Author: SanJuan Water

“In Between Water and Fire” Completes Watershed Film Series

About 200 people joined SJWCD for the premiere of “In Between Water and Fire” on Tuesday evening, May 20. The location for the film viewing and networking was the Pagosa Lodge.

“In Between Water and Fire” is the third film in the SJWCD series – “This Is Your Watershed: Upper San Juan River.” The film can be viewed from SJWCD website’s homepage.

The first two videos premiered in 2024 to significant local acclaim and community support. Both “The Value of Snow” and “The Waterways that Connect Us” can be viewed on the SJWCD website.

In 2024, San Juan Water Conservancy District received funding from Colorado Water Conservation Board, through Southwest Basin Roundtable, to produce three short videos. The purpose of the videos was to educate the general public about the Upper San Juan River watershed. Professional film-maker, Christi Bode of Moxiecran Media, produced all three films.

At the well-attended premieres of SJWCD’s three films, the following water groups demonstrated their support for SJWCD and shared their knowledge of all water uses in our upper San Juan River basin.

Weminuche Audubon and Audubon Rockies
San Juan Mountain Association
Wildfire Adapted Partnership
U.S. Forest Service Pagosa District
Archuleta County Sheriff’s Department
2-3-2 Cohesive Strategy Partnership
Moxiecran Media
Five Rivers Trout Unlimited
Pagosa Weather
San Juan Headwaters Forest Health Partnership
San Juan Water Enhancement Partnership
Creation Care
Town of Pagosa Springs, Pagosa Gateway and Yamaguchi Park
Mountain Studies Institute
Friends of the Upper San Juan River and Pagosa Paddle
Colorado Division of Water Resources
Colorado State University Extension and Natural Resources
Community Development Corporation
Water Information Program
Southwestern Water Conservation District

SJWCD works to protect San Juan River health and all local water uses – agricultural, environmental, recreational, industrial, and municipal. More information can be found at www.sjwcd.org.

Lorelei Cloud Elected Chair of CWCB

The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) elected Lorelei Cloud to chair the state’s water policy board for 2025. The election of an indigenous person, a Southern Ute tribal member, is a first for CWCB, which was formed in 1937. Lorelei has served on the CWCB since Governor Jared Polis appointed her to a three-year term in 2023.

Lorelei has represented the San Miguel-Dolores-San Juan Basin in southwestern Colorado, which is part of the larger Colorado River Basin, a key water source for about 40 million people across the West. San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) is located within the San Miguel-Dolores-San Juan Basin.

Colorado Water Conservation Board administrates the Colorado Water Plan, which guides the decision-making of directors of San Juan Water Conservancy District. One of the CWCB’s responsibilities is to protect Colorado’s water interests in dealings with other states, like the water sharing agreements among seven states in the Colorado River Basin. The Colorado River Basin’s water supply has been seriously strained by over two decades of prolonged drought, rising temperatures, and an unyielding demand for water.

Colorado and the other six basin states have been at odds over how water should be managed in the Colorado River Basin’s driest possible conditions. Tribal officials have been working to ensure their priorities are considered in the high-stakes negotiations. The Colorado River Compact of 1922 is being re-negotiated to account for 21st Century supply and demand in our hotter and drier environment. Until recently, negotiations have excluded tribal nations with water rights. The election of Cloud increases the voice of sovereign native nations in the talks which are set to conclude in 2026.

New Water Measuring Rules Take Effect

The Colorado Division of Water Resources (DWR) has announced new water measurement rules that take effect on June 1, 2025 for the San Juan and Dolores River Basins. The rules apply to irrigation and other diversions of water from surface and groundwater sources.

Colorado intends to measure and document all water used within its boundaries, so that its numbers stated in ongoing Colorado River Compact negotiations are valid. Since consumptive agricultural water use accounts for most of the water used in Colorado, water rights owners who irrigate are affected. Our local Water Commissioners are responsible for ensuring accurate measurement and record-keeping.

San Juan Water Conservancy District is in Division 7 and the Pagosa Division of Water Resources office is at 46 Eaton Drive. Commissioners Craig Dollar, Becky Guilliams, and Rick Valdez staff the local office and work with Archuleta County water users.

The following statement was issued by Colorado Division of Water Resources on May 16, 2025.

“The Colorado Division of Water Resources announced that starting June 1, 2025, new rules governing the measurement of surface and groundwater diversions and storage will be in effect for Division 7. The division includes the San Juan and Dolores River Basins. The rules do not apply to water users who obtain their water directly from a municipal provider, rural water supplier, or a ditch company, as those entities are required to have measurement where they divert from the stream or ground.

For background, Colorado statutes include a requirement that owners of ditches and reservoirs install headgates where water is taken from the natural stream. These statutes also give the state and division engineer the authority to require owners and users of water rights to install measuring devices.

Accurate measurement of diversions is critical to protect Colorado’s entitlement to water, including under the Colorado River Compact, and to ensure that we are maximizing the beneficial use of the public’s water resource for consumptive and environmental purposes.

The statutes, however, do not include any specifics regarding what is considered an acceptable headgate or measuring device. Historically, it has been administered by the Division of Water Resources through issuing orders to owners for the installation of headgates or measuring devices.

The rules describe two types of measurement methods: measuring devices, which are physical devices (flumes, weirs, etc.) that are placed in a diversion for measurement, and alternative measurement methods, which are typically indirect methods of measuring flow rates without a physical device.

Time frames for installation of headgates and measuring devices vary from one to four years based on the diversion amount and location. Water users are encouraged to view the Rules to determine the applicable time frame.

Water users unsure of their decreed water right or permitted well permit flow rates and volumes can use DWR’s online tools available at https://dwr.state.co.us/Tools to find this information. Anyone who has questions regarding how these rules apply to their diversion or how to install a measuring device on their system can contact the Water Commissioner in your Water District at https://dwr.colorado.gov/about-us/contact-us/division-7-durango-contacts or the Divison 7 office at 970-731-2931.”

“This Is Your Watershed” Film Event, May 20

Join us for the premiere of “In Between Water and Fire,” the third film in SJWCD’s “This Is Your Watershed” series. The location is Pagosa Lodge on May 20 at 5:30 pm. In addition to viewing all three Upper San Juan Watershed films, guests will enjoy relevant discussions about water and related issues. There is no charge.

Notice of Special Meeting, May 12

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Special Meeting of the Board of Directors of the San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) is scheduled for Monday, May 12, 2025, at 4 PM (Mountain Standard Time).

The meeting will be at the SJWCD office, 46 Eaton Drive Suite 5, Pagosa Springs, CO. The SJWCD Board may require an Executive Session and discussion of shared documents related to the agenda below. This meeting is in-person, but may be attended by Zoom.

Use the link below to connect to the scheduled Zoom meeting. Only the SJWCD Attorney and Directors will be on Zoom during the Executive Session. The public may be admitted before and following Executive Session. An unknown Zoom attendee will be asked to identify him/herself before being admitted to the meeting.

San Juan Water Conservancy District is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: SJWCD Special Meeting

Time: May 12, 2025 04:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86205384307?pwd=yFflodewT04BZUbq99361ZDl7WlEQj.1

Meeting ID: 862 0538 4307

Passcode: 138438

One tap mobile

+16469313860,,86205384307#,,,,*138438# US

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/k8UOjCyZ2

Proposed Agenda for the Special Meeting is as follows:

1. Call to Order

2. Revisions to Agenda and Approval of Agenda

3. Disclosures of Conflict of Interest

4. Opportunity for Public Comment (3-minute limit)

5. Oath for Renewal of Director Hagberg

6. Attorney’s Report

7. Executive Session. Upon an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the members present, the San Juan Water Conservancy District will go into executive session pursuant to section 24-6-402(4) of the Colorado Revised Statutes to discuss matters concerning the transfer or sale of real, personal or other property interest pursuant to section 24-6-402(4)(a) of the Colorado Revised Statutes, to confer with the District’s attorney for the purposes of receiving legal advice on specific legal questions pursuant to section 24-6-402(4)(b), C.R.S., and to determine positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations, developing strategy for negotiations, and instructing negotiators pursuant to section 24-6-402(4)(e), C.R.S., all regarding the potential sale of the Running Iron Ranch on the initiative of the Pagosa Area Water & Sanitation District and related litigation (Case No. 24CV30069 filed in Archuleta County District Court), settlement negotiations, and public statements.

8. Consideration of Actions regarding the Running Iron Ranch and Related Litigation (Case No. 24CV30069 filed in Archuleta County District Court), settlement negotiations, and public statements.

9. Consideration of Additional WEP Grant Funding (Pfister)

10. Consideration of Yeh Final Report and Strategy for Next Steps (Cooper & Riehm)

11. Consideration of Director(s) to Write Request for Proposals for Design Professional Services

12. Consideration of Arrangement for Services by Graduate Intern Monica Nigon / Cancelation of Blue Elements Contract (Jones)

13. Consideration of Scope for Education and Outreach Project (Nigon)

14. Discussion of Film Premiere Event / Specific Assignments and Times for Set-Up

15. Updates from Directors

Upcoming 2-3-2 Pagosa Event, 4/21 & 22. Full Partnership Meeting all day May 22. Meet and Greet at Riff Raff, May 22
WECO Southwest River Basin Tour, June 3-4
Support Headwaters Forest Health Partnership at 19th Hole one Thursday in June
Special District Association Meeting in Durango, June 20
We Are Water (Power House, University of Colorado, Natl Science Foundation) May 10 (Riehm & Hagberg)
Forest Council Tour hosted by Veronica Medina, April 28-29
Southwest Basin Roundtable Meeting, Water Supply Reserve Fund Grant endorsements

Other updates of mutual interest

16. Strategic Objective Reports

Strategic Objective 1: Redefine the financial partnership for Running Iron Ranch. (Directors Tedder, Riehm, Cooper, Proffitt)
Strategic Objective 2: Make the case for a reservoir at RIR by defining feasibility and demand. (Directors Cooper, Hagberg, Kappelman)

• Strategic Objective 3: Engage with the community, including PAWSD, on a project that advances a common community interest, like a planning/municipal water demand study and/or wildfire mitigation. (Directors Hagberg, Nobles, Nossaman, Tedder)

17. Approval of Record of Proceedings from 4/14 Regular Meeting

18. Schedule next meeting. Adjournment.

SAN JUAN WATER CONSERVANCY DISTRICT

By /s/ Sally High

Executive Assistant to the Board of Directors

DISTRICT SEAL

Notice of Work Session, May 1

San Juan Water Conservancy District scheduled a Work Session for 1 PM on Thursday, May 1, at 46 Eaton Drive Suite 5. All Directors are welcome to engage in discussion with Monica Nigon, SJWCD Intern from Blue Elements (Americorps). A Work Session is open to the public. There is no agenda, no Zoom, no opportunity for public comment, and no actions will be taken.

Risks to Upper San Juan River and Compact Compliance

About 80 community members gathered on Tuesday, March 25, to learn about risks to our Upper San Juan River Basin that could result from future compliance with the 1922 Colorado River Compact. San Juan Water Conservancy District invited the community to the 2-hour presentation from Southwestern Water Conservation District, Wright Water Engineers, and Colorado Division of Water.

San Juan Water Conservancy District is an active leader in all issues affecting the water resources of the Upper San Juan River Basin. Watch the presentation here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMnUJhgleQU

San Juan Water Conservancy District also recommends this explanation of Colorado Compact issues. https://aspenjournalism.org/dwindling-water-supply-legal-questions-push-colorado-river-into-wildly-uncharted-territory/

Notice of Regular Meeting, April 14

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of the San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) is scheduled for Monday, April 14, 2025, at 4 PM (Mountain Standard Time).

The meeting will be at the SJWCD office at 46 Eaton Drive Suite 5, Pagosa Springs, CO. The SJWCD Board may require an Executive Session and discussion of shared documents related to the agenda below. This meeting is in-person, but may be attended by Zoom.

San Juan Water Conservancy District is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: SJWCD Regular Meeting

Time: Apr 14, 2025 04:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85091971515?pwd=GJemN9z1V2gtZu6ioeBdnPgDnhKSrT.1

Meeting ID: 850 9197 1515

Passcode: 453011

One tap mobile

+13126266799,,85091971515#,,,,*453011# US (Chicago)

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdrjyX3VdK

Proposed Agenda for the Regular Meeting is as follows:

1. Call to Order

2. Revisions to Agenda and Approval of Agenda

3. Disclosures of Conflict of Interest

4. Consideration of Yeh Draft Report

5. Attorney’s Report

Consideration to Approve New and Renewing Directors / Oath of Office
Water Rights Updates

6. Executive Session. Upon an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the members present, the San Juan Water Conservancy District will go into executive session pursuant to section 24-6-402(4) of the Colorado Revised Statutes to discuss matters concerning the transfer or sale of real, personal or other property interest pursuant to section 24-6-402(4)(a) of the Colorado Revised Statutes, to confer with the District’s attorney for the purposes of receiving legal advice on specific legal questions pursuant to section 24-6-402(4)(b), C.R.S., and to determine positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations, developing strategy for negotiations, and instructing negotiators pursuant to section 24-6-402(4)(e), C.R.S., all regarding the potential sale of the Running Iron Ranch on the initiative of the Pagosa Area Water & Sanitation District and related litigation (Case No. 24CV30069 filed in Archuleta County District Court), settlement negotiations, and public statements.

7. Consideration of Actions regarding the Running Iron Ranch and Related Litigation (Case No. 24CV30069 filed in Archuleta County District Court), settlement negotiations, and public statements.

8. Consideration of Treasurer’s Report

9. Consideration of Blue Elements (AmeriCorps) Contract. Introduce Monica Nigon.

10. Updates from Directors

Upcoming 2-3-2 Pagosa Event, 4/21 & 22, Pagosa Lodge (Hagberg, Tedder, Executive Assistant)
SWCD Annual Conference, 3/28. (Cooper, Hagberg, Kappelman, Jones, Proffitt)
PARC 4/3 meeting (Nobles, Tedder)
Earth Day, Centennial Park, April 19
We Are Water (Power House, University of CO, Natl Science Foundation), May 10 (Executive Assistant, Hagberg, Riehm)
Children’s Water Festival (Jones)
Special District Association Regional Meeting, Durango, 6/20 (Jones)
Other updates of mutual interest

11. Strategic Objective Reports.

Strategic Objective 1: Redefine the financial partnership for Running Iron Ranch. (Directors Tedder, Riehm, Cooper, Proffitt)
Report on “Roadmap” Work Session (Tedder)

Report on Fence Line Work Session with PAWSD (Riehm, Hagberg) • Strategic Objective 2: Make the case for a reservoir at RIR by defining feasibility and demand. (Directors Cooper, Hagberg)

Add Director Kappelman

• Strategic Objective 3: Engage with the community, including PAWSD, on a project that advances a common community interest, like a planning/municipal water demand study and/or wildfire mitigation. (Directors Hagberg, Nobles, Nossaman, Tedder)

“Threats to our Watershed” Film Premiere arrangements and schedule
SJHFHP’s Discussion of Archuleta County Community Wildfire Protection Plan
Board volunteer responsibilities
Hospitality plans

12. Approval of (revised) Record of Proceedings from 3/17 Special Meeting

13. Schedule next meeting. Adjournment.