A recent story, “Kicking the can down the road, Durango waits for a water crisis,” about Durango’s alleged water supply crisis overlooked several important facts worth examining (Herald, March 4).
The first fact is that Durango has senior water rights on both the Animas and Florida Rivers – possibly some of the best water rights on the entire Colorado River drainage, dating back to 1874 and 1877 respectively.
The next missing fact is that the Animas River is under-appropriated and there has never been a successful call on its waters. I have it on the word of Steve Harris, the expert cited in the story, that the Animas River will never go dry. When you have senior water rights on a river that has never run dry, you have to question the need for very expensive water storage projects.
Next, and perhaps the most important fact, is that the water stored in the Animas-La Plata Project must be pumped over 500 vertical feet – a very expensive proposition, and costs are only rising.
The proposal to use that water involves a further $100 million for the connection to the city system, where the water would need further pumping. Somehow the Bureau of Reclamation built a billion-dollar boondoggle and forgot to set up a connection for the only specified user and payer of that water, the city of Durango.
In fact, the city moved its Animas River pump station to its present location across from the ALP Pumping Plant specifically to access the Animas-La Plata Project water pipeline. But the Bureau of Reclamation failed to design or build that connection.
Ridges Basin Reservoir (6,882 feet above sea level) sits at approximately the same elevation as Durango’s Terminal Reservoir (6,944 feet above sea level). Properly designed, the water could enter Durango’s water system through gravity flow without pumping. Instead it will require another $100 million and endless pumping to use that water.
Another factor left out is that by paying upfront for ALP water, the city of Durango expended much of the money needed for water infrastructure repair and replacement and now faces major costs that were long neglected in order to fund the project.
Another fact is that Terminal Reservoir is not a storage reservoir. Durango had the option back in the 1980s to enlarge it but ignored the advice of engineers Black and Veatch and allowed development right up to the reservoir’s shore, precluding any future expansion.
But perhaps the most important point is the cost. Pumping water uphill over 500 vertical feet is a very expensive proposition. Where does the energy come from? Trump’s rejuvenated coal power plants? All that pumping contributes to global climate change and will make Durango’s water some of the most expensive in the West.
Yet another unstated fact is that ALP water will only become financially feasible for the city of Durango when the population reaches 40,000 – more than twice the town’s present population. Having lived in Durango long enough to see the effects of sprawl already overtaking our once-beautiful town, the prospect appalls me.
Comparing Durango’s water situation to Las Vegas is a poor analogy. Durango is a mountain town near the headwaters of the Colorado River, Las Vegas a desert town at the other end. The situations could not possibly be more different.
If rising water bills and the environmental damage of unnecessary pumping constitute a “crisis,” perhaps someone other than the long-suffering Durango taxpayers should foot the bill.
Michael Black is a longtime member and spokesperson for Taxpayers for the Animas River and has lived in Durango long enough to see most of his fellow TAR members pass away.
