Board Member Honored During Water Forum
WALSENBURG, CO, March 5, 2025: The Arkansas Basin Water Forum announced on March 5, 2025 that its annual Bob Appel “Friend of the Arkansas” Award has been awarded posthumously to Michael “Sandy” White, of La Veta. White was a member of the Huerfano County Water Conservancy District (HCWCD) Board of Directors from 2012 until his passing in September 2024. The award honors an individual who has served and worked to improve the condition of the Arkansas River in southeastern Colorado through promoting best management practices in the usage of water, including contributions in development, preservation, conservation, and/or leadership.
The award ceremony recognized White for his 34-year career in Colorado water law, followed by his devotion to community affairs after his retirement to Huerfano County in 2004. Over the years, he served the Huerfano County Federal Mineral Lease District, La Veta Fire Protection District, La Veta-Cuchara Foundation, Huerfano County Historical Society, Huerfano County Planning Commission, Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative, and Arkansas Basin Roundtable, among other organizations.
White was appointed by the District Judge to the HCWCD board at a critical time, when HCWCD, at the urging of Division of Water Resources (DWR), was pursuing a Water Court decree to establish its Huerfano Basin Regional Augmentation Plan. The plan, finally adjudicated in 2016, provides a way for participants to augment municipal, domestic and commercial junior water uses in the basin to alleviate injury to senior water rights holders.
Grants
Over the years, White’s input and guidance were key to successful applications for state and federal grant funding of over $2.6-million to help support projects by HCWCD and cooperating partners in Huerfano County.
Projects totaling nearly $5.3-million in on-the-ground improvements and engineering studies have included:
• Upper Cucharas pre-fire watershed assessment
• Purchase of ranch and water rights for Huerfano Basin Augmentation Plan
• Construction of Sheep Mountain Augmentation Facility
• Spring Creek Fire remediation (multiple projects and grants over 6 years)
• Post-fire water diversion headgates study, mapping
• Flood emergency warning gages installation and monitoring
• Water infrastructure improvements for administration in both river basins
• Collaborative storage studies in the Cucharas River basin
• Efforts to rebuild and increase water storage capacity in Huerfano County
Partners, many of which White personally invited to cooperate and participate financially, in these projects included: Huerfano County, Town of La Veta, City of Walsenburg, Cucharas Sanitation & Water District, Huerfano County Federal Mineral Lease District, Maria Lakes Grazing Association, Colorado Division of Water Resources, Colorado Water Conservation Board, Arkansas Basin Roundtable, Upon the Rock Camp, Colorado Department of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment, US EPA Region 8/Western Area Power Authority, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative.
Water Storage
When it came to studying the water storage options in Huerfano County, White strongly encouraged HCWCD to invite a broad variety of organizations to the table. Over the ten-plus-year process, the following participated in meetings and discussions: Cucharas Sanitation and Water District, Town of La Veta, City of Walsenburg, Maria Lakes Grazing Association, HCWCD, and Huerfano County, all of which provided local grant matches, as have the La Veta Fire Protection District, Upon the Rock Camp and the Huerfano County Federal Mineral Lease District. The Colorado Division of Water Resources provided substantial in-kind assistance. Also participating in the meetings of the Collaborative were representatives of the United States Forest Service, NRCS, Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife, Upper Huerfano Fire Protection District, and Colorado State Forest Service.
The collaborative planning process involved investigations around creation and/or rehabilitation of storage vessels that would help rebuild the water storage capacity within the Arkansas River watershed. With his civil engineering background, White provided valuable insights. In late 2022 on behalf of the Storage Collaborative, HCWCD applied to USDA NRCS for designation of a USDA PL-566 Small Watershed Project in the Cucharas River watershed. The proposed combined project would build Bruce Canyon Reservoir (1233 af) and enlarge Maria Stevens Reservoir (642 af). The request has progressed past the feasibility study phase and is in the hands of NRCS. Under PL-566, further engineering design for both reservoirs by NRCS would be covered at 100%, with the cost of eventual construction – estimated today at $32-million – covered at 75%.
Statewide, White was involved in developing the Colorado State Water Plans of 2015 and 2023 to meet Colorado's most critical water challenges. Regionally, he also participated in development of the 2017 and the 2021 update of the Arkansas Basin Implementation Plan to address water needs of agriculture, community growth and maintaining river flows.
About HCWCD:
Huerfano County Water Conservancy District was organized by landowner petition on September 27,1971 in Huerfano County District Court under the Colorado Water Conservancy Act of 1963, CRS Section 37-45-101. Separate from County government or municipalities, HCWCD opposes Water Court applications that threaten the stability of water rights and water availability in Huerfano County. It also operates the Huerfano River Basin Augmentation Program, as well as grant projects for water infrastructure, Cucharas Storage Collaborative, Spring Creek Fire remediation, plus efforts toward building storage in the Cucharas River basin.
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