There are several projects to pull water off of Flaming Gorge Reservoir in the works. One is a proposal by the Aaron Million (Million Conservation Resource Group) called the “Regional Watershed Supply Project”, to draw 250,000 acre-feet off of the Green and pipe it 560 miles to the Colorado Front Range. Also, Parker Water Conservation and Sanitation District is looking at the feasibility of drawing about 160,000 acre-feet of water off the reservoir to serve Wyoming and Colorado. The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District was also looking at the Green as a resource, but that plan was put on hold in 2009.

Out of all the plans, the Regional Watershed Supply Project is furthest along in development. Currently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement. But that isn’t the only hurdle for the project to move forward. The Bureau of Reclamation would have to give Million a contract to draw water off of the reservoir, and he would also need federal approval to cross public lands with the pipeline.

Colorado has rights to the Green River under the 1922 Colorado River Compact, which allocates water between seven western states. The compact divides the river basin into two regions, the Upper Basin (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah & New Mexico) and the Lower Basin (California, Arizona & Nevada). One of the criticisms of the compact is that the amount of water allocated was unrealistic since it was calculated during an abnormally wet period. Currently, the Bureau of Reclamation is also trying to predict what effect Climate Change will have on the region’s water flow.

Map of Million Pipeline Project

Links to water development of Green River

Green River, Wyoming (Powell)
• Bureau of Reclamation “law of the river”
1922 Colorado River Compact
• PDF of the original agreement
• This historical document allocated the Colorado among the seven Colorado River Basin states. Each basin is entitled to 7.5 million-acre feet of consumptive use annually and the Lower Basin is given an additional 1 million-acre feet in annual consumptive use. In addition, thee compact specifies how water would be allocated to Mexico should a treaty be signed. Finally, the Upper Basin agreed not to cause the flow at Lee Ferry to drop below 75 million acre feet every 10 running years.