IBCCAnnualReport103106

• Title: Interbasin Compact Committee Annual Report
• Date: 10/31/2006
• Author: CDM
• Interbasin CC - Doc Type: Annual Legislative Report

Section 1
Report from the Director of Compact Negotiations

The dialogue on water in Colorado has changed. In
2005, the Colorado Water for the 21 st Century Act (the
Act) created a collaborative process as a new approach
to addressing our water needs.

Historical water-use patterns have caught up with our
choices of where we live and work. Increasingly,
communities have outgrown available water supplies.
This predicament was created over time and will
continue to become more dramatic as Colorado's
population continues to grow and its water uses and
needs change. To correct this problem by moving water
from place-to-place without regard for the communities,
economies, and the environment does not recognize the
value and importance of water in all parts of Colorado.

Solutions to our water problems in the past, and far too
often, have been viewed as creating winners and losers.
However, this need not be the case. There is no question
that compromise is in order and will be necessary to
accommodate the many competing water uses in
Colorado - but it does not mean we are dealing with a
zero sum proposition. This is the backdrop behind the
collaborative process created by the Act. This initiative,
also called the Interbasin Compact Process, is based
upon the premise that Coloradans must work together to

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Figure 1-1
The Nine Basin Roundtables

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address the water needs within our entire state.

In order to foster this cooperation, the Act sets up a
framework that provides a permanent forum for broad-
based water discussions. It created two new structures:
1) nine independent Basin Roundtables; and 2) The
Interbasin Compact Committee (IBCC), a statewide
committee that addresses issues between basins. The
process initiated by the Act encourages Coloradans to
face our water challenges. It broadens the range of
stakeholders who actively participate in the state's water
decisions, and it creates a locally-driven process where
the decision-making power is exactly where it should be
- in the hands of those living throughout the state's river
basins.

This report to the legislature documents the activities of
the Interbasin Compact process since the passage of the
Act. It discusses the formation of the nine Basin
Roundtables and the IBCC, summarizes IBCC and Basin
Roundtable accomplishments, reviews the
implementation of Senate Bill (SB) 06-179 and House Bill
(HB) 06-1400, and outlines future plans for the Interbasin
Compact process.

The Interbasin Compact process is experiencing
resounding success thanks to over 300 Coloradans
volunteering their time, energy, and creative thought
to addressing our water challenges. As this process
continues, we want to thank the General Assembly
for honoring the work of these citizens by providing
the framework and resources necessary to have a
robust and productive grassroots decision-making
process.

1.1 Formation of Basin

Roundtables and Basin

Roundtable Membership

The Act established nine separate Basin
Roundtables, shown in Figure 1-1. There is one for
each of the state's eight major river basins, and a
"Metro Roundtable" for the Denver metropolitan
area.

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