Four major Front Range water managers have requested a state hearing to fully air their objections to a Western Slope plan to purchase historic, coveted Colorado River water rights. The Colorado River Water Conservation District, which represents 15 Western Slope counties, is leading the effort to purchase the $99 million water rights tied to the century-old Shoshone Power Plant, owned by a subsidiary of Xcel Energy. The district wants to buy the rights to protect historical water resources for Western Slope communities long into the future. Front Range water managers — Aurora Water, Denver Water, Colorado Springs Utilities and Northern Water — also want to maintain the historical flows past Shoshone which provides stability for their water supplies. They just disagree over the numbers, namely how much water is included in the deal. If the number is too high, it could throw a wrench in their water systems.

Other Colorado River Basin news:

• KUNC (Greeley, Colo.): A deadline looms for a new Colorado River plan. What happens if there isn’t one?
• KJZZ (Phoenix, Ariz.): Despite good snowpack, only 54% of average runoff made it into Lake Powell
• The Durango Herald (Colo.): Spring rains spared Southwest Colorado farmers from ‘disaster year’
• Bureau of Reclamation: News release: Reclamation makes significant progress on key infrastructure on the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project