FIRST IN TIME, FIRST IN RIGHT; SHOTGUNS; FIRST WATER RIGHTS
First in time, first in right
• Miner example
• Early farmers examples
Initial Priority Administration
• Theft of water - Gunplay
• Court Involvement
• First water rights established

EXPERIENCE; UNSAVORY PEOPLE; PERSEVERANCE
Description of my experience
• Cow troughs to Glacier water
• Bad actors – Good actors
Choices for more water
• Damming water – Two Forks denial
• No new diversions
• Reallocation of water 

EXPANDING CITIES, CONSUMPTIVE USE, MONEY
Two Forks denial – cities on their own
• Kiowa project – an exchange
• Raising money – the Golden Rule
• Wellington Webb mayoral decision
Defining Consumptive Use
• Buy and dry
• Opposition to buy and dry

RAIDING FARMS, COUNTIES’ SQUABBLE
Round table meetings
Thornton – last major buy and dry
• Water quality – TSS and TDS
• Thornton’s quality deteriorating
• 1041 powers – opposition
Consumptive Use
• Farm consumptive use – statewide
• City Consumptive use - comparison 

FARMS AND MISCONCEPTIONS
The American peoples
Farms/Cities tug of war
• Interconnections
• Stretching water
Intercity competition
• Why farming in Colorado
• Environmental Delays 

HEADGATES, NEW WATER, YUCK FACTOR
Platte River
• Man controlled ditch
• Road trips
Denver Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant
• Aurora’s Prairie Water Projects
• West slope water into the Platte
• Increased flows
• Ownership of fully consumable water 

VIETNAM, DRY-UPS, CHALLENGING THE LAW
Diversion Structures
• Burlington headgate
• Out of sight, out of mind
Speculation
• Land
• Not water
• Homestead Act 

NISP, MORE NISP, WATER FROM THE OTHER SIDE
Tribulations of NISP
• Unintended consequences
• Participants
• Change in plans
Dust Bowl Days
• Formation of Northern Water
• CBT shares

DITCHES, DECREES, COOPS AND CITY EVALUATIONS
Start of ditches and enlargements
• Cooperation
• Multiple decrees
• River commissioner impossible task
City evaluation of water rights
• Apparent winner
• Unit of exchange
• Consumptive use

ACROSS THE DIVIDE, COLORADO RIVER COMPACT
Colorado at the top of the Divide
• Four rivers start here
• Doctrine of prior appropriation creates fears
Compact Clause of the U.S. Constitution
• Colorado River Compact
• Split agreement
• New thinking

GRAND COUNTY BLEEDS, DENVER EXPANDS
Why Grand County was raided
• Three rivers
• Growth in the early days
• The railroad comes to town
Denver Explodes
• Drought exacerbates need
• Ready built tunnel

WATER ECONOMICS 101: OIL AND GAS
Halliburton leading the way
• English versus metric system
• Breakover point in providing water
Birth of a new company
• Water Supply, LLC
• Shame on Division of Water Resources
• Need for changes

LEGAL SOURCES, FEWER SOURCES, AND WATER PRICES
CBT Water
• Once through like other rights
• Huge advantage for buyers
• Benchmark pricing
Other Sources
• Accounting for water in river
• Non-tributaary groundwater

UNSEEN, UNHEARD, GROUNDWATER
Denver Basin Aquifers
• Geologically trapped water
• 300 million acre-feet
• Artesian conditions fade
Explosive Growth
• The fizz is off
• Rush to renewable
• South Metro Water Supply Authority

TAKING A BREAK

PARKER JOINS IN, THORNTON TAKES ACTION
Parker tries to repair an old car
• Rueter-Hess reservoir
• Joins SMWSA and gets surface rights
• Complicated water modeling
Thornton must act
• Long time coming
• Little used State statute to the rescue
• Let’s simplify our rules

TO KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING, YOU GOTTA KNOW WHERE YOU’VE BEEN
Review brings us to present
• Almost endless topics
• Geography rules
Visualizations and Water Buffalos
• Projects accomplished
• Wet water vs paper water

TERRY RANCH, GREELEY, ASR
City of Greeley ASR Project
• Adam Jokerst
• Definition of ASR
Why Greeley purchased
• No permitting nightmare
• Easily scalable to meet future needs
• Most Cost Effective Solution

STRETCHING WATER, STORAGE, AUGMENTATION
Colorado’s water plan
• 400,000 AF of new storage by 2050
• Not enough projects being planned
Augmentation
• Single use water
• Fully consumptive water

TRIP BACK TO EARLY DENVER, EARLY ARRIVALS, WATER ISSUES THEN
Gold rush starts immigration
• Denver begins to grow
• Diverse population
Early Water to Denver
• Denver Water Police
• Scuffles over ditch rights

ASR – THE NEW CHOICE FOR WATER STORAGE
Advantages
• Paucity of permits
• Cheaper to construct
Joel Barber, LRE Water
• Firm yield discussion
• Aquifers Everywhere
• Evaluation techniques

THE LAST OF THE BUFFALOS, GETTING CREATIVE
Will Rogers’ humor and lessons
• Understanding the Rules
• Bob Lembke gets creative
East Cherry Creek bites
• Free market system
• 70 miles to 70s ranch

UNCHARTED WATERS, REDUCTIONS MANDATED FOR COLORADO RIVER
Federal government triggers cuts in water use
• Arizona to be affected first
• Minor cuts to Nevada and Mexico
Potential Impacts to Colorado
• Will affect eastern and western slope
• Colorado getting prepared

LOTS OF CHANGES IN 20 YEARS. SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE Sugar plant closing hurts local farms
• Aurora charts its own water future
• Suspicions among farmers
Aurora does what is best for Aurora
• The self-proclaimed farm protector
• Animosities in the valley

SAN LUIS VALLEY HURTING, MORE PROBLEMS AHEAD
Rio Grande Valley
• The earliest water right in Colorado
• Water excess a thing of the past
Aquifers in the valley
• Promotion leads to overuse
• Present trends
• Same economic realities

CONTINUING SAN LUIS VALLEY, UNIQUE DISTRICT
Rio Grande Water Conservation District
• Marisa Fricke, Sub-district 6 Program Manager
• Farmer driven quasi-state agency
Augmentation for all wells in Valley
• Previously purchased water stored and released
• Augment to prevent state mandated well closures

Add a description A DETOUR TO TEXAS, RIGHT OF CAPTURE
San Antonio and the Edwards Aquifer
• Joe Krier, Ex President of Chamber of Commerce
• Groundwater conservation districts
Setup for intra-state squabbles
• San Antonio raids other aquifers
• Federal control of level based on threatened species here

WATER ENGINEERS, WHAT THEY DO
LRE Water - largest water engineering firm in Colorado
• Cortney Brand, President
• River basin and water supply planning
Water rights evaluations
• Water Court support
• Locating water rights for purchase

Well design and evaluation
• Terry Ranch more complicated than originally thought
• Groundwater planning similar to water resources planning
Water Information Technology – SCADA
• Growth area for water engineers
• Real time planning and reaction
Banks
• Money in, money out
• Water in, water out ion here

MORE ON COMPACTS AND WHY THEY STARTED
Colorado straddles Continental Divide
• Gives rise to four great rivers
• All water arising within our borders is ours
Not so fast
• Supreme Court decisions affect Colorado’s stubbornness
• Start of the Colorado River Compact Commission here

THANKSGIVING, DAY OF APPRECIATION
Lucky to be Americans
• Hard working, honest, friendly
• Work on podcast
Three recent newspaper articles
• Colorado River Compact should be changed
• Yuck factors comes back into play
• Maybe Gross Reservoir not needed

FOREST FIRES’ IMPACTS ON WATER
East Troublesome Fire 200,000 Acres
• Esther Vincent, Environmental Services Director, NCWCD
• Post fire watershed restoration efforts
Impacts and Recovery
• Physical Impacts
• Quality Impacts
• Funding

SOUTH PLATTE HISTORY AND COMPACT
One of the pathways to the Rocky Mountains
• Platte waters shared
• Stories of the past
South Platte Compact
• Only with Nebraska
• Restrictions/Uses by Colorado

MONEY: THE START OF ALL WATER PROJECTS
Funding Sources
• State
• Federal
• Private
Examples
• Dove Creek – grants & loans
• Parker W&S – stimulus money?
• Renewable Water Resources – stimulus money?

PLACEHOLDER: WATER FACTS
Water – the great dissolver or great conveyor
• Conveyance of waste
• Creation of the Clean Water Act
Properties of water
• Seawater vs fresh water
• Silly facts for fun

ANTI-SPECULATION – NEW LEGISLATION NEEDED?
Alexandra Davis – Aurora Water Department
• Water rights as a commodity
• Speculation drives up prices
• Fear of out-of-state sales
Ag water rights sales creates fears
• Issues between selling farmers and local community
• Reasons for the decline of small towns

NEBRASKA USES SOUTH PLATTE RIVER COMPACT TO NIP COLORADO WATER PLANS
Nebraska governor announces big plans
• Wants to assure continued water into Nebraska
• Build diversions inside Colorado to take water
Colorado has plans for more South Platte River water
• What happens now?
• Lawsuits expected

ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW ON ANTI-SPECULATION
James Eklund – water attorney, past director of Colorado Water Conservation Board
• Definition of anti-speculation
• Meant to prevent hoarding of water by appropriation
• Water cannot be shared like air
Anti-speculation is on “bill paper”
• Itch to be scratched is prohibition of outsiders profiting
• Cities trying to monopolize water market
• Dangerous policy

CHANGING LAWS – WHY THE PUSH?
Continuing with James Eklund
• Case Laws
• Encourage Ag in Colorado
• Middle Ground
Cities want no middle men
• Ag producers want an open market
• More important issues should be discussed

MIDDLEMEN LEGAL PURCHASE OF WATER PUSHING PRICES UP? Prices of water
• Farmers 401K plans?
• Supply and demand at work
• Farmers seem to want investors in the market
Water rights trades under the radar
• Transparency needed in water sales
• Farmers can’t afford water for farming
Democracy and capitalism

COMPACT CORRECTION AND THOUGHTS ON SOURCES OF MORE WATER
Relook at the 1923 South Platte River Compact
• Upper and Lower Sections of South Platte River
• Nebraska seems intent on moving forward
Anti-speculation bill’s impact on water prices
• Two views on strengthening laws
• How to create more water supply in a water short area
Talk to your legislator