Front Range Water Council Response

• Title: Front Range Water Council Response to Visioning
• Date: 2/26/2008
• Interbasin CC - Doc Type: Correspondence/Memos

• Investment in species protection and restoration efforts based upon probability of success
and a balancing of competing demands.
• Flexibility in the implementation of regulatory proscriptions on environmental impacts
based on (i) a prioritization and environmental values, (ii) the wise utilization of variance
procedures that accommodate competing interests, and (iii) use of replacement or
substitution mitigation options.
• An agreed upon quantification of available water resources, including an agreed upon
quantification of Colorado River Compact water availability and procedures for compact
administration in the case of a compact call on the Colorado River.
• Investment in best water management practices/modernization in the agricultural sector
so as to promote water availability and economic viability.
• An evaluation of the effects of urban water conservation on the groundwater accretions
and subsequent stream flows in downstream areas.
• Completion of consumptive and non-consumptive needs assessments and water
availability analyses and associated studies on water supply options.
• An allocation of water resources to environmental/recreational demands that is capable of
future reconsideration/reallocation, rather than constituting a perpetual and continuously
calling right.
• Additional use of creative water management solutions, such as the Upper Arkansas Flow
Management Program.
• A thoughtful approach to transfers that would meet municipal demands without undue
economic disruption to rural economies (the SWSI water gap by 2030 represents only
10% of statewide irrigation diversions).
• The development of additional storage as an "insurance policy" in times of drought and
to more efficiently manage existing supplies.
• A shift in the production of biofuels to crops that require little water, do not create
competition with food production, and hopefully release less COz.
• The development of alternative energy sources to meet demands, negating the need for
water intensive processes (oil shale).
• More dense urban uses and more preservation of open space.
• A change in statutory law to eliminate existing exemptions from water administration and
land use controls.
• Advanced management of all water resources in Colorado to maximize the beneficial use
of all water resources in the best interests of the State of Colorado as a whole.
Relative to evaluating adverse impacts to rural or West Slope communities, including the
potential loss of rural economies and lifestyles and instream flows for non-consumptive needs,
there are also some available "fixes" which can be, or are in the process of being, developed.
This includes use of alternative water transfer techniques, such as leasing/fallowing, the use of
pump backs that supply additional water to given reaches, urban assistance with rural economic
development, modifications in the location/timing/amount of water transfers, the creation of
multipurpose storage projects, habitat restoration and rehabilitation, changes in irrigation
practices, selective fallowing, etc.
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