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Alternative Agricultural Water Transfer Methods -Grant Application Form <br />January 2008 <br />5. ProgramlProject Evaluation Criteria <br />Please describe how the proposed program/project meets the following evaluation criteria. The criteria <br />are aimed at advancing alternative transfer methods from the literature to actual on the ground <br />projectslprograms that provide reliable water supply and sustain key elements of the agricultural area <br />from which the water is transferred. The applicant should fully address and explain in detail how, and <br />the extent to which, the proposed project/program meets each of the criteria. However, it should be noted <br />that the project does not have to meet all of the criteria to be eligible to receive funding. <br />a) The proposed project/program has the abilitylpotential to produce a reliable water supply that can <br />be administered by the State of Colorado, Division of Water Resources. <br />The development of the procedure to make this water available in a manner that can be administered by the <br />State Engineer's Office is one of the objectives of this study. To that end, the Advisory Committee includes Mr. Dave <br />Nettles, the Assistant Division 1 Engineer, and the issue of administrability of the transferable consumptive use water <br />has been discussed at these meetings. Part of the CSU scope of work is to evaluate means to make this transfer <br />administrable. If the water is transferable, the water being sought as part of a rotational fallowing and/or innovative <br />crop irrigation management method is the senior surface water ditch rights in the lower South Platte River basin. <br />Therefore, if the water can be shown to be transferable from an administrative standpoint, the water will provide a <br />very reliable water supply, particularly with the terminal storage available at Rueter-Hess Reservoir, which can <br />provide carryover storage to handle multi-year drought conditions. <br />b) The proposed project/program produces information that is transferable and transparent to other <br />users and other areas of the state (i.e., would provide an example "template" or roadmap to others <br />wishing to explore alternate transfer methods). <br />One of the principal objectives of the CSU study is to provide information related to cropping methods that could <br />be applied in other agricultural areas of the state. After all, CSU is an agricultural university that is trying to support <br />agriculture, and agricultural technologies statewide, not just in the lower South Platte River basin. While other areas <br />would have to generate site-specific data related to any change of use proceeding in Water Court, the methodologies to <br />achieve that change would be developed as part of this research. In addition, since CSU will be working with data <br />from both the South Platte and Arkansas River basins, including data generated from this study and other studies, and <br />we will also be working with the SEO as part of the Advisory Committee, the process may have statewide <br />applicability for change of use proceedings. <br />c) The proposed project/program addresses key water needs identified in SWSI or as identified in a <br />basin's needs assessment. <br />This project is totally consistent with the findings from SWSI in that some of the projected Front Range water <br />needs identified by SWSI could potentially come from historically-irrigated lands. In fact, SWSI identified, as one <br />option, the potential need to retire 133,000 to 226,000 acres of irrigated land to meet future water supply needs in the <br />South Platte River basin. If water can be made available without the total dry-up of these lands, it is an even better <br />option than that suggested by SWSI. Furthermore, SWSI identified the issue of the reliance of many Front Range <br />communities on the non-renewable resources of the Denver Basin and stated that "increased reliance on <br />nonrenewable, non-tributary groundwater for permanent water supply brings serious reliability and sustainability <br />14