The issue of who gets the water that flows from the Arkansas River Basin is of great concern to the people of southeastern Colorado at a time of extreme drought, an expanding population in many areas of the state and resulting pressure on limited water resources in the region.

White water rafting accounts for $155 million tourist dollars spent in Colorado in 2011. The biggest hitter is the Arkansas River, which pulls in over 200,000 user days per year. The Colorado Basin draws about 100,000, mostly in the area around Glenwood Canyon and upstream on the main stem of the river. The Gunnison Basin draws a respectable 20,000.

A substitute water supply plan filed Thursday by Nestlé Waters North America requests approval to augment out-of-priority depletions to the Arkansas River resulting from operations at Ruby Mountain Springs near Nathrop.

Drought that began 16 months ago persists in Southeastern Colorado. Baca County is in extreme drought, while much of the Lower Arkansas Valley and the Rio Grande basin are in severe drought, according to the latest assessment by the  U.S. Drought Monitor. The state has activated an agricultural impact task force as the drought moves into its second growing season.

Somewhere in the murky depths of Colorado water, a pot of gold lurks. There have been plenty of private-interest attempts to wrest it free with the development of private water projects to serve growing municipal needs.

Efforts to change federal law to protect groups willing to cleanup polluting mines from legal liability have hit a snag, according to the Obama administration. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said last week that legislative gridlock is keeping President Barrack Obama from his pledge to change the

Humans regularly rejigger rivers, using dams, diversions, riprap and concrete. But in rafting, like many outdoor sports, the risk is part of the thrill. “People die on Longs Peak every year, but we're not going to tear that down,” says Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area senior ranger Stew Pappenfort. So how far should land managers and outfitters go to protect recreationists?

Scientists are trying to understand how water diverted to irrigate crops makes its way back to the Arkansas River along tributaries or as groundwater throughout the basin.