The West Slope Water Summit drew “ranchers, ditch company leaders, engineers, city and county officials and residents who simply wanted to understand what’s happening to the river that shapes every part of life here on the Western Slope.”
Summit founder and Montrose County Commissioner Sue Hansen told KVNF the series began with a simple request from the community. “The Water Summit started seven years ago out of a community suggestion to, you know, we need to know more about water,” she said.
The summit opened with a hydrology update from Colorado River District engineer Raquel Flinker, who showed how last winter’s modest snowpack and a hot, dry spring led to disappointing inflows to Lake Powell. She said traditional “snow to flow” relationships are breaking down as temperatures rise.
“This puzzle is really hard and it’s changing because temperatures are going up, less precipitation is falling as snow,” Flinker said. “And because of that, snow is becoming less of a predictor of river flows.”
From there, the episode turns to Colorado River District General Manager Andy Mueller. He argued that communities on the Western Slope are already living within the limits of the river and the Colorado River Compact, while the Lower Basin has relied on big reservoir releases and groundwater pumping to keep water use high.
“In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve taken the gloves off in this public dispute with with Arizona,” Mueller told the crowd. “I’m sick and tired of them pointing up here and telling us that our way of life is not worth the same value as theirs.”
He also pushed back on calls for mandatory cuts in the Upper Basin, saying Western Colorado communities are simply using the share of the river they were promised. “We’re not trying to take Arizona’s water to build our communities,” he said. “We’re just using the water that was apportioned to us over 100 years ago.”
