2-07 House Committee Lay Over Unamended

• Title: 2-07 House Committee Lay Over Unamended
• IBCC - Doc Type: Legislation

2-07 House Committee Lay Over Unamended

Page 39 of 49

basins so that Colorado can move forward for its meeting its
various water needs now and in the nlture.

Several issues have been raised on this bill. Many of which you've
heard about today, such as who makes the decisions, who has what
authority and who pays for what. I've provided the committee
with copies of legislation and regulations for planning processes
from the states of Washington and North Carolina. There are some
additional copies on the side of the room if others are interested.
As well as a summary of some key points from the Washington bill
as far as how that legislation addresses some of these points.

A key point I want to make today is that there is precedence for the
development of locally initiated and locally led water planning
entities whose representation from a range of water users and other
stakeholders leading to the development and implementation of
effective strategies that address local concerns.

For example, Golder provided both technical and plan
development suppOli for the Nesquale basin in the lower Puget
Sound, the first plan to be completed in Washington involving a
wide range of tribal, federal, municipal and environmental
considerations with a focus on how to provide water supplies to
meet the need within this basin while also addressing the needs of
the state capitol of Olympia, which exports water from the basin
for municipal water supplies.

All the parties involved take on certain obligations as part of that
plan including the federal entities that were at the table. We also
worked with the combined middle and little Spokane basins in the
semi-arid eastern part of the state bordering Idaho, a region with
groundwater surface water interactions and where impacts of
groundwater use in a neighboring state are an important
consideration for water management and water rights decisions.
Sounds like a familiar situation.

This region had habitat issues and a need for wetland restoration,
as well as problems with wastewater treatment plant that could not
discharge their effluent into the stream due to TMVL
considerations.

In the state of Washington the planning process allows integration
of consideration of water quantity, water quality, stream flow and
habitat issues. The plan developed in this basin included a project
that would both restore wetland, habitat and improve water quality
from the municipal wastewater treatment plants effluent, while

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