Water rights settlement helps protect the San Miguel River
Sheep Mountain Alliance and San Miguel County settled a case with San Miguel Water Conservancy District to protect against potential development projects
By Sophie Stuber, Planet Contributor
Sheep Mountain Alliance and San Miguel County recently settled a water rights case filed by the San Miguel Water Conservancy District (SMWCD) for a water project that could have diverted up to 675 cubic feet per second (c.f.s.) of water from the San Miguel River and its tributaries. Although the project was never constructed, the plan included three reservoirs, one of which would have flooded parts of Placerville and Highway 145.
With the settlement, most of the water rights will be canceled to protect the health of the San Miguel River, except a right for 9,000 acre-feet of the Saltado Reservoir water right and one for 5 c.f.s. in the San Miguel River. A small amount of the water rights will be able to be used in the future by the Town of Norwood and Wrights Mesa.
San Miguel County and Sheep Mountain Alliance joined the case as opposers to the project more than six years ago. The opposition primarily stemmed from the original proposal to create a dam on the main stream of the San Miguel River and flood part of Placerville to use as a water storage area, according to Mike Bordogna, San Miguel County manager.
“We all know that the growth and importance of Placerville and the cost of relocating people and roads and everything would have made this project highly infeasible,” Bordogna told the Daily Planet.
Known as the San Miguel Project, the plan was part of the 1956 Colorado River Storage Project and gave conditional water rights to the SMWCD, which was required to show the water court every six years that they were working to develop the projects intended for these water rights. If a project had been developed, the water rights would have become absolute.
“In water law, opposer doesn’t even necessarily mean that you oppose a project, but rather that the applicant has to satisfy issues with you so as not to have to go to a trial,” Bordogna said.
Since the San Miguel Project was not being actively developed, Sheep Mountain Alliance and San Miguel County collaborated with SMWCD to negotiate the future of these water rights.
“On behalf of the SMWCD board, we are grateful to San Miguel County for intervening in this case to ensure the residents of Wrights Mesa were represented and their future water needs were considered,” April Montgomery, president of SMWCD, said in a statement. “We feel that this settlement sets a good precedent for cooperation moving forward.”
Sheep Mountain Alliance had expressed concerns over the project’s potential effects on the San Miguel River. The project could have impacted seasonal flow patterns like spring run-off and riparian habitats. Three critical fish species in the San Miguel River could be at risk.
“This will help sustain the health and the flow of the San Miguel River during drought years,” Mason Osgood, executive director of Sheep Mountain Alliance, told the Daily Planet. “There’s a lot of these cases in which there are unused conditional water rights sitting around, and it’s important to think about how communities want to balance how their local water is used.”
Protecting river health is especially important for smaller rivers and tributaries, like the San Miguel River, according to Osgood.
“There’s an uncertain future for a lot of these tributaries. There’s always going to be pressures from development, industrial use and water storage. Prioritizing the health of the river is something that needs to be done in a lot of these smaller tributaries to the Colorado River,” he said.
San Miguel County had similar inhibitions about the project and also wanted to preserve parts of the original decree that would help the Town of Norwood and Wrights Mesa in the long run.
“If they ever did find themselves in a deficit situation, they could take advantage of these water rights and basically suck some water out of the river to store and then put into their municipal supply,” Bordogna said.
The settlement will help contribute to a more sustainable future for the San Miguel River and offers options for more water to be supplied to Wrights Mesa residents when needed.
“We were also worried about these water rights being sold to other towns or counties outside of San Miguel County. If they were to fully develop those water rights, that could have sucked the San Miguel dry at a point downstream,” Bordogna said.
The water rights that are kept after the settlement cannot be used for a reservoir on the San Miguel River. With the 9,000 acre-feet storage water right that will be maintained, 4,500 acre-feet are intended for recreation and environmental purposes, and 4,000 acre-feet for domestic and municipal uses within the Norwood Water Commission service area. 500 acre-feet are also available for river augmentation purposes.
“We apportion how that storage could be separated into augmentation and municipal use versus water that would be for the environment and recreation. So that if there was ever a time when the San Miguel River was in extreme drought, environmental water could be released to maintain the health of the river,” Bordogna said.
The settlement is the result of many negotiations over the past six years.
“We feel like we came up with a solution that appeals to all sides. Though I would have preferred to preserve more water for the longterm benefit of the Norwood Water Commission, I feel like this was still an immense step forward for the security of their water long-term,” Bordogna said.
“We fought for what we could preserve. We fought to balance future development, community, sustainability and the environment.”
Read the article here.