For decades, the Cheyenne have relied on careful engineering and water concession deals to get most of their water from the headwaters of the Colorado River.
Wyoming water experts say the city is likely to run out of water, so the city may have few alternatives, and asking Laramie County ranches for water probably won’t do the trick.
“It’s not a question of when the waters of the Colorado River will be endangered,” Jim Pike Cowboy State Daily. “The question is what move Cheyenne will make next.”
Pike came to Laramie County in 2007 and began working as a water conservation specialist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Although he retired several years ago, he said he still worries about the future of the county’s water supply as the Cheyenne continues to grow and grow thirsty.
There is no option to look west
Getting more water from ranches west of the city is probably not a good option, Pike said.
For example, the city has used several wells in the past at Polo Ranch West in Cheyenne and FE Warren Air Force Base, he said.
“There is a large depression cone in the groundwater table,” he said.
Tim Dawson of Laramie County, a veterinarian who lived at the Polo Ranch for some time, agreed.
“Riding the Polo in a dry year, the kitchen sink was literally blowing air out,” he told the Cowboy State Daily.
Dawson said the ranch’s original owner, John Morris, who died in 2014, told how the ranch was an “oasis” in the 1950s. But in recent years, Crow Creek hasn’t even flowed through the property. Instead, the water disappears into the crevices and drains completely underground, leaving the creek bottom dry.
Morris and his family have been embroiled in a lawsuit against the city of Cheyenne over water use, and some ranchers in the West still accuse Cheyenne of lowering the water table, Pike said. said.
Weaned from the Colorado River
The headwaters of the Colorado River lie on the other side of Wyoming, but Cheyenne has sourced up to 70% of its water from there for decades.
Cheyenne’s connection to the Colorado River is complicated, Brad Brooks, a directory for the city’s Public Utilities Commission, recently told the Cowboy State Daily.
In western Wyoming, the Little Snake River flows into the Yampa River, the Yampa River flows into the Green River, and the Green River flows into the Colorado River.
Water from the Little Snake River is piped from the western side of the Continental Divide through a three-quarter mile long tunnel near the encampment, Brooks said. From there, Hogghe flows into the Park Reservoir, then into the Encampment River and finally into the North Platte River.
But Cheyenne is fed from Rob Roy Reservoir in the Snowy Mountains, Brooks said. From there, the water flows into the Douglas Drain and into the North Platte.
He said there is a “gallon for gallon” trade between the water coming out of the Little Snake River and the water coming out of Rob Roy Reservoir.
The system dates back to the 1960s, and water rights were formulated in the 1950s, Brooks said.
So far, that system has provided enough water for Cheyenne. But there are growing concerns that political instability downstream could change that. The controversy over the water inside is heating up.
There are concerns that these spiteful politics may reverberate upstream. The cold weather has resulted in the elimination of several relatively recent water rights, including Cheyenne’s roundabout claim to the headwaters of the Colorado River.
Rethinking irrigation
In Laramie County, the majority of water from local sources comes from wells that provide overhead pivot irrigation of cultivated land, Pike said.
Most of these farm wells date back to the 1950s or so, he said. However, given its relatively poor ability to grow on such naturally dry, high-altitude land, he questions its long-term efficiency.
During his tenure at NRCS, Pike said he persuaded many farmers to give up pivot irrigation and let the land dry out. The agency paid them from he $900 to he $1,800 per acre to do so.
“After 30 to 40 years, their wells were getting weaker. rice field. “Perhaps their irrigation pivots are worn out and it will cost him $100,000 to replace one of those pivots.
“And many of those farmers belonged to the age group who weren’t interested in reinvesting that kind of money.”
In many cases, these irrigation purchases have helped restore groundwater levels, Pike said.
Quit Punching Wells?
He added that on the west side of Interstate 25, farmers and other county residents have created a “county-controlled area” to prohibit the construction of new wells. But when the oil boom hit parts of Laramie County in 2015, the state took over allowing businesses to dig wells to supply water for fracking.
That policy was supposed to be reviewed in 2020, but it wasn’t, Pike said.
He fears that things will continue to get worse as cities, counties, farmers and housing developers now compete for reduced water supplies, and the continued demand for new wells.
In the meantime, he supports continuing to persuade farmers to stop pivot irrigation.
“I think we are on good terms,” he said. “If the city, county and state work together, I think we can solve this problem.”
Some ranches can rely on natural streams, such as from Crow Creek, Dawson says. Especially after a heavy snowy winter like this one, the Cheyenne could have done more to capture runoff from the snow in their reservoirs in the Laramie Mountains.
That’s better than blowing everything low-lying in a rapid runoff and escaping useful application, he said.
Pike added that surface water and groundwater should be managed as a single resource with a long-term conservation perspective. Unfortunately, the current situation is that “water goes to gold”.
Dawson agreed it could come down to money.
“You can generate more tax revenue from five acres with a domestic well and a house over it than from five acres of prairie grass with an old man running cattle,” he said.
Photo: Pivot irrigation may be something Laramie County farmers struggle to maintain as Cheyenne’s share of Colorado River water dwindles. (Getty Images)
