Colorado entrepreneur says Cowboy State could get share of flows to Front Range
JARED MILLER Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Thursday, November 1, 2007 12:00 am
CHEYENNE -- The Colorado entrepreneur who wants to pipe water from Wyoming's Green River to the booming Colorado Front Range says a portion of the flow may be available for use in the Cowboy State.
Aaron Million, who spoke at the Wyoming Water Association annual meeting in Cheyenne Wednesday, said it might be possible to provide 40,000 to 45,000 acre feet of water annually to towns, agricultural operations and power plants inside Wyoming.
Laramie and Cheyenne officials have already signaled interest in the flows.
"If users in Wyoming have an interest in delivering Wyoming water to them, we may be able accomplish that," Million said in a telephone interview after his talk.
Million, who studied resource economics at Colorado State University, has been working for about three years to pipe unclaimed water from the Green River to the Front Range along major highway routes, including Interstate 80 in southern Wyoming.
The 400-mile, $3 billion pipeline project is based on the theory that because the Green River loops briefly into Colorado from Utah, it's a legal tributary of the Colorado River mainstem, and Colorado can lay claim to the roughly 165,000 to 240,000 acre feet that Million's project would deliver annually.
An acre foot is roughly the amount of water consumed annually by one or two families.
Growth along the Front Range has created a tug-of-war over scarce local water sources among growing communities and eastern Colorado farmers.
Supporters claim the privately funded pipeline could satisfy the needs of communities as far south as Pueblo for decades to come.
The most conservative estimates predict it would take five years to permit and build the pipeline once it overcomes significant political and logistical hurdles.
In the meantime, Million said representatives of Wyoming ag operations, municipalities and power plants have approached him about gaining access to some of the water.
He said the pipeline could be a source of relief for communities and businesses across southeastern Wyoming, which are struggling through their seventh year of drought.
"This is a Colorado project, but this project has always been about greater good and trying to do some greater good along the route and in Colorado," Million said.
Michael Purcell, director of the Wyoming Water Development Commission, said Cheyenne and Laramie city officials have inquired about access to the water, and he's advised them to monitor the project.
"But I think the project has a long way to go in terms of politics in Colorado, and until those issues are ironed out, I don't see the state of Wyoming wishing to participate," Purcell said.
Laramie Public Works Director Terry Haugen said he plans to keep an eye on Million's progress.
Laramie gets its water from the Laramie River, which nearly ran dry in 2002, and the Casper Aquifer, which seems to be shrinking.
"I think any time you've got another source of water that's going to be as close in proximity as this project ism it's something that we need to keep on top of and see if it's to the benefit of the citizens to take advantage of that," Haugen said.
Former Wyoming State Engineer Jeff Fassett, who works for Million as a consultant, has said that the Green River's Flaming Gorge Reservoir can hold up to 3.8 million acre feet of water, and that the loss of water to the pipeline wouldn't hurt Wyoming irrigators or other water users.
Still, some have expressed skepticism about the project in the past, including Gov. Dave Freudenthal and former Wyoming Water Development Commission Director Mike Besson, who questioned whether Colorado has legal rights to the amount of water envisioned in the plan.
Reach capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or at jared.miller@casperstartribune.net.