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| 2/2/2010 6:00:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Water wars fill Capitol
Legislators consider basin of origin, river rafting, irrigation
Joe Hanel
Journal Denver Bureau
DENVER - Lawyers, rafts and money.
Those are the debates in store for Colorado's water community this year at the Legislature.
A Pueblo Democrat wants to make sure that water imports from wet basins to dry ones don't harm people in the original basin. And a Gunnison representative wants to make sure rafting guides can float the state's rivers, no matter who owns the riverbank.
Both bills, though, could be overshadowed by the money crunch, which could hit irrigators and water users just as hard as the rest of the state.
Water import bill returns
Rep. Sal Pace, D-Pueblo, is the latest lawmaker to attempt a "basin of origin" bill to protect wet areas from water transfers to the Front Range.
Congressman John Salazar tried unsuccessfully to pass a similar bill when he was in the Legislature in 2004.
"I think the emotions on the bill go from deeply hating it to just sort of hating it," Pace said this week at the Colorado Water Congress's convention.
Pace's House Bill 1159 would apply to water imports of more than 1,000 acre-feet - enough for a few thousand suburban families. Anyone who wanted to import water would have to strike a "mitigation agreement" with the water conservancy district in the wet basin.
The idea would put the water importer at a disadvantage because the water district has no incentive to negotiate, said Rod Kuharich, head of the South Metro Water Supply Authority. Kuharich's district serves Douglas County, and it is scouring the state for water supplies.
"I think it's just another hurdle - adding more cost to providing water service," Kuharich said.
The Southwestern Water Conservation District hasn't taken a position on HB 1159, said vice president Steve Fearn. But the district, which serves the area from Pagosa Springs to the Dolores River, has opposed past bills.
Water is commonly transferred among Southwest Colorado's many river basins. That's why the conservation district opposed a previous bill.
"It didn't really fit what was going on in Southwest Colorado," Fearn said.
The Water Congress's legislative committee voted overwhelmingly to oppose the bill earlier this year. The bill is scheduled for its first hearing Wednesday in the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.
Rafting fight hits Capitol
A land dispute in Gunnison has brought river rafters to the Legislature to protect their industry.
Rep. Kathleen Curry, and unaffiliated legislator from Gunnison, has introduced HB 1188 to allow river rafters to touch the riverbank or portage around hazards, even if the land is private property.
Colorado courts have ruled that the rivers, which belong to the public, are open to boating, as long as boaters don't touch the ground or the riverbed on private property.
Curry's bill would slightly expand the rights of boaters. She introduced it after a landowner near Gunnison moved to block rafting companies from the Taylor River, which flows through his land.
The bill is scheduled for its first hearing Monday in the House Judiciary Committee.
Irrigation tax
By far more people will be affected by money issues - both budget cuts and increased taxes planned by the Legislature.
To close the budget gap, the Legislature has taken $107 million out of the state's two main bank accounts that pay for water projects and loans, said Jennifer Gimbel, director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
She expects to have $20 million left this year, but more than half is already committed in loans.
The budget also would cut jobs for water commissioners, who do the on-the-ground work of delivering water rights. Curry and other lawmakers have a bill to use gas and oil taxes to preserve those jobs.
Curry warned farmers about another bill that would tax them for the electricity used to run irrigation sprinklers. Right now, they don't have to pay sales tax on that electricity. HB 1190 would raise $57 million for the state by suspending that exemption, which also applies to industrial manufacturers.
Former Republican Sen. Lewis Entz of Hooper urged Curry to fight for the irrigation tax credit.
"It's a tax. I tell you, it's unconstitutional, and you're going to kneecap those farmers in the San Luis Valley," Entz said.
Curry said she opposed the bill, but she needs to find an alternative.
"I have to be a constructive member of the Legislature and come up with another $56 million to balance the budget," Curry said.
Reach Joe Hanel at joeh@cortezjournal.com.
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