L E T T E R S

July 6, 2007

Governor Bill Ritter
200 E Colfax Ave # 136
Denver, CO 80203-1776

RE: South Platte River

Dear Governor Ritter:

Thank you for being so cordial to me while you were on horseback with Senator Ken Salazar at the Greeley Stampede Parade on the 4th of July.

From your comment, I sensed that you may feel that the State’s options regarding better allocation of water under our laws of prior appropriation may be limited. I do not see it that way and I believe that the testimony your Task Force is getting, including mine, that the picture is brighter.

You may not know that I am a water engineer, an irrigated farmer and formally was in charge of national ground and surface water quality policy under two federal laws I enforced. I have been a practitioner for 30 years in all manner of studies, public works projects and clean-up of contaminated groundwater – all involving hydrology and hydrogeology.

Engineers see things very differently than attorneys – for good reason. Engineers know that if you manage water as a hydraulic unit, you can achieve better water allocation and use, even under the constraints of our laws.

The Legislature should enact legislation that returns to the State Water Engineer the authority to make decisions on augmentation plans of all types, particularly groundwater wells. The “administrative flexibility” inherent in the Water Engineer’s office that cannot be accommodated in the courts is a step towards optimization of water management.

Second, there seems to be evidence that the recovery rate of the groundwater levels in the South Platte River alluvium is great – no evidence of overall drawdown from man’s use as is experienced, for example, in the closed aquifer underlying Phoenix and Maricopa County or the Ogallala Aquifer.

Reverse groundwater gradients resulting from local drawdown from over pumping of wells too close to the river itself can “drain” the river. There are probably many wells that because of their spatial location relative to the river, the nature of their use (late irrigation of produce to make it more presentable at market, etc.) and the underlying geology have no affect whatsoever on the drawdown of water levels in the South Platte River itself.

If confirmed, the implications of this and our ability to monitor and model this phenomenon will result in placement and use of wells that do not need augmentation plans. Some will definitely have to be shut down as a matter of cost effectiveness.

Finally, a third option that should be evaluated is the creation of a single “public water utility” entity in the lower South Platte whose mission would be to buy private water rights, water works, and create conservation-type easements and keep the water on the land and invest in other improvements and management practices to optimize water management. This creates a win-win-win scenario.

For example, ancillary benefit will be maintaining property taxes, land values and giving Front Range urban communities a “single entity” to negotiate for lease of irrigated water rather than outright purchase to meet growth in municipal demand through “rotational fallowing”. Finally, ditch companies, rural farm cooperatives and family farms will be able to pool their resources through the new water utility to develop the expertise to negotiate with Front Range communities and federal agencies for minimum stream flow maintenance under the Endangered Species Act and Colorado’s Water Quality Standards, in conducting environmental studies and seeking federal grants for water storage projects and the like.

I have a particular expertise and experience in the geopolitics of obtaining federal grants for water storage projects. I testified to this summarily in Greeley last week and look forward to the opportunity of discussing my views at the appropriate time.

I hope that in time I will earn your trust and confidence as an ordinary man who tries in his own way to serve the public good. I look forward to getting to know your wife Jeannie on Tuesday night in Windsor.

Sincerely yours,

Frederic A. Eidsness
970 402-1536

Your July 8th editorial is dead wrong, there are breakthrough actions that can make the limited water resource go further under existing law. First, any engineer will tell you that if you manage the hydrologic unit rather than lawyer it, you can optimize our water resources. First, to avoid the loss of 100 thousand acres of irrigated land in the Lower South Platte by 20301, urban communities must enact more restrictive ordinance limiting lawns for future growth.

Second, grant the State Water Engineer the ability to determine augmentation plans for wells and other uses where there is administrative flexibility – such authority was mistakenly given to the courts in 2003 where there is no room for science.

Third, there is a wealth of evidence that shows that we are not depleting the groundwater in the South Platte alluvium – the groundwater recovery rate is swift. Wells should be permitted to operate without augmentation plans where they will not draw down the water levels in the river thus interfering with senior downstream rights. This is classic engineering management.

Finally, establish a Lower South Platte River Utility that can buy and lease-back water to farmers using conservation-type easements to keep it on the land. This protects land values, property taxes and provides a single source for urban communities to “lease” water rights under rotational fallowing. This alone would eliminate the need for these communities to cherry pick senior water rights from family farms.

Eric Eidsness
Water engineer, former chief of Reagan Administration policy on water quality and presumptive candidate for the Democratic nomination for CD-4 2008
337 Edwards Street
Fort Collins, Co 80524
970 402-1536