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Water Court Filing Explained, But Concern Continues for the Loss of Water



Colorado Springs Utilities wants Bent County to understand a recent filing in water court and what it means. Under case number 2025WC3015, documents state the City of Colorado Springs, through Colorado Springs Utilities, has filed an application for change of water rights to affect several counties in Southeast Colorado. The counties listed on the court filing include Bent, Otero, Crowley, Kiowa, and Pueblo counties, along with Chafee, El Paso, Freemont, Lake, and Teller counties.


Colorado Springs Utilities Arkansas Valley Water Sharing Program Project Manager Scott Lorenz told us the filing is part of a two step process in the intergovernmental agreement with Bent County.



"As we've acquired water rights under the Ft. Lyon Canal, um by installing center pivots and attempting to take water off the corners, um first step in that process is that we had to go to the Ft. Lyon Canal Company and get approval to change to file in water court, so we did that, I believe we got it in April of 2024, we got approval from the Ft. Lyon board. And the second step in the process was to file an application with Bent County and that is under the context of the IGA so it's a project that identified or the type of application project that's identified in the IGA, so we submitted at the end of 2024, and it was approved in December of 2024 by Bent County. And all those two approvals did was say that we had the right to file in water court."


It's a normal part of the process and water court has been the vetting process for the changing of water rights like these.


Lorenz further explained the reason so many other counties were listed on the court filing document was because the water taken from the Bent County agreement would move up and be stored in those locations. Water would not be taken from the counties listed, as affected on the court document.


While the recent water court action is a formality in the process, there are still concerns about the future of water leaving the Arkansas Valley. Jack Goble is General Manager of the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District and shared that there is a growing need for water in Colorado Springs. He fears the large municipality seeing rapid population growth will come for more water.


"And this is just the start of it, and what does it look like for them to get the rest of the water, that's my concern."


Goble said the need is 34,000 acre feet of new water. An acre foot, he described, is an acre of land with one foot of water on it which accounts for about 326,000 gallons of water.


When a farmer decides to sell his water rights, he can do so, it's his property and his right to do so. To protect the water in the Arkansas Valley, however, the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District is trying to encouraging leasing of water. Goble added, though, cities aren't very interested in just leasing the water, they desire to control it and to own it.


What they're doing now is important work, Goble elaborated.


"It's the first of many change cases that Colorado springs will have where they're removing water from the valley, what's important is um to make sure, and we'll be heavily involved in water court at the district but what's important is to make sure is that the requirements that are put on them now in water court are good ones because it's going to set the precedent for the next however many of these they do for the next 20 or 30 years."


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The following counties, municipalities and businesses have adopted resolutions supporting the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy and opposing Colorado Springs Annexations.


Crowley

Otero

Prowers


City of La Junta

City of Ordway


Otero County Farm Bureau











 
 
 

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