Date: 09/04/2014
Final
Agriculture Producers' Perspectives on Current Groundwater Administration
WATER RESOURCES REVIEW COMMITTEE
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09:28 AM -- Agriculture Producers' Perspectives on Current Groundwater Administration
Robert Sakata, Sr., Glen Fritzler, and Donald Jones, representing the South Platte Basin, introduced themselves. Staff distributed Attachments C, D, E, F, and G to the committee.
Attachment C.pdf 
Attachment D.pdf 
Attachment E.pdf 
Attachment F.pdf 
Attachment G.pdf
Mr. Sakata discussed his experiences of farming vegetables for 69 years in Adams and Weld counties with ditch water and supplementing it with well water. He talked about techniques he used to keep his farm operating through drought and difficulties he has encountered with pumping regulations. Mr. Sakata made several recommendations to the committee including bringing the responsibility of managing the South Platte river and the wells back to the State Water Engineers office while continuing to allow water court to manage change of use cases and eliminating all past pumping depletion to the present annual pay back depletion.
09:38 AM
Glen Fritzler, representing the South Platte Basin, discussed over augmentation of water, problems he has encountered with water in his basement because of rising groundwater in the South Platte basin, how high groundwater levels interacts with normal leaching of salts and reduces yields on crops, and how groundwater interacts with rural leach fields for human sewage. Mr. Fritzler read a statement from his friend and neighbor Harry Strohauer describing his difficulties farming in Colorado and his decision to move his potato operation to Northern New Mexico as a result. Mr. Fritzler described why dewatering and recharging will not solve the problem of high groundwater in the South Platte basin and called for legislation that will address this problem. He also talked about the need for improved technology.
09:49 AM
Don Jones, representing the South Platte Basin, discussed changes that he has witnessed in Northern and Northeastern Colorado over the past decades. He talked about his concerns about water assets not being fully utilized in the South Platte basin; water loss and economic loss because of poor water management; different management practices along the South Platte river that have been instituted over the years; and well abandonment. Mr. Jones talked about augmentation practices that are currently in place, the rate at which rising groundwater levels are occurring in the South Platte basin, well curtailment, and the need for new and more accurate research to determine how to best manage the South Platte basin.
10:01 AM
Mr. Kelly Roesch, representing the Arkansas Basin, discussed his experiences farming with surface water, his involvement with the Colorado Water Protective and Development Association (CWPDA), how drought in the Arkansas valley affects residents and farmers, the rising cost of and demand for water in the Arkansas valley, and the need for allowing additional augmentation to use surface water.
10:10 AM
Peggy Godfrey, representing the Rio Grande Basin, talked about her experiences as a rancher in Colorado in Saguache county, difficulties that she has encountered with the management of groundwater in the Rio Grande basin, the need for gain/loss studies on streams, and the pumping of water from non-augmented wells. She distributed her remarks to the committee (Attachment H).
Attachment H.pdf
10:19 AM
Don Shawcroft, representing the Rio Grande Basin, discussed his concerns regarding the formation of sub-districts within the Rio Grande Basin, the current lack of state administration of wells in the basin, and the difficulties encountered because of a lack of snow in the San Luis Valley over the past several years. He talked about excess pumping in the Rio Grande Basin which have caused aquifer levels to decline and the higher levels of water seen in the valley during 2014.
10:32 AM
The committee recessed.