Laramie, Wyo. – The Wyoming Water Development Commission is examining the feasibility of building a huge pipeline to move vast amounts of water across the Continental Divide, from the Green River to the North Platte River.
Such a project could aid growth in Cheyenne, Casper and Laramie while protecting irrigators’ water rights, commission Director Mike Besson said.
But opposition has already arisen among environmentalists and southwest Wyoming residents, and the estimated costs range into the hundreds of millions.
The current proposal calls for a 54-inch steel pipeline that would carry 50,000 acre-feet of water a year. An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover an acre 1 foot deep; 50,000 acre-feet would supply an estimated 200,000 people, or about 40 percent of Wyoming’s population.
Wyoming has rights to 833,000 acre-feet in the Green River. But Besson said 221,300 acre-feet goes unclaimed.
“Our job is to take water from places with an adequate supply and move it to places where it is needed,” he said.
Besson said he launched the study after learning of a proposal in Utah to pipe water from southwestern Wyoming’s Fontenelle Reservoir to the Wasatch Front.
He contends that the water would be better used to bolster the North Platte River. “I just wanted to send the message that we do need this water here in Wyoming,” he said.
The commission examined six possible pipeline routes ranging in cost from $283 million to $752 million. The least expensive route would be from Fontenelle Reservoir to the Sweetwater River, which empties into Pathfinder Reservoir from the west.
The most expensive would be to link Flaming Gorge Reservoir with Seminoe Reservoir.
But Besson said the most politically feasible routes would pipe water from the Flaming Gorge area. That would put the pipeline downstream of Wyoming irrigators and towns.
The diverted water would probably cost $140-$200 per acre-foot.
Besson said industries and municipalities might be able to afford that, but not irrigators.
Gov. Dave Freudenthal opposes the project. Other opponents include Janet Hartford, executive director of the Green River Chamber of Commerce, who said her area depends on the river for tourism, agriculture and business.
If water were diverted, it could stifle growth in southwestern Wyoming, she said.
“When we’re recruiting businesses or when a business is looking to move here, they ask us ‘How much water do you have and how near is it?”‘ she said. “If we’re losing water, we’re losing recreational opportunities and we’re losing fish habitat. We’re also losing our ability to do business recruitment and expansion.” Erik Molvar, a biologist with the Laramie-based Biodiversity Alliance, said diverting water could harm four endangered fish species in the Colorado River. “It’s always a bad idea to take water from a desert watershed,” Molvar said. “We need to look at better ways of supplying our water needs. Destroying our rivers isn’t worth the cost.”
