Karen Abbott of The Rocky Mountain News reported today in an article titled “Officials scolded on kayak decisions” that Colorado’s Supreme Court “sent the state’s first recreational water allocation, for a whitewater course on the Gunnison River, back to the drawing board, issuing a ruling that some say preserves the clout kayaking supporters have been gaining across the West.”
American Whitewater has followed this case with interest and consulted in early meetings with Porzak Browning and Bushong, the firm representing recreational interests. An AW affiliate, the Colorado White Water Association, filed an amicus brief in support of kayaking and recreation.
At issue was a 2001 state law permitting water allocations for recreation. The law gives the Colorado Water Conservation Board “the power to conduct limited fact-finding on applications for recreational water rights and make recommendations to the water courts for rulings based on five factors, including whether the proposal would interfere with Colorado’s obligation to give certain amounts of water to other states.
According to Abbott, “the water conservation board awarded the whitewater course 250 cubic feet per second for May through September, and none the rest of the year. The water court awarded more. The Colorado Supreme Court said both violated procedural requirements of the law and sent the case back to the Colorado Water Conservation Board to start over.”