The City of Aspen is holding a public open house today to discuss its conditional water rights on Castle and Maroon Creeks.
The city has owned conditional water rights for reservoirs on both Castle and Maroon Creeks since 1965 and must submit what is called a “diligence filing” in state water court to keep those rights this October.
This is a routine filing that takes place every six years, and not a building proposal for reservoirs. According to David Hornbacher with the City of Aspen, owning those water rights is a safeguard for Aspen’s future water needs.
“The real question before us is what is the role of these water rights, along with other tools, that ensure a sustainable water supply for future generations,” Hornbacher said.
Local environmental group Wilderness Workshop has praised the city for holding a public process, but is urging the city to abandon these conditional water rights and seek alternatives.
“The Maroon Bells, the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, Castle and Maroon Creeks, are all not the right places to put dams now or anytime in the future, so we should just take them off the books,” said Will Roush, conservation director for Wilderness Workshop.
The city has ongoing conservation efforts to address future water needs, including projections about climate change and population growth. There are also efforts to fight diversions and keep water in local rivers and streams, which Hornbacher acknowledged were in conflict with the idea of a future dam.
“There are scenarios that do place the needs of this community for water and the needs for in-stream flow right against each other to some degree,” Hornbacher said.
Roush said he hopes the open house is a starting point to reexamine the city’s water needs alongside the long-term health of the surrounding wilderness areas.
“If the city really feels that water storage needs to be part of their strategy, then a comprehensive look at where you could do that would be important, rather than just going with the one water right you happen to hold,” Roush said.
The open house is from 5-6:30 p.m. in the Pitkin County Library community meeting room.
