Aspen Journalism: River District grants $550K more for reservoir project
Aspen Journalism
Brent Gardner-Smith/Aspen Journalism
A reservoir project in northwest Colorado has secured more funding from the Colorado River Water Conservation District — this time with the money earmarked for permitting required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The conservancy district is proposing to build a reservoir between Rangely and Meeker, in part to increase flows in the White River and improve municipal water quality for the roughly 2,300 downstream residents of Rangely during dry conditions in late summer. In 2021, the conservancy district secured a water right for a 66,720-acre-foot, off-channel reservoir with a dam 110 feet tall and 3,800 feet long. Water would be pumped into the reservoir from the White River.
At its April meeting, the River District board approved $550,000 of the $1.5 million requested by the Rangely-based Rio Blanco Water Conservancy District for the Wolf Creek Reservoir project. The $550,000, which is from the River District’s Community Funding Partnership, represents about 20% of costs associated with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) permitting process for this phase of the project.
“Our core interest remains in focusing on the water storage needs for water users in the White River basin, so we do want to see the analysis move forward,” Amy Moyer, director of strategic partnerships for the River District, told the board at its April meeting. “We are not recommending the full $1.5 million request, and we are not recommending that the River District provide funding for the other expenses for external affairs, work project design at this time, but we are recommending a subsequent award for $550,000 to complete these next phases in the permitting process over the next two years.”
The River District gave the Wolf Creek Reservoir project an initial grant of $330,000 in 2021, which has been spent, Moyer said. That money was also for costs associated with the NEPA process.
“We’re very appreciative,” said Wade Haerle, a project manager with the Rio Blanco Water Conservancy District. “We’re really happy that we have the special tax that the River District collects to help develop projects like (Wolf Creek), and we’re really happy they funded us.”
In 2020, voters in the River District’s 15-county Western Slope area passed ballot measure 7a, which increased the district’s mill levy and established its Community Funding Partnership. The majority of the revenue from the tax hike goes toward funding water projects in five categories: productive agriculture; infrastructure; healthy rivers; watershed health and water quality; and conservation and efficiency.
Alden Vanden Brink, who is general manager of the Rio Blanco Water Conservancy District and the Rio Blanco County representative on the River District’s board, recused himself from the vote and discussion about the Wolf Creek grant.
Army Corps permit
In January, the Army Corps found that even though Wolf Creek flows only seasonally during spring snowmelt and after rainstorms, it still has a “relatively permanent flow” and is therefore categorized as one of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) and is under the jurisdiction of the Army Corps.
“It can be the case that Wolf Creek has relatively permanent flows even though it doesn’t flow year-round,” said Benjamin Wilson, senior project manager with the Army Corps.
According to a 2023 report by environmental consulting company WestWater Engineering, there are about .73 acres of wetlands within the project area, also included in WOTUS. As proposed, the project would involve the discharge of fill material into Wolf Creek during the construction of the dam and therefore will need what’s known as a 404 permit to comply with the Clean Water Act.
The Wolf Creek Reservoir site is on public land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which is the lead federal agency on the project. The BLM will conduct the NEPA process and will need to amend its resource management plan and grant permission for a right of way to build the reservoir. When the BLM issues its notice of intent (NOI), it will start a 24-month clock to complete a Record of Decision that will either grant permission for the reservoir or not. The NOI is BLM’s notice to the public of its intent to formally evaluate the Wolf Creek Reservoir project with an environmental impact statement and to consider potential changes to the White River Field Office’s Resource Management Plan.
The Wolf Creek Reservoir project has not been without snags: The conditional water-storage rights were granted after five years of back-and-forth in water court between the conservancy district and Colorado’s top engineers at the Department of Water Resources, who argued that the project was speculative because the conservancy district could not prove a need for the water.
A settlement agreement days before a trail was set to begin in January 2021 gave the Rio Blanco Water Conservancy District a 2014 water right with a decree that allows water to be used for municipal purposes for Rangely; augmentation water within the boundaries of the Rio Blanco Water Conservancy District and the neighboring Yellow Jacket Water Conservancy District (augmentation is replacement water so that junior water users can keep diverting water during a call); mitigation of environmental impacts associated with the reservoir; hydroelectric power; recreation; and fish and wildlife habitat. Annual releases for municipal and augmentation use would be capped at 7,000 acre-feet a year.
The decree does not allow water to be used for new irrigation, for compliance with the 1922 Colorado River Compact, or for the four species of endangered fish in the Colorado River basin — all of which were among the project’s initial proposed uses.
A situation assessment report released in September also found that local residents remain confused about how much reservoir water is needed and why.
Haerle said the Rio Blanco Water Conservancy District plans to apply to the River District for more funding in the next phase of the project after the BLM publishes the NOI.
Aspen Journalism is a non-profit, investigative news organization covering water, environment, social justice and more. Visit aspenjournalism.org.
