HOMESTAKE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE
White River National Forest REDCLIFF
Holy Cross Wilderness
North Fork S . Plat te R i
BRECKENRIDGE
Jefferson Lake
Homestake Creek Mid d
le
LEADVILLE
FAIRPLAY
Fo r
LAKE COUNTY Mount Elbert San Isabel Forebay National Twin Lakes Forest CHAFFEE COUNTY Otero
Pumping Station
Ta rry all Cr Tarryall ee k
Reservoir
iv er
Reservoir
iver as R ans Ark
Tunnel Pipeline Canal Pumpstation Powerplant
PARK COUNTY
ver Ri e t la t So u t h Fork S. P Antero
Reservoir
LEGEND
eR att . Pl kS
Mount Elbert Conduit
r
Homestake Tunnel Turquoise Reservoir
Aurora Reservoir
Aurora-Rampart Reservoir Aurora-Rampart CASTLE ROCK Tunnel
ver
Riv e
Missouri Tunnel Homestake Reservoir
Quincy Reservoir
Chatfield Reservoir Strontia Springs Reservoir
DOUGLAS COUNTY
t te
EAGLE COUNTY
CLEAR CREEK COUNTY
Dillon Reservoir SUMMIT COUNTY
AURORA
Cherry Creek Reservoir
a
S ou th P l
Eagl e Rive r
SILVERTHORNE
DENVER
JEFFERSON COUNTY
TELLER COUNTY
Spinney Mountain Reservoir Eleven Mile Reservoir
EL PASO COUNTY
Rampart
Twin Rock WOODLAND Reservoir PARK Pumping Station
Nichols Reservoir Crystal Creek Reservoir
Homestake Pipeline
North & South Catamount Reservoirs
ers and streams instead of removing it—a new beneficial use under Colorado water law. Land use laws also came about during the 1970s. In 1972, Colorado’s first law on subdivision regulation was adopted, mandating that developers seeking subdivision approval demonstrate their ability to provide adequate water to future residents. House Bill 1041, adopted in 1974, authorized local governments to regulate the development of areas and activities of state interest within their jurisdiction. Referred to as “1041 powers,” this empowerment of local control would have far-reaching implications for water development. Other water regulations included the comprehensive 1972 Water Quality Control Act, which established a Water Quality Control Commission to adopt water quality standards and enforce them. The 1970s also brought another attempt at state water planning in Colorado. Two state Department of Natural Resources employees, Chips Barry and Bill McDonald, put together a report that was later abandoned. The report discussed water-related values including fish and wildlife, recreation, wild and scenic rivers, and water banking. The study didn’t gain much traction, but the idea of incorporating some of these newer environmental values was emerging at the state level. By the 1990s, that environmental ethic
was so mainstream that it brought about another national change: The Bureau of Reclamation rewrote its mission. No longer did Reclamation aim to reclaim and water the arid West. Rather, today the mission is “to manage, develop and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public.”
BUENA VISTA
COLORADO SPRINGS
The Environmental Era The 1960s and 1970s were a revolutionary time of rapid change across the country. Changing values nationwide fueled new federal and state legislation affecting water law, water supply planning, project permitting, and water project development, including future transbasin diversions in Colorado. New federal laws and agencies were emerging, reflecting an environmental ethic across the country. On January 1, 1970, the National Environmental Policy Act became law. The same year, Earth Day was first celebrated. Then followed the Clean Water Act, a bolstered Endangered Species Act, Federal Land Policy and Management Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, and creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Environmentalism grew larger and more effective than ever before. These federal laws, agencies and regulators gave new tools and voice to environmentalists and the general public and embodied the changing times. Planning efforts and state law in Colorado, too, reflected shifting values associated with water. In 1970, Colorado’s population was 2,200,000. Senate Bill 97 passed in 1973, allowing the Colorado Water Conservation Board to hold instream flow water rights to protect the environment, leaving water in riv-
1970 Colorado’s population is 2,207,700. West Slope: 190,300 East Slope: 2,017,400 1972 Clean Water Act passes
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Homestake and Homestake II Projects These value changes were seen by those pursuing transbasin diversion projects as well. Aurora Water and Colorado Springs Utilities had completed the Homestake Project in 1967 to move an average of 23,000 acre-feet of water each year across the Divide to the Arkansas and South Platte basins. A collection of diversion structures first deliver water from tributaries of the Eagle River to the 42,000 acre-foot Homestake Reservoir and then through the 5.5-milelong Homestake Tunnel for storage in Turquoise Reservoir near Leadville. The water is piped south to Twin Lakes Reservoir and then to the Otero Pump Station for delivery through the Homestake Pipeline. Half the water is conveyed to the South Platte River to reach Aurora’s reservoirs; the other half goes to Colorado Springs. But the growing cities needed more water and didn’t want to
1973 Endangered Species Act passes 1975 First Fryingpan-Arkansas Project water is delivered
WATER EDUCATION COLORADO