The Eagle River Community Water Plan Plan looks at the present and future of the river.
Vail Daily archive
Pulling together a community water plan is no easy task, especially in a valley that stretches from the top of Vail Pass to Dotsero. But after seven years, the Eagle River Coalition has finished the Eagle River Community Water Plan.
The Eagle County Board of Commissioners recently heard a report from Coalition Director James Dilzell, along with Eagle County Natural Resources Manager Kallie Rand and county Open Space and Natural Resources Director Marcia Gilles about the plan, which started with an initial grant in 2017.
Dilzell said that the main objective was to mesh the local plan with the Colorado Water Plan. That statewide effort combines data from plans from river basins around the state in an effort to correct water degradations.
The local plan examines current conditions in the Eagle River watershed and looks at the future.
That future is important beyond this valley. The Eagle River contributes roughly 9% of the Colorado River’s flow at the Colorado-Utah border, and as much as 3% of the total flow in the Colorado River basin.
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The report, which is available on the Eagle River Coalition’s website, used a lot of community input, talking to residents about their values and priorities for river use in the future.
Those community values included wildlife and biodiversity, municipal water use, recreational boating, fishing, snowmaking, aesthetics and agriculture.
Commissioner Kathy Chandler-Henry said she was pleased to see that agriculture was a part of those values, even though that industry is a relatively small part of the county’s economy.
The plan also looks at what specific stretches of river may look like in the future, for better or worse. The plan includes a report card for several segments of the river, with current conditions and whether those conditions are improving or declining.
While any look at the future is uncertain, the plan makes some educated guesses regarding growth, climate change, potential transmountain diversions and other changes. What all those educated guesses add up to is less water in the river in the coming years.
One of the challenges, particularly in the lower-elevation portions of the watershed, will be temperature, something lower-valley communities are already struggling with.
Dilzell noted that the plan can be used as a guide regarding what the community would like to protect in the future.
Commissioner Matt Scherr called the plan “really objective evidence of water’s importance to the community.”
Chandler-Henry asked Gilles if the water plan could be used by county officials in the future if a project fell under the county’s “1041” authority — which allows local governments to impose environmental and other regulations.
Gilles noted the plan could be useful, especially if county officials are looking to regulate future reservoir development.
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Publish date : 2024-08-11 11:41:00
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