Editor: In a May 7 Aurora Sentinel opinion column, Aurora House District 36 Rep. Michael Carter took the City of Aurora to task for buying water rights from farmers.
Rep. Carter aptly noted increased labor costs, and that small farmers are “under enormous pressure from historic low commodity prices, rising input cost from tariffs,” but then he incorrectly includes “cities like Aurora buying up their water” as an additional pressure on farmers.
What Rep. Carter doesn’t mention is that Aurora Water doesn’t steal water from anybody, nor do they force farmers to sell their water. Water rights in Colorado are real estate, and in the United States the seller of real estate gets to choose the highest and best offer when it’s time to sell.
Those farmers under economic pressure cannot profit from growing crops, and often there’s no next generation to hand the farm to. They reach a point where they can no longer make a profit with their small farm and most of the value of the farm is in their water rights. Having an honest and reputable buyer of water rights is not a detriment to farmers, rather it is a benefit when farmers reach that most difficult farm decision they ever had to make.
There are several water districts and water investors buying water rights from farmers and these farmers choose Aurora as their buyer. That may be because Aurora Water is a trusted and respected buyer of water rights. As a 52-year resident of Aurora, I commend Aurora Water for continuing to buy water rights when they are available.
In the future, Aurora Water will get through the regulatory hurdles to building additional reservoirs ,and then Aurora will be able to store additional water to tolerate the next drought cycle. Having more water rights to fill Aurora’s reservoirs is a good thing in my opinion. It’s good planning on the part of our Aurora Water leaders for Aurora’s 400,000 residents.
Bob LeGare, resident and former Aurora mayor and member of the city council