Charlie Smith, president of the Southwestern Water Conservation District, told San Juan County officials that recent high flows substantially refilled local storage and underscored new regulatory and funding pressures facing irrigators and districts.

Smith opened by noting heavy recent runoff and said the area between Lehi and Viasito gained “80,000 acre feet” in the recent event. “They had to cut off irrigation to a lot of people,” he said, adding that downstream flooding in Placito had been harmful to residents.

Smith said the district’s priorities have shifted toward water quality work rather than large new diversion projects. He described a new state push to install measurement devices “on basically every diversion” (weirs with recording devices) so the state can better track Colorado River system uses. Smith said the state has set aside $1.5 million for upgrades in his district starting in January, but characterized those funds as insufficient for the estimated need.

On wetlands policy, Smith summarized ongoing state rulemaking to replace federal Section 404 Clean Water Act permitting for dredge-and-fill. He said the state’s draft approach includes service-area definitions and mitigation approaches that may not match local hydrology; among other effects, elevation cutoffs in proposed wetland-bank rules could prevent high-elevation projects in San Juan County from buying mitigation credits from low-elevation banks (for example, credits in the Animas Valley).

“We were thrilled that they wanted the Cascades monies to go to Animas. We’d rather see it growing up to Howardsville,” Smith said, arguing that money generated locally should stay in the local watershed. He also said the final state rules remain in development and could change mitigation and permitting costs significantly.

Smith said the district has retained Peter Butler, a former head of Colorado’s Water Quality Control Division, to represent district interests in the rulemaking. He also reported the Colorado River District had not yet finalized its related rules and that the state set aside roughly $7 million total for measurement upgrades statewide.

On local planning and possible reuse, Smith described development proposals near Cascade and Howardsville, noting questions about wetland impacts from proposed housing (developers previously had approvals for more units and are now reworking plans). He said the district is considering wetland-bank opportunities but that current rules’ elevation limits and service-area mapping could limit use of existing banks.

Smith closed by noting grants and stakeholder funding: the district has increased a grant program to $350,000 annually to support infrastructure such as headgates and channel work, and is tracking needs for the Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies and Fort Lewis College’s Water Center as they seek operating funds.

Ending

Smith recommended monitoring the state rulemaking closely and working with counsel and the Colorado River District on funding and technical responses. Commissioners and staff said they would follow up with district counsel and keep an eye on notice-and-comment deadlines.