Rocky Mountain National Park wins a landmark $9 million settlement from the Grand River Ditch

$9 million settlement in 2003 ditch break

By Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News

Monday, May 5, 2008

Rocky Mountain National Park has won a $9 million settlement from the owners of the historic Grand River Ditch to repair damage caused when the ditch ruptured in the spring of 2003.

"This is good for everybody," said Rocky Mountain National Park Superintendent Vaughn Baker. "It means we can shift the focus from the damage assessment and litigation and begin planning for the restoration."

It is one of the largest settlements of its kind, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

The Park sued the Fort Collins-based Water Supply and Storage Co., which owns the ditch, in 2006 to recover the cost of restoring wetlands damaged when the ditch ruptured in May of 2003.

The 117-year-old ditch is older than the park, and winds along a ridge high in the Never Summer Mountains on land that now lies within the park boundaries. It collects water from the Colorado River and delivers it to cities and farms on the northern Front Range.

But disaster struck in the spring of 2003, just weeks after a massive blizzard blanketed the Front Range and took snowpacks to historic levels.

The weight of the snow and ice proved too much for the historic ditch which ruptured, wiping out trails and campsites and disrupting wetlands that lay far below in the scenic Kawuneeche Valley.

The federal lawsuit was set for trial this week, with the federal government seeking $12 million in damages plus interest.

The ditch, one of the oldest transmountain diversion projects in the state, is 14.77 miles long and delivers 18,600 acre feet of water to farmers in northern Colorado. An acre foot equals about 326,000 gallons of water, enough to serve two urban homes for one year.

Cities such as Greeley, Fort Collins and Thornton own shares in the ditch, but continue to lease that water to growers.

"Rather than spending more money on lawyers and appeals, we decided to go ahead and see if we could reach a settlement," said Dennis Harmon, manager of the Water Supply and Storage Company.

Harmon said insurance would pay a portion of the settlement costs, but that the ditch company would likely have to sell assets to make up the rest.

Harmon said the two sides negotiated through the weekend to reach an agreement in the five-year-old dispute.

"We feel reasonably good about it," Harmon said. "This avoids the risk of taking this to trial and it will provide some funds to the park.

The agreement comes as a congress deliberates on pending legislation that would designate the park as a wilderness area.