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coLa~ADa DENVER 1536 Wynkoop Street, 5( Denver, (0 80202 303.534.1066 GRAND JUNCTION CRAIG 546 Main Street, #402 11 W. Victory Way, #208 Grand Junction, CO 81501 Craig, CO 81625 910.243.0002 970.824.5241 ENVIRi]Ni1NENTAL ~t~ALITIt?Yu 1.daki0~1}~S 1t0iC® ~di xanurratiaar s'stie 19G5 November 9, 2007 Colorado Water Conservation Board 1313 Sherman Street, Room 721 Denver, Colorado 80203 Re: Legislation Strengthening Colorado's Instream Flow Program Dear Board Members, The undersigned organizations urge the Colorado Water Conservation Board ("CWCB") to support two pieces of legislation that would strengthen Colorado's instream flow program. Your staff will be presenting the legislation to you at the November meeting. Flowing water is critical to Colorado's renowned environment, sustaining fish, wildlife and healthy riparian corridors, as well as Colorado's burgeoning outdoor recreation and tourism economies. Low stream flow, however, is a serious • problem in semi-arid Colorado. As Colorado's population continues to skyrocket, more and more water is diverted out of rivers and streams to satisfy human demands, and today many of Colorado's waterways lack adequate flow to sustain healthy fisheries and riparian habitats. The warming and drying climate that many '' scientists predict for Colorado will only exacerbate the pressures on aquatic environments. The CWCB's instream flow program is an invaluable tool for protecting and restoring flows in Colorado's rivers and streams. The CWCB can obtain instream flow water rights either by making a new, junior appropriation ofwater or by leasing, purchasing or receiving a donation of water from a willing water right holder. The CWCB makes frequent use of its authority to appropriate junior instream flow water rights, but junior rights will not protect the ecological value of streams where senior rights divert much or all of a river's water. On such heavily used streams, the CWCB's authority to enter into voluntary transactions to acquire existing water rights is the best tool for protecting or restoring the environment. Unfortunately, the CWCB has made infrequent use of its water rights acquisition authority. One of the reasons for the underutilzation of the CWCB's water rights acquisition program is that, as a result of a quirk in existing law, a party making along-term loan or lease ofwater to the CWCB risks losing the consumptive use credit associated with the water right. In effect, a loss of consumptive use credit would undermine the water right holder's ability to sell or lease the water right after the expiration of the agreement with the CWCB. Similarly, along-term loan or lease ~.w,~,,