U.S. Water News Online
PUEBLO, Colo. -- The Bureau of Reclamation has unveiled an aggressive schedule to study how a water swap involving Aurora and southern Colorado will affect the Arkansas River basin.
A draft environmental assessment could be finished by April, according to the recently released timeline. A final assessment could be released as early as June or July.
Aurora is seeking a federal contract to store 10,000 acre feet of water in Lake Pueblo and exchange that water for 10,000 acre feet in Twin Lakes and Turquoise reservoirs. The deal allows Aurora, which projects its population will swell to 500,000 in the next 50 years, to more efficiently manage its Arkansas River water rights.
The bureau and Aurora have had temporary contracts in the basin for more than a decade, but the latest plan would provide long-term Fryingpan-Arkansas Project storage space for water transfers out of the basin.
The project was established by Congress decades ago to protect the over-appropriated Arkansas River.
Joe DeLuca, chairman of the Chaffee County Board of Commissioners, said environmental assessments for small county roads take longer than the proposed timetable for the Aurora study.
``I've never seen a study go so fast,'' he said. ``It leads one to conclude that this is a done deal and that they are just going through the motions.''
An environmental assessment is not nearly as comprehensive as an Environmental Impact Statement. The latter can take years to complete, but DeLuca said it would be appropriate in the case of the Aurora water deal.
Greg Felt of the Arkansas River Outfitters Association said he was forced to rely on bureau officials to protect his livelihood.
``We don't get to go head to head with these guys from Aurora over (reclamation) contract exchanges,'' Felt said. ``I have to count on the bureau listening to my input. . . Everything could be lost.''
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