to use the same pipeline for water use in Wyoming. Both are under review, he said. Wyoming's permitting process does not require an EIS, he said, but the state will be very interested in the outcome of the EIS launched by the Army Corps.

While Million is leaning toward a diversion directly from the Green River before it flows into Flaming Gorge Reservoir, he has also requested a water supply contract from the Bureau of Reclamation to take water out of the reservoir.

From either diversion point, the pipeline would follow the Interstate 80 corridor across Wyoming, possibly fill drought-impacted Lake Hattie west of Laramie, and continue toward Cheyenne. The pipeline would likely travel south between Fort Collins and Greeley, or even east of Greeley to the E-470 corridor and on to Parker, Colorado Springs and Pueblo, according to Jim Eddy, who is working with Million on strategy.

"The intent is to try to use existing utility corridors as much as possible," Eddy said.

The underground pipeline could be 75 to 115 inches in diameter. Where needed, natural gas-fired turbines would provide power for pumping, and there are some locations along the route that could produce hydroelectric power, Eddy said.

"Our goal is to make it as efficient as possible," he said.

If the pipeline gets all required permits, Million envisions a cooperative effort for financing, which might include using the blended bonding authorities of water districts, municipalities and others who want to buy water. Water delivery contracts could also push conservation methods, he said.

Million and Eddy, who have been friends since junior high school, see the Regional Watershed Supply Project as a benefit on numerous fronts - environmental, recreational, agricultural and municipal.

"The critical piece is collaboration," Eddy said. "The opportunities are there."