Laserfiche WebLink
The Opportunity. 1=rant Range M&I users are seeking additional water rights to <br />address the reliability of their supplies in light of the unprecedented drought of 2002 They <br />are also seeking insurance against the potential for a call on the Colorado River, which <br />would negatively impact relatively junior municipal trans~basin diversions. In addition, M&I <br />users need additional water supplies to meet the demands of growth, as documented by <br />llll5l. <br />Expectations of the Lower District. Creation of the Super Ditch Company to provide <br />a voluntary alternative option to Lawer Valley irrigators far the economic use of their water is <br />the nurnber one priority of the Board of Directors of the Lower District. Special counsel, staff' <br />and board members of the Lawer District have been working an this concept for nearly five <br />years. In furtherance of this effort, the Lawer District has expended roughly $~50,OD0 to <br />date on technical, institutional, and legal analyses to further the Super Ditch Campany The <br />Lawer District has been working closely with irrigatar~representatives of Lawer Valley ditch <br />carnpanies for aver a year on the institutional aspects of the Buper Ditch Company, focusing <br />an how the company will be organized and operated. The Lawer District has also been <br />negotiating with potential lessees since 204, and has entered into two assignable letters of <br />intent with M&l lessees since last fall. Accordingly, the Lower District expects that in 2088 <br />Lower Valley irrigators will incorporate the Super Ditch Company, and the company will <br />complete negotiations and enter into one or more long-term water leases with M8~1 users. <br />Importance to Lower District. The Lower District was "established for the purposes <br />of conservation of the water resources within the District, ~andj for their greatest beneficial <br />use." In the Matter of the Lawer Arkansas Valley vllater Conservancy District, base No, <br />02CV793 Pueblo County Colo. Dist. Gaurt, 2082}. The Lower District has underkaken <br />development of the Super Ditch Company far several reasons: <br />1. The Super Ditch Company furthers the primary mission that the voters in SE <br />Colorado tasked the Lower District with achieving. Creation of the Super Ditch <br />Campany is the number one priority of the Board of the Lower District for 2005. <br />2. An alternative to historical buy-and~dry is desperately needed to provide owners of <br />irrigation water rights an economically viable attractive alternative to selling their <br />water rights outright, <br />. Land fallowing and water leasing has been discussed in water circles and academia <br />far decades, has been successfully tested and implemented in California in a much <br />simpler institutional and legal setting, but has yet to be proven in Colorado. <br />4. The carnplexity and resources required to develop the Super Ditch Company are <br />beyond the capacity of individual shareholders, ditch companies, and potential water <br />users~iessees. In other wards, someone has to step up and try to make fallawing- <br />leasing work, and the Lawer District has bath volunteered and committed to the <br />challenge. <br />