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Alternative Agricultural Water Transfer Methods -Grant Application Form <br />January 2008 <br />the application you may simply reference the applicable section(s). <br />a) A description of how, if implemented, the proposed program/project will protect property and <br />water rights. <br />This project will maintain agricultural production at some level, versus "buy and dry", so that in and of itself <br />will protect property rights and property values. Any transferable consumptive use water that is removed from the <br />irrigated land will go through the Water Court process, which allows anyone who believes they may be injured by the <br />proposed change to present their case to the Water Court. As part of this process, consumptive use will be quantified, <br />the timing of water deliveries will be determined, and maintenance of return flows will be assessed, all in a public <br />forum. Therefore, vested water rights will be fully protected as part of this project. <br />b) Identified group(s) of agricultural users that are or may be willing to transfer a portion of their <br />water and identified entity(s), group(s) or area(s) where the transferred water could or would be <br />put to the new use and a description of the new use. <br />CSU has recently completed a survey of farmers in the lower South Platte River valley and found that <br />approximately 60 percent of the respondents were willing to lease their water rights at values mostly in the range of <br />$300 to $500 per ac-ft. Further evaluation of the willingness to either lease or sell irrigation water rights will be <br />conducted with follow-up surveys during the course of this study. Identified uses for this water were presented in Part <br />B, Section 2 of this application. <br />End users for this water have been identified as the south metro area and northern El Paso County. There is a <br />cumulative municipal demand for these entities alone of over 120,000 ac-ft, which includes 18 municipal and quasi- <br />municipalwater suppliers. This water would be used principally for residential water use, with some commercial use. <br />c) The program/project must at a minimum conceptually describe the technical, institutional, and <br />legal elements of the water transfer. Grant monies may be used to address one or more of these <br />elements. If grant monies are not requested for all three elements, the grant applicant must <br />describe how the applicant has or intends to address the elements, which are not included in the <br />grant request, through other efforts. <br />This study will address the technical, institutional, and legal elements of agricultural water transfers so that the <br />concepts being researched by CSU are fully developed to the point that there is a pathway to adjudicate a change of <br />use to allow historic irrigation water to be used by municipalities without using the traditional buy and dry concept. <br />The technical aspects of this research are being scoped and conducted by faculty and staff from CSU, as <br />described in the scope of work (Part B, Section 6). The results of the research will become the basis for any water <br />rights transfer. While the study is focused on research of innovative cropping techniques and limited or partial <br />irrigation of crops, the on-farm demonstrations are being conducted in parallel with the research farm to evaluate what <br />techniques are implementable on a farm-wide basis. In this way, the study is assessing the buy-in of farmers as well as <br />the ease with which these techniques can be implemented. <br />The questions regarding how the institutional aspects of a water supply delivery project for the transferable <br />consumptive use water will be answered through a series of surveys being conducted by CSU faculty and staff, as well <br />as economic analyses related to rural economies in general (see Part B, Section 6). Through information gained from <br />these surveys, as well as input from the Advisory Committee, the institutional framework will be developed that best <br />meets the needs of the farming community as well as the urban interests purchasing/leasing the water. <br />The components of the water rights transfer are being evaluated as part of this study by Lytle Water <br />12