Judge ruling still pending



By RUTH HEIDE

ALAMOSA — The stopwatch is ticking on the San Luis Valley’s first groundwater self-management efforts.

With State Engineer Dick Wolfe’s decision to move forward with well rules and regulations this year, groundwater management sub-district organizers are feeling the urgency to get the sub-districts up and running. Those participating in water management sub-districts will have more leeway under state’s regulations.

“The basis for the rules and regulations is going to be that basically you have to be in a sub-district or have an augmentation plan or your wells will be shut off,” said Craig Cotten, Division of Water Resources Division III.

Although the court has approved the Valley’s first water management sub-district, located in the closed basin area of the Valley, approval of the sub-district’s management plan is still pending with the court. Other sub-districts throughout the Valley are on hold as their organizers wait to see what happens with the first water management sub-district.

Rio Grande Water Conservation District (RGWCD) Attorney David Robbins anticipated District/Water Judge O. John Kuenhold would rule on the management plan by the end of this month but did not have any definite indication of when that ruling would come down. “I am hopeful,” he said. Kuenhold held a trial last fall regarding the plan and heard closing arguments in December.

“It’s obviously a very complicated case for him,” Robbins said. “There are some pretty diametrically opposed views how the sub-district can and should function ... He understands as well as anyone that the other sub-districts are standing in the wings waiting until there is a clear legal standard that they are going to be able to identify and comply with. Hopefully we will hear from him soon.”

With Wolfe’s announcement that he hoped to have well rules in place by the end of May, sub-district organizers are scrambling to show significant progress by that time to avoid falling under the heavy handedness of state regulations.

“A lot of us are antsy about the fact that well regulation is moving forward and everything but Sub-district 1 is kind of waiting ... We are kind of back to chickens and eggs,” said RGWCD Board President Ray Wright.

Robbins said fellow attorney Ingrid Barrier has put in a significant amount of time drafting documents for subsequent sub-districts so they will be ready to move quickly once Judge Kuenhold’s ruling is announced.

Meanwhile, the delay in getting the first sub-district operational (and able to collect fees to support itself) is creating a financial strain on the sub-district’s sponsoring organization, the Rio Grande Water Conservation District.

District Manager Steve Vandiver told his board this week that so far the sub-district efforts have cost the water district more than half a million dollars in engineering and legal fees as well as district staff time and other expenses. This represents a six-year effort so far, he explained.

Once sub-districts are operational they will begin reimbursing their sponsoring water district for some of those costs, but that will not occur for at least another year.

Vandiver said while a court decision is still pending on the sub-district management plan, progress is moving forward on a CREP (Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program) application that will help fund the sub-district. Vandiver said a pre-submission of the CREP application is currently drawing comments from Washington.

Cotten reported on the status of well rules/regulations to the Rio Grande Water Conservation District Board on Tuesday. He said Wolfe is setting up an advisory committee that will probably number at least 40 people to help the state engineer with some of the aspects of the regulations such as irrigation season timelines. “That will be a big topic of discussion I am sure with the group,” Cotten said, “whether we want to have a definite irrigation season, for instance April 1 to November 1, or if it should be different according to different years. If we have a warm year in the fall, should we extend that season a little bit.”

Cotten said another topic for the advisory group will be the relationship of the Division of Water Resources to sub-districts and what guidelines will be set up to ensure the sub-districts are effective in mitigating depletions to surface water rights.

Wolfe has invited various organizations such as governmental and water groups to nominate representatives to the advisory committee. Cotten said the state has received a good response to those invitations so far. Nominations are supposed to be submitted to the state by January 23, and Wolfe would like to start meeting with the advisory group as early as the end of January. Wolfe has stated he would like to promulgate well rules/regulations by the end of May.

The RGWCD board nominated Vandiver as its representative to the advisory committee but will also ask that Wright and board member Lewis Entz be considered to serve on the advisory committee in some capacity. Entz has also asked Alamosa county commissioners to be considered as Alamosa County’s representative to the committee.

Wolfe will ultimately decide who sits on the committee.