SB01-216 Senate Committee on Public Policy and Planning

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Mme. Chair: Mr. Kuharich, would you introduce yourself so we can identify your voice and also your role. R. Kuharich: Yes, Rod Kuharich, Water Conservation Board. Mme. Chair: Thank you. R. Kuharich: The first section provides that only governmental, local governmental entities can attain these types of water rights. Now the water right applicant would submit a copy of the application to the Water Conservation Board and obtain a determination prior — after public hearing. The next section, Section — that was Section 5A. Section 5B describes the findings that the Water Conservation Board would make in regards to an in- channel diversion application. The _ language may seem cumbersome, but we're discussing a diversion, which is a measure of control over the stream, rather than an in -stream flow right, which the legislature reserved solely for the Water Conservation Board. The findings that would be made would be whether or not the applicant would impair Colorado's ability to develop its compact entitlements. This is related to the fact that all of the streams in Colorado are governed by compacts. They all originate in the state and they all cross state lines, that divides up the amount of water that's available for use within the state and water that would be delivered to the adjoining states. Now the second finding would be whether the identified reach is appropriate for the intended use, the length of the reach, such as that. The next section talks about whether a municipality can put the water to beneficial use given the landowners abutting each — the reach of the stream. I think that this is intended to deal with the issue of access to the stream so that any municipality or local government would be able to actually have a measure of control over the stream reach. Whether the application would cause material injury to other stream resources, those resources would certainly be the in -stream flows held by the Colorado Water Conservation Board. In many cases, the Water Conservation Board has been involved in protecting its in -stream flows when reservoirs have been proposed to inundate those stream flows. That inundation we expect would be mitigated. The same holds true for any type of structures that would, I think, hold the potential for damaging the environment of the stream. Whether the applicant would promote the maximum utilization of water, I think this is the duty of Water Issue. Utilizing the maximum — in order to gain a measure of beneficial use, maximum utilization would be required that in the minimum amount of water necessary to accomplish the April 12, 2001 Page 3