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J-- 8~ gh 't ;i CRAIG W. Victory Way, #208 Craig, CO 81625 970.824.5241 GRAND JUNCTION 546 Main Slreel, #401 Grand Junction, CO 81501 970.243.0001 DENVER 536 Wynkoop Slreel, 5( Denver, CO 80202 303.534.7066 . 18,2008 Colorado Water Conservation Board 1313 Sherman Street, Room 721 Denver, Colorado 80203 January COLORADO ENVIRONMfNTAl COALITION {olot04It'~ \"(lice 101 ClIl1senatiClll \;"8 'flU am Instream Flow Pro Colorado's Le Re 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. We appreciate the effort by CWCB staff since the November meeting to address the concerns board members expressed with the legislation. We support the changes to the legislation that CWCB staff will present at the January 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 of water 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 underutilization of the CWCB's water rights acquisition program is that, as a result of a quirk in existing law, a party making a long-teon loan or lease of water 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, a long-teon loan or lease of water to the CWCB creates a risk that the water right could be deemed abandoned altogether. Faced with these risks, it is not surprising that few water rights holders have loaned or leased water to the CWCB's instream flow program. Another reason that the CWCB has not made greater use of its water rights acquisition authority is that the program has not been adequately funded. While the CWCB has made loans and grants of hundreds of millions of dollars over the years to aid in the development ....-.....'" .