Colorado Water Feb 2006

• Year: 2006
• Title: Colorado Water
• Author: Water Center of Colorado State University
• Description: February 2006 Issue
• Publications - Doc Type: Newsletter

HB 1177: Colorado Water For the 21St Century
An Update for January 2006
by Elizabeth R. McVicker
Center of Colorado Water Conservancy District
Member of South Platte Basin Roundtable
The August 2005 issue of Colorado Water
presented a detailed accounting on the pa-
rameters, aspirations, and possibilities of House
Bill 05 -1177, known as the "Colorado Water for
the 21 st Century Act." As stated on the webpage
of the Department of Natural Resources, the Act
is "based upon the premise that Coloradans must
work together to address the water needs within
our entire state [and] ... that we will be willing to
work together to do so." To date, that cooperation
and collaboration is in full force as the Round -
tables progress toward the goals articulated by the
Act.
The nine basin Roundtables established by the
Act correspond to the major river basins of the
state with the addition of the Denver Metro area
and are as follows: the Arkansas, the Colorado,
the Dolores /San Juan/San Miguel, Gunnison,
the Metro area, the North Platte, the Rio Grande,
the South Platte, and the Yampa/White. The Act
directs the Roundtables to develop basin -wide
consumptive and non - consumptive water sup-
ply needs assessments, an analysis of available
unappropriated water, and propose structural and
nonstructural projects and methods for meeting
the basin's water supply needs. The Act clearly
preserves Colorado's prior appropriation system,
and the Roundtables operate within the param-
eters of water rights created under that system and
contract rights. With repeated emphasis in clear
statutory language, the Act "encourages locally
driven collaborative solutions to water supply
challenges" and relies on the cooperation between
the individual members of each Roundtable and
then, likewise, cooperation between the various
basins.
Since August, the nine different basin Round -
tables have met on a monthly basis to carry forth
the dictates of the Act. Thus far, the work of
the Roundtables has been primarily procedural:
members have been appointed and elected per
the guidelines of the Act which directs that mem-
bers will include individuals with expertise in
environmental, recreational, local governmental,
industrial, and agricultural matters. Each Round-
table has adopted by -laws, operating procedures,
goals and objectives, and by the end of January,
each Roundtable will have selected leadership
positions. Some Roundtables have decided to
establish sub - Roundtables, or sub - committees, to
address and resolve issues within the Roundtable
as it works towards achieving the goals articu-
lated in the Act. These goals include: to develop
a basin -wide water needs assessment, to propose
methods for meeting the basin's water needs, and
to make recommendations as to how the Round-
table can serve as a forum for public education
and involvement.
The Act specifically directs the Roundtables to
use the data from the ongoing Statewide Water
Supply Initiative (SWSI). The Roundtables have
already benefited from the work of SWSI from
fall presentations of the work accomplished by
SWSI in Phase I of the initiative. Key points of
these presentations included an overview of the
quantity of water in the various basins, an as-
sessment of the needs from now to 2030, and
an examination of how SWSI will assist the
Roundtables in finding in -basin solutions. These
presentations were sobering in that they helped
members of the Roundtables see the gravity of
the responsibilities that come with complying
with the hopes articulated in HB 1177. Accord-
ing to SWSI, by the year 2030, the population
of Colorado will be 7.1 million people, and the
state's eight major water basins will need an ad-
ditional 63,000 acre -feet of new water to meet