First Lower Arkansas Valley Water Summit held in Rocky Ford, CO
~Norman Kincaide
Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District hosted the first Lower Arkansas Valley Water Summit at the Gobin Building, Rocky Ford, CO, November 4, 2026. Jack Goble, General Manager, Lower Ark, introduced Rep. Ty Winter, who won re-election for House District 47, who then gave brief opening remarks and an opening prayer.
Jack Goble reviewed the history of the Crowley County experience with buy and dry. The development of Twin Lakes Reservoir supplied water to the lower Arkansas Valley and provided prosperity for farmers in the 1940s and 50s. The 1960s provided a turning point for Crowley County with declining agricultural profitability, closing of the Sugar City sugar factory and Crowley Land and Development Company (CLADCO), which acquired 54% of Twin Lakes shares as of 1972. CLADCO changed the bylaws to separate water from the land. In 1974 the Water Court approved additional water uses including municipal. By 1980 Colorado Springs and Aurora owned 94% of Twin Lakes shares. By the late 1980s, Colorado Springs and Aurora own 85% of Colorado Canal shares.
The Rocky Ford Ditch suffered a similar fate, the American Crystal Sugar Plant in Rocky Ford closed in 1979. Resource Investment Group (RIG) sold Rocky Ford Ditch shares to Aurora. In 1986 and 2004 Aurora took a total of 94% of its Rocky Ford Ditch shares through Water Court to approve additional uses. In the late 1970s and early 1980s Xcel Energy acquired approximately 75% of the Las Animas Consolidated Canal Company, leasing water back to farmers. In 2026, Colorado Spring acquired 30% of Xcel’s of Las Animas Consolidated Canal. In 2005, Tri-State Generation acquired just under 50% of the Amity Canal shares, leasing water back to farmers.
For the lower Arkansas Valley (five counties: Pueblo, Otero, Crowley, Bent, and Prowers) there are currently 207,000 acres in ag production, 105,000 acres are dried up (no longer irrigated), 33,000 acres are pending (still irrigated but slated for dry up through water court case, with 6,200 acres prospective of dry up (owned by municipality or speculator but still irrigated).
Crowley County went from a historical production of $58 million down to a current $6 million, resulting in a 40-year total loss impact of $2.8 billion in 2025 dollars. For the five-county region loss of water results in a loss of $142 million a year in economic activity. Colorado Springs impact is estimated at $26 million per year lost to the Lower Arkansas Valley with Aurora’s impact estimated at $28 million.
Goble moderated a panel of three former residents of Crowley County, who shared their impressions of what happened with buy and dry.
Alvin Carter grew up on his grandfather’s ranch north of Ordway. By 1975 many older farmers sold, having no offspring interested in continuing to farm. They took the purchase price of their farms which was far above regular market value, upwards of a $1000 per acre. Carter enjoyed seeing how green it was along Highway 96 and the close community relationships developed there.
Tom Tomky, who farms near Rocky Ford, grew up in Olney Springs, which at the time prospered with two gas stations, two grocery stores and two cafes. None of those businesses exist.
Annette Barber’s grandparents bought a store in Crowley in 1929, bought a second store in 1945. She basically grew up in the store, serving customers from a young age. Her parents took over the store but by the late 1970s had suffered a $13,000 loss and sold the store in 1980. Barber came back to Crowley County after teaching for 29 years and manages the Crowley County Heritage Center.
Andy Mueller, General Manager, Colorado River District followed with: Beyond the Continental Divide, the Colorado River Negotiations and how they may impact the Lower Arkansas Valley. The Colorado River District, comprising 15 counties, was formed in 1937 to lead in the protection, conservation, use and development of the water resources and to safeguard for Colorado all waters of the Colorado River to which the state is entitled. All of Colorado’s major transmountain diversions occur in Division of Water Resources District 5: Colorado-Big Thompson, Roberts Tunnel, Moffat Tunnel, Frying Pan Arkansas, Twin Lakes Tunnel, Homestake Project, Grand River Ditch, and Continental Hoosier System, totaling: 500,000 acre-feet per year.
In 1922 the Colorado River Compact was established to allow upper and lower basin states ability to develop their water independently. The Colorado River main stem on paper allowed 7.5 million-acre feet to the Upper Basin states and 7.5 million-acre feet to the lower basin. Colorado’s population is expected to reach 7.5 million by 2050 and Colorado River Basin, 76 million by 2060. Rising temperatures in Colorado have diminished stream flow by 4-7%. The level of allocation goes to litigation if stream flows to lower basin states falls below 82.5 million-acre feet over a ten-year threshold. That threshold was reached in Water Year 2026. Seven states are at an impasse with this situation.
The Bureau of Reclamation published a final Environmental Impact Statement for the future of Colorado River operations on July 31, 2026. August 21, the Department of Interior issued a 10-year operating framework and record of decision. August 24, Nevada, Southern Neveda Water Authority, and Colorado River Commission of Nevada sued the Department of Interior over the record of decision. October 16, Arizona joined that litigation, followed by the Central Arizona Project on October 27, 2026. The implications for this litigation calls into question the durability of transmountain diversions to the Eastern Slope municipalities. The main issue is, if the lower basin states are not receiving their allotted water then it must be the fault of the upper basin states.
Jerry Knapp detailed the need and purpose of Colorado House Bill 26-1340, which was developed as a result of Revegetation Requirements Evaluation Project funded by Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District and the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
The major components of this legislation are: clarification that revegetation is the responsibility of the water rights owner or purchaser, required decrees to include revegetation standards and evaluation methodology, required independent evaluation of revegetation success, assured accountability by tying new uses of water to completion of revegetation and included conversion of dry land farming standards.
Final legislative provisions included: incorporated local county standards, 1041 permit, intergovernmental agreements, county adopted standards, immediate use of water upon posting a performance bond, use of a portion of the water immediately with additional use tied to reclamation progress or comply with requirements established in a 1041 permit.
The Lower Arkansas River Corridor Initiative was presented by Bill Tyner, Tyner Engineering and Sciences, Kelsea Macilroy, The Langdon Group, and Yates McConnell, Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative. Issues concerning the Lower Arkansas River emerged from the February 2025 La Junta River Seminar, such as river channel degradation, impacts on agriculture and communities, long term river health and resiliency, need for cross jurisdictional cooperation, reliability of water delivery infrastructure, and flood and fire risk.
The Initiative seeks to build an understanding of river conditions, create a durable framework for collaborative problem solving, establish a foundation for future projects and investment, and support informed decision-making using both scientific data and stakeholder input. There are two tracks for one foundation: Technical Science Track, understanding the river corridor and floodplain system. Stakeholder engagement track, understanding the people, communities, and interests connected to the river.
Finally, Russ Schumacher, CSU Professor and Colorado State Climatologist, presented: Water Year 2026 rewrote the record books, Water Year 2027 is already breaking different records. Some of the records and superlatives for Water 2026 were: warmest December, February, March, August: warmest winter, spring, summer and water year. It is on track to be the warmest calendar year unless late autumn and winter are very cold.
For the Arkansas River Basin, Water Year 2026 was the warmest on record by a wide margin and the 26th driest water year for this part of Colorado, but a lot of precipitation came at the end of September. The summer of 2026 the Arkansas River Basin Palmer Drought Severity index was in the same ballpark as the Dust Bowl, 2002 and 2012. As of October 27, 2026, 12.5% of Colorado was in D3 (extreme) or D4 (exceptional) drought, down from 50% as of three months ago. Temperatures have been steadily increasing in Colorado, but this water year stood out even in the changing Colorado climate.
January-March was the fourth driest on record state-wide and was at least top ten dry across most of the snow pack buildup mountain areas. Spring precipitation across the eastern plains was way below average. Coupled with above average heat, drought quickly developed. Water Year 2026 snowpack was the lowest on record for Colorado. The peak was very low, 51% of average, peaking a month early, followed by rapid melting in the unprecedented March heat wave. With record low snow pack came record low stream flows.
March of 2026 experienced an unprecedented heat dome. Heat records were broken across Colorado and the western states, ten states recording their warmest March on record. Several stations across Colorado set new monthly March records, some by as much as ten degrees, with Burlington and Campo setting records of 99 degrees. Hot dry conditions in June and July resulted in a very active wild fire season, resulting in two of the ten largest fires in Colorado: Aspen Acres (No.7) and Ferris (No. 10).
The rains came in September and October. During September and October 8-12 inches of rain has fallen in southeast Colorado with more to come in November.
El Nino is here and is likely to extend through January and March 2027. The southern and south eastern areas of Colorado will benefit most from this extremely strong El Nino, not so much in the northern part of the state. Snowpack will reflect this as well. The Arkansas River Basin has the clearest connection between El Nino and good snowpack of anywhere in the state.
Jack Goble closed out the Summit, thanking the 142 who attended and hoped to see them in 2027.
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