Glen Kobobel stands in a 420-acre field of corn, knowing that in a few weeks the light-green stalks will turn brown.
Kobobel’s crops will soon die because emergency well water that he and about 200 other northern Colorado farmers were counting on isn’t available and may never be available again.
“It’s depressing,” Kobobel said. “There’s a doom- and-gloom atmosphere.”
The farmers’ last hope for an emergency supply of water was dashed Friday when three cities and about 375 farmers who use the river for irrigation rejected an emergency plan to bring water from the Western Slope.
“It’s just a disaster situation for these farmers,” said Greg Hertzke, water acquisitions manager for the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District, which represents the well users. “We’re kind of out of options at this point.”
Hertzke said the district might seek federal disaster relief.
The towns of Boulder, Highlands Ranch and Sterling said in a letter that the emergency plan offered no assurance the farmers whose wells pump water from an aquifer and draw down the South Platte River would replace enough of that water.
“It robs water from Boulder citizens to cover well users who have avoided buying and paying for water for decades now,” said Carol Ellinghouse, Boulder’s water resources coordinator.
The plan would have delivered about 10,000 acre-feet of water to replace water used by about 200 Eastern Plains farms in Adams, Morgan and Weld counties. The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District had agreed to exchange water from Windy Gap Reservoir near Granby for an emergency supply of Big Thompson River water.
An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons of water, about enough to serve the needs of two families of four for a year.
Thinking they were assured of getting the emergency water this year, Kobobel and other family members who run a 1,600-acre wheat and corn farm near Wiggins planted a portion of their sprawling fields.
They lost $60,000 for the cost of seeds, pesticides and fertilizer. But the family stands to lose much more because the water it had been relying on for decades may never be available again.
“We’ve got several million dollars in this land, and now it’s worth nothing,” Kobobel’s father, Elmer Kobobel, said.
Already, for-sale signs are up in abundance. But property that was worth $400,000 for 160 acres just three years ago won’t sell for a fraction of that amount, Kobobel said.
Cattle rancher Gary Weibert said he will soon have to sell off cows because he won’t be able to grow feed for the animals. He stands to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many farmers are losing everything, he said.
The well owners sought relief after the state engineer shut off their irrigation wells in May because of an insufficient plan to replace the water.
“They should have never planted,” said Steven Janssen, attorney for the 375 farmers who are against the emergency plan.
After the 2002 drought, river users successfully sued to stop the well owners.
A 2003 state law required them to come up with a permanent plan by this year to replace the water they pumped.
While the central district’s temporary plan was rejected this year, the district will present its permanent plan in February, Hertzke said. The district’s strategies include building new reservoirs and purchasing water rights from towns.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-820-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
