Castle Rock Council approves pursuit of water

After a month of negotiations with the landowners of property on Colorado 83 and Castle Oaks Road, the Castle Rock Town Council gave a nod at its meeting Thursday to the town’s pursuit of the water rights. The council will vote at a later meeting after an agreement with the landowner, Charles Quisenberry, has been reached.

“The water rights would be an important step in diversifying the town’s portfolio in support of its goal to have 50 percent of water supplies renewable by 2020,” Stan Brown, director of public works, said in a report July 13 to the Castle Rock Town Council.

The town’s water portfolio includes water rights for the deep aquifers or nonrenewable water and rights for shallow ground water or renewable water, said Will Koger, the town’s utilities engineer.

The town could use the water in several ways, Koger said.

“It could use wells on the property to pump water into the (town) system or it could transfer the rights to another location,” Koger said. “One-third of the town is in the Cherry Creek Basin, and these water rights will help.”

The town could pump the water into the town system or it could be diverted to a proposed raw water reservoir in the Cherry Creek Basin before it enters the town’s system, a report to the council says.

A well on Plum Creek pumps between 100 and 150 gallons of water per minute, Koger said. Wells on Cherry Creek pump 1,000 gallons per minute.

“This is a step toward long-range solutions to Castle Rock’s water supply,” Brown said.

The land, just south of Liberty Village, could help supply future development in Liberty Village and Rangeview Ranch, Brown said.

“But that’s several years away,” Brown said.

There are plans to develop a sports complex on the property during the term of the water rights agreement, Quisenberry told members of the council.

As part of the agreement, once the baseball and soccer fields are completed, the town will receive an option to lease those fields for recreation, Koger said.