U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said he will draft a bill to transfer ownership of Crystal Reservoir to the city of Ouray, a move that could help secure the long-term future of the reservoir, which was drawn down earlier this year.
Standing on the shore of the mostly-drained reservoir during a visit on Oct. 9, Bennet heard from local leaders and stakeholders about the history and significance of the site.
“We will do whatever it is we can do to help write a piece of legislation to make the conveyance a possibility,” he told the Plaindealer.
The U.S. Forest Service’s drawdown of the reservoir in April — attributed to concerns over the structural integrity and potential liability of the Full Moon Dam — ignited challenges from Ouray County and the city, which claims the drawdown has harmed local recreation, tourism and its disputed water storage rights in the reservoir.
Ouray’s request for a congressional conveyance is its most recent move to try to restore the reservoir, despite having known about a potential drawdown since 2020.
Interim City Administrator Joe Coleman sent a letter to Bennet in September asking for the reservoir and its water rights, the dam and 45 acres to be transferred to the city for free.
“It’s all compelling … the use of the water for augmentation, the cherished nature of this landscape for the people that live in Ouray and on the Western Slope of Colorado as well as the importance to out-of-state visitors,” Bennet said.
During the visit, Ouray District Ranger Dana Gardunio characterized the dam and its drawdown as a public safety situation and attributed the structural faults found in numerous inspections to the age of the dam, which was built in 1935.
She said the Forest Service proceeded with the drawdown based on recommendations from multiple agencies, including the state dam safety engineer, to keep the reservoir at zero storage.
Ouray Mayor Ethan Funk told the senator his main concern is how the drawdown affects the city’s water augmentation plan, which goes into effect in the event of a drought. Crystal Reservoir is one of multiple water sources referenced in the city’s drought plan despite a lingering dispute over the city’s water storage rights.
“We did everything right in terms of long-term planning and now we have a problem, and that’s a bit of a morale blow because you think you’re doing everything according to process … and then it turns out that what you’ve come up with actually has a potentially fatal flaw. So it hurts to have done that long-term planning and then have a big wrench like this thrown into that augmentation,” he said.
Bennet asked the group how many times the city has had a call on its water source, which remains unclear.
Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership Executive Director Tanya Ishikawa, who joined the visit as a stakeholder, said the nonprofit organization considers using an existing dam for an augmentation supply as the best option.
County Commissioner Lynn Padgett, who first reached out to Bennet’s office about a conveyance, told the senator Ouray is ready to take on the liability of the dam and commit to keep the reservoir free and full.
Padgett said it was shocking that the Forest Service didn’t notify the county of their public safety concerns until January, despite having first classified the dam as a “high hazard” in 2016, meaning it would cause significant damage downstream should it breach. The county is the first responder in the event of an emergency, she said.
Funk said he found flaws in the 2016 report, including the fact that there is another privately owned dam downstream.
Gardunio said the Forest Service is currently awaiting two separate studies, one which looks at the scenarios under which the dam could fail and the probabilities of those scenarios and one which re-evaluates the dam hazard rating based on downstream impacts should the dam breach. Both are expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Bennet said he was pretty certain a conveyance would be possible but was interested in learning more about the concerns brought forth earlier this summer from the state dam engineer.
“We’ll study the question and see if we can come up with an imaginative result,” he said.
He also said given the fact the conveyance could take a long time to achieve, he was interested in exploring interim solutions and invited further discussion on the issue.
John Whitney, Bennet’s senior advisor, said the bill is a relatively simple piece of legislation, but the earliest it could be introduced would be during the next congressional session, which starts in January.
