Lawmakers kill bill to regulate recreational water use

DENVER - In a victory for Colorado's burgeoning river-running business, the state House on Tuesday killed a measure that would have limited the amount of water that can be set aside for kayaking, fishing and swimming.

"This will help save the whitewater industry," said Chaffee County Commissioner Jerry Mallett, spokesman for a coalition that fought the bill.

The bill would have limited future whitewater courses and other river-based recreational parks to 350 cubic feet of water per second when water supplies are low.

Proponents said the measure was necessary to keep whitewater parks in a few small towns from hogging water that agriculture - the state's largest industry - might need. Opponents said the bill was an attempt by farmers and ranchers to squeeze out the whitewater business.

"They are the new kid on the block. They need more water than the historical flow. They need two, three or four times the water allowed in that bill," said Kent Vertrees, a Steamboat Springs outfitter who offers fishing, rafting and tubing trips.

Vertrees and others say river-running businesses provide jobs by luring tourists to Colorado after the snow melts and the ski bums head home.

Whitewater advocates said the law is too strict already, because it requires them to get permission from water rights owners and adjacent landowners to keep enough water in a river for river-running.