Aaron Million’s scheme to pump water from the Green River in Wyoming to the Front Range of Colorado may never come to fruition, but if it does, one thing is certain: Water coming out this end of the pipeline will be very expensive.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is conducting an environmental impact study to examine whether Million’s still-incomplete project design has any major flaws. One issue the corps must take into account is whether there would be any demand for this water at the price the project would have to charge. It’s clear the answer is no.
The Million project would be a costly undertaking. As proposed, it would pump 81 billion gallons of water a year (250,000 acre-feet per year, slightly less than Denver Water’s annual use) a distance of nearly 600 miles, requiring at least three new reservoirs and 16 pumping stations to lift the water uphill 3,000 feet.
The Colorado Water Conservation Board estimates the project’s construction cost to be in excess of $7 billion. To cover construction and operating costs, the price of project water would have to be at least $2,200 for each acre-foot provided — which no farmer and few cities can afford.
In late 2009, the Corps of Engineers required Million to demonstrate the project’s purpose and need by providing information on interested customers. In response, Million recently produced a series of non-binding form letters from a few cities and agricultural districts in Colorado and Wyoming saying they could use extra water. Notably absent from Million’s list of interested customers are the three biggest water providers on the Front Range — Denver Water, Aurora Water, and Colorado Springs Utilities.
Million has suggested that agricultural users could initially make use of the tremendous volume of piped water. While irrigated farms consume a large amount of water, they lack the ability to pay for expensive new supplies. According to researchers at Colorado State University, the average irrigated acre in the South Platte Basin generates $345 of net income per acre or around $260 per acre-foot of water — considerably less than the necessary retail price of water provided by Million’s project.
At $2,200 per acre-foot, Million’s project would cost several times as much as some other proposed projects that would serve Denver and other Colorado cities, and three times as much as average water transfers from farmers. And $2,200 per acre-foot does not include any profits that Million’s group, a private enterprise, hopes to gain.
Perhaps the greatest cost of Million’s proposal will be borne by all Colorado water users, since Million’s project would lock up most of the state’s remaining Colorado River allocation. This removal of water from the Colorado River system would also increase the probability that Colorado will not be able to meet its obligation to the Lower Basin under the Colorado River Compact of 1922, an event that would jeopardize existing Western Slope exports to the Front Range.
The Corps of Engineers, water providers, and the state of Colorado must focus on more economic solutions to our state’s water challenges such as urban water conservation, increased agricultural efficiencies and other projects that don’t further damage our unique rivers.
Charles W. Howe is a water resources economist and professor emeritus of economics at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
