water water everywhere…

Karl Nyquist defends pipeline plan
Lamar pipeline’s benefits, drawbacks debated – The Pueblo Chieftain

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Elbert County Commissioners continue decision on metro district

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Note: Gravel pits never built and now planned to be used for water storage were sold to neighbors as gravel pits.

Gravel pit gets nod from commission
Gravel pit representatives pitch site

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Cherokee Metropolitan District Special Meeting Of The Board of Directors

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GP Water Plans Outlined in August Meetings in Lamar

August 1st, 2011 GP Water Group announces water deal in Arkansas River Basin (DENVER) –
GP Resources, LLC, a Colorado-based farming and natural resources firm, announced plans today to provide water to Front Range communities, Elbert County, and others as part of a new regional water project intended to serve as a model for how in-state water transfers can be done in a way that benefits all communities involved. The project involves limited amounts of ground water from Elbert County and a significant amount of agricultural surface water from the lower Arkansas River, both of which are privately owned by GP. It is anticipated that the project will create jobs and provide homeowners and businesses with access to much-needed renewable water supplies, helping them to solve the increasing problems associated with reliance on aquifer resources.

GP will hold a series of public information sessions to describe its plans in detail, take questions, and listen to community viewpoints in order to further increase the project’s benefits. Two meetings have already been scheduled in Lamar. These meetings will take place on August 16th and August 23rd from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in the multi-purpose room of the Lamar Community Building. Additional meeting times and locations in Elbert county and other venues will be announced soon. In an effort to make this project a model for how agricultural transfers should be done, GP will take guidance from the Water Transfer Template developed by the Arkansas River Roundtable as a framework for addressing the needs and concerns of all stakeholders. Significant groundwork has gone into project analysis, finance, and planning. Key components include: — Investments in equipment, systems, and practices to increase the efficiencies of current water consumption on GP’s farms based in Lamar.

Large portions of the farms will continue to operate after the project is completed and the remaining water will become available for municipal use after going through Colorado’s mandated water court process. The court process ensures that downstream agricultural and municipal users will not be adversely affected by the change in use. Furthermore, because this is an existing diversion, the project will not remove any water from the Arkansas basin that is not already being consumed and therefore should have minimal environmental impacts — Investments in GP’s water rights and systems in Elbert County, involving an upgrade of the capabilities of a local water District to allow transmission of GP’s privately owned and adjudicated water on an interim basis to a water district in the greater Colorado Springs area. This will include construction of a below-ground pipeline through or adjacent to an existing service easement for most of the alignment and will bring much-needed relief to the community, which has experienced problems with its current water sources.

Upon delivery of GP’s renewable water supply to this community, the same pipeline will be re-used to deliver additional renewable water to Elbert County and others. –Investments in water treatment, storage, and transmission facilities which will allow the efficient movement of GP’s excess Lamar water to Front Range communities and Elbert County, providing them with a stable, cost-effective, and renewable water supply. Additionally, jobs will be created in both counties through the construction, on-going maintenance and operation of the system. To implement these plans, GP is currently in discussions with several water districts to provide them with as efficient a solution to their water needs as possible. GP has also had preliminary consultations with relevant County authorities to ensure its project is responsive to local needs and provides a win-win for key stakeholders. GP plans to continue these efforts through immediate contact with all interested parties in the Arkansas Valley and along the Front Range.

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Lamar Canal focus of pipeline plan

By CHRIS WOODKA | cwoodka@chieftain.com | Posted: Friday, August 5, 2011 12:00 am
A company proposing to build a 150-mile pipeline from Lamar to El Paso and Elbert counties owns about 40 percent of the land and water on the Lamar Canal.

The GP Water Group of Littleton spent the past nine years quietly buying shares on the canal, which has one of the oldest water rights on the Arkansas River, with the intent of both farming and selling water to satisfy Front Range municipal water needs.

While the company’s initial client, the Cherokee Water District near Colorado Springs, would receive Elbert County groundwater, the goal is to develop a renewable source from the Lower Arkansas Valley to serve communities that are essentially mining their groundwater reserves, said Karl Nyquist, CEO of GP Water.

“Our goal is to create the most value for the water we already own, while having a net positive economic impact for Prowers County,” Nyquist said.

The 24-inch-diameter pipeline would be capable of delivering up to 12,000 acre-feet of water annually — equivalent to a little less than half of the potable water used in Pueblo each year. Nyquist said the water would be sold for $6-$6.80 per thousand gallons, which is a competitive rate for growing urban areas along the Front Range.

The project would require a change case of water rights in Division 2 Water Court. If all goes according to schedule, the pipeline could be built and delivering water within five years.

Nyquist wouldn’t discuss the total cost of the project.

The water would be destined to fill the gap in municipal supplies, particularly in northern El Paso and Elbert counties. Some of the Arkansas River might end up in the South Platte River basin, since both counties straddle the divide between the two basins.

GP has had preliminary discussions with Castle Rock and other users in the South Platte basin as well.

“Going after renewable water in this market is a challenge for metropolitan water providers, who are already dealing with rising tap fees,” Nyquist said. “Our plan is to do all the heavy lifting.”

GP Water owns about 4,000 acres of farmland along the Lamar Canal, and intends to continue farming some of it, adding improvements to increase the value of crops raised.

The company also plans to build a treatment plant in Prowers County that would create jobs. Surface water supplies at Lamar are high in salinity, so treatment is needed to make the water suitable for drinking.

“A water treatment plant would provide good jobs and would increase the tax value of the land,” Nyquist said.

GP has consultants working on the issue of brine disposal.

The potential for creating underground storage in the alluvial aquifer with other water users in Prowers County is also being studied, Nyquist said.

The historical consumptive use of the water GP owns on the Lamar Ditch is about 8,000-10,000 acre-feet annually, which is the amount the company would move on its own. To continue farming, GP has purchased about 1,100 shares of well augmentation water through the Lower Arkansas Water Management Association.

While there are legal hurdles to overcome in order to move the water, GP has lined up top water lawyers and engineers to address the issues.

“We think that by using the water where we take it (at the Lamar Canal headgate), there would be no injuries to water users west,” Nyquist said. “On the Arkansas River Compact issue, we don’t think we’ll need Kansas approval, but, like in the Tri-State case, they will let Colorado be the policeman.”

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association bought nearly half of the Amity Canal in Prowers County in 2007 and plans to use water and land from the purchase for a future power plant near Holly. Water rights were changed, with input from Colorado, in 2009.

Steve Witte, Water Division 2 engineer and operations secretary for the Arkansas River Compact Administration, disagrees.

“You’re talking about moving water, any water, out of District 67, and that’s bright-red letter language out of the compact. I definitely think it would have to come before the Compact Administration,” Witte said.

Although parts of Elbert and El Paso counties are also in District 67, they are not large populations centers that could benefit from the water, Witte said.

If the plan goes through, there would be some excess capacity in the pipeline which could be used by others, such as Super Ditch, to move water that is sold outside the area.

“We have not talked to the Super Ditch,” Nyquist said. “We thought it was important to get our ducks lined up first, but, yes, there would be some flexibility.”

The pipeline would follow U.S. 287 north of Lamar, cutting cross-country on an oil-and-gas right-of-way for which GP purchased options. It would then follow Colorado 94 into El Paso County. Elbert County is just north of Highway 94 and could be served by the pipeline as well.

Nyquist and P. David Pretzler are partners in C&A Holding Co., which has built more than 1,000 homes, mostly in Colorado, while at the same time preserving more than 2,400 acres of open space, including a project near Lamar.

The third partner in GP Water is David R. Bechtel, managing member of Outpost Capital Management LLC, a firm specializing in alternative investment management, fund development and capital formation.

GP Water also developed Wild Pointe Ranch near Elizabeth in Elbert County, and Nyquist and Pretzler are board members of the Elbert and Highway 86 Commercial and Metro District and an associated company that owns Elbert County water rights — about 700 acre-feet of Denver Basin groundwater.

Elbert County commissioners on Aug. 24 will consider a request to expand the district’s scope to statewide service. GP Water is planning five public meetings in Elbert, El Paso and Prowers counties over the next three weeks to explain its plan.

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Proposed pipeline concerns citizens of Front Range, Ark Valley

Lola Shrimplin Posted: 08/04/2011 01:46:24 PM MDT

A proposed pipeline from Lamar to Elbert County has created concerns throughout the Arkansas Valley and into the Front Range.    Karl Nyquist and GP Resources, proposes to build the pipeline from a location near County Road HH.5, just east of Lamar, where GP Ranches has a permit to build a gravel pit.

Nyquist told the Elbert County Commissioners that the Highway 86 Commercial Metro District owns shares in the Lamar Canal, which outrank those of Pueblo, Colorado Springs and Aurora. According to a press release from Nyquist, contributions for the pipeline from Elbert County would include the approval of the Water District Expansion Plan and temporary export of privately owned groundwater already adjucated for Municipal and Industrial use    Hes stuck his stick not into a hornet’s nest, but into a rattlesnake nest, Dan Rasmussen, who lives across from the proposed gravel pit said.

The benefits to Elbert County would be large, including Performance Improvement Framework (PIF) revenue from commercial projects and a renewable water source for the community.The oil and gas industry would not deplete groundwater supplies, the pipeline would provide economic growth and jobs, and the pipeline would provide a long term solution for communities with water issues.   Additionally, property values would increase, due to a secure water supply.Prowers County would experience some loss of irrigated farmland, export of some privately owned water out of the basin and loss of seasonal farm labor jobs, according to the release.

The benefits outweigh the contributions, GP said in the release, including re-irrigation of some farmland using wells, more efficient and economically viable farming, using pivot irrigation, an increased tax base from the treatment plant and other infrastructure, creation of higher paying, permanent jobs and economic diversity through gravel pit operation and the treatment plant.   Water storage, water treatment and a municipal water source for local entities would also be provided, according to the release.Significant groundwork has gone into project analysis, finance, and planning.

Key components include:Investments in equipment, systems, and practices to increase the efficiencies of current water consumption on GP’s farms based in Lamar.Large portions of the farms will continue to operate after the project is completed and the remaining water will become available for municipal use after going through Colorado’s mandated water court process.

The court process ensures that downstream agricultural and municipal users will not be adversely affected by the change in use. Furthermore, because this is an existing diversion, the project will not remove any water from the Arkansas basin that is not already being consumed and therefore should have minimal environmental impacts.Investments in GP’s water rights and systems in Elbert County, involving an upgrade of the capabilities of a local water District to allow transmission of GP’s privately owned and adjudicated water on an interim basis to a water district in the greater Colorado Springs area.

This will include construction of a below-ground pipeline through or adjacent to an existing service easement for most of the alignment and will bring much-needed relief to the community, which has experienced problems with its current water sources.Upon delivery of GP’s renewable water supply to this community, the same pipeline will be re-used to deliver additional renewable water to Elbert County and others.Investments in water treatment, storage, and transmission facilities which will allow the efficient movement of GP’s excess Lamar water to Front Range communities and Elbert County, providing them with a stable, cost-effective, and renewable water supply. Additionally, jobs will be created in both counties through the construction, on-going maintenance and operation of the system.

Bent County Commission Chairman Bill Long said he hopes to attend one of the scheduled meetings in Lamar.   “I am very the skeptical of the proposed pipeline for many reasons including compact issues, cost, water quality concerns and the proponents avoiding (at least to this point) the water transfer processes developed by the basin roundtables,” Long said.

The proposal also seems to contradict a multiyear Colorado Water Conservation Board study which determined that the Arkansas River Basin was the most expensive basin to develop a water supply for Front Range users. These projects generally benefit the area and people where the water goes to rather than the communities it is taken from,” Long continued.

The Elbert County Commissioners again delayed a vote on the proposal to expand the power of the Highway 86 Commercial Metro District until Aug. 24.

Chief among concerns in Elbert County is the fear that any water received will be used for oil and gas exploration and not for human consumption.

In Prowers County, the Prowers County Commissioners have not been informed of anything, beyond the gravel pit, which they approved in 2009, Prowers County Commission Chairman Henry Schnabel said.   The last time he heard anything pertaining to the pit was three months ago, he said. “I look forward to finding out, myself,” Schnabel said.

Nyquist reportedly told the Elbert County Commissioners that the water taken from the gravel pits would be delivered by pipeline to Elbert County and other places within the proposed Metro District.

The gravel pits have not yet been built and the land proposed for their construction is currently a cornfield.    GP Ranches would need a gas line and electricity to transport the water, Rasmussen said. There is no gas line in the proposed area, although one had been suggested by People’s Natural Gas and then Atmos, to supply residents of County Road HH.5 with a source of fuel, according to Rasmussen.Rasmussen said People’s and Atmos requested that the residents along County Road HH.5 build their own line to attach to the existing one, on the condition that once the gas was turned on it would become the property of the gas company.   No gas line has been built, Rasmussen said.

On the maps of the proposed gravel pits, a railroad spur is shown right next to the Rasmussen’s driveway.    “He (Nyquist) could have avoided all the fight with the railroad spur by buying everybody out,” Rasmussen said.

When asked if landowners would sell their property, Rasmussen said if Nyquist were to approach him right now, the answer would be no. “If he has enough money to build the pipeline to Elbert County, that’s what it’s going to cost to buy us out,” Rasmussen said.

A meeting to discuss the proposed pipeline will be conducted from 7-9 p.m. on Aug. 16 and Aug. 23 in the multipurpose room of the Lamar Community Building.

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