Farmers ask state to turn wells back on

DENVER - Alan Mazzotti says there have been six generations of Mazzottis that have farmed the lands of Colorado.

He now fears there will not be a seventh.

"We're raising very limited crops this year, trying to make a living," he said on Monday.

His well is one of nearly 3,000 turned fully off or partially off by the state in the last year or so. Monday he and dozens of other farmers in northeastern Colorado came to the State Capitol to ask for the state to at least temporarily reconsider its decision.

"Agriculture is to the South Platte River like steel was to Pennsylvania," said John Meininger, an attorney who has been representing the interests of the farmers.

Meininger says if things do not change, land could be irrevocably lost.

"For instance, in Morgan County 25 percent of the irrigated land is going to dry up," he said.

Due in large part to the drought, the state has recently started to toughen up its stance when it comes to water rights. Wells, in particular, were targeted because of a 1969 law that requires farmers to essentially put back into the system any water they took out. It has been a requirement that has grown increasingly difficult to follow.

Commissioner John Stulp, with the state's Department of Agriculture, sympathizes with the plight of the farmers.

"This is a very difficult time," Stulp said.

Stulp has 35 years of farming experience in his blood and says he would like to help the farmers impacted by the well issue.

However, he says he simply cannot do a whole lot.

"We can only hope at this point that we're going to get an abundance of moisture, but knowing Colorado, it's unlikely that will happen in the near future," said Stulp.

Despite the abundance of water in the South Platte River right now, he says it really only represents a temporary spike. It is not enough to fulfill the more senior water rights and simultaneously allow the farmers to turn their wells back on.

Mazzotti says he will lobby as hard as he can to change some minds on the state level. He says it is a matter of holding on to the agricultural roots of the state.