Eastern Plains irrigators facing dire threat

By Mike Thoren Guest columnist	Wednesday, April 23, 2008 11:47 AM MDT

Improved grain markets make this a period of greater prosperity for many families and communities on the Colorado eastern plains. These circumstances may be very short lived, however, if ground water wells in the Northern High Plains designated ground water basin are forced to shut down, as 10 owners of 650 irrigated acres in the Pioneer Irrigation District, east of Wray, contend is necessary to provide them with more summer surface water diversions through the Pioneer Ditch.

The Pioneer landowners filed a lawsuit in 2005, claiming that the Colorado Ground Water Commission must redraw boundaries of the ground water basin to exclude hundreds of wells, and to require pumping of those wells to be regulated and curtailed as junior to Pioneer’s surface diversions from the Republican River. The lawsuit is scheduled for trial in June 2008 in Wray. Pioneer claims that the “new boundary” for the designated basin “will have to be greater than 15 miles out from the river” and that all wells within that new boundary should be shut down. Much public concern appears to exist with the potential impacts to well users of the state of Colorado’s efforts concerning the Republican River Compact. However, the same level of attention and concern by those whose interests are directly at stake, does not appear to be focused on the entirely separate threat posed by the actions of the Pioneer landowners — a threat with the same potential for disastrous consequences as the curtailment of wells for Compact purposes.

Information related to Pioneer’s claims that may not be well known includes the following:

1. A “15 mile” boundary would shut down nearly 1,000 wells, and would include over 130,000 irrigated acres. Municipal wells for Wray and Eckley would be shut down, too. Yuma’s wells would be threatened with curtailment as well, if the boundary was set at anything greater than 15 miles. Depending on how much “greater than 15 miles” the boundary is drawn, if the Pioneer land owners are successful, many other wells could be impacted.

2. The Pioneer landowners only irrigate about 650 acres.

3. The Pioneer landowners’ claim that they don’t have enough irrigation water in June, July and August (who does in Colorado?), is identical to conditions that existed long before substantial well pumping occurred in the basin. A 1940 U.S. Bureau of Reclamation water evaluation report states, “field investigations and hydrographs of the Pioneer Canal diversions indicate that this canal and other ditches junior to it in priority suffer severe water shortages in June, July, and August of each year... .”

4. There are two separate and independent forces at work threatening the continued operation of wells in the Republican River Basin. They are:

The Pioneer litigation described above, which puts at risk many of the high capacity irrigation wells in the Northern High Plains Designated Ground Water Basin. This battle is being fought in the Colorado Ground Water Commission. The Colorado Division of Wildlife has teamed up with Pioneer landowners to force wells to shut down in an effort to get more water for the DOW fish hatchery on Chief Creek.

Colorado has used more than its allocation under the Republican River Compact based on the calculations agreed to by Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas in the 2004 settlement of litigation filed by Kansas. Colorado is required to take steps to return to compliance. The augmentation pipeline using water from Cure wells may or may not solve this problem. Further curtailment of wells is also a possibility.

The local communities and well users potentially impacted by Pioneer’s lawsuit need to actively come together, and encourage and support further efforts by local ground water management districts, and Colorado, to resist the potentially devastating outcome sought by Pioneer landowners. Turning a blind eye to the situation, or hoping someone else will protect your interests, is not a prudent path to take.

Mike Thoren is CEO and president of Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding LLC.