Finance Committee Meeting 2008

• Board Meeting Date: 9/16/2008
• Description: Finance Sub-Committee Meeting September 16, 2008
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

Water Project Construction Program—Project Data
Applicant: Colorado Water Conservation Board
Project Name: Agricultural Water Transfer Project Type: Demonstration Project
Methods Grant Program
County: Statewide Drainage Basin: Water Source: N/A
Statewide Drainage Basins
Total Study Cost: $1,500,000 Funding Sources: CWCB
CWCB Investment: Interest Rate: N/A Term: N/A
$1,500,000
The 2007 Legislature approved the Colorado Water Conservation (CWCB) to develop a
competitive grant program to advance various agricultural transfer methods as alternatives to
permanent dry-up in the Arkansas and South Platte Basins (authorized under SB 07-122). This
was in part a response to the increasing concern that the growing population and the associated
urbanization is resulting in record levels of agricultural land dry-up. The Statewide Water Supply
Initiative(SWSI) indicated that over 500,000 irrigated acres could be lost by 2030 with most of
those in the Arkansas and South Platte basins. Agricultural has many significant benefits
including habitat, open space and helps to sustain rural economies. Without a sustainable
agricultural industry many small rural communities could not survive. When the Legislature
approved this grant program, the goal was to further advance alternative methods to "buy and
• dry"that provide long-term reliable M&I water supplies while sustaining those important rural
agricultural dependent towns and economies.
This legislation provided for the appropriation of$1,500,000 from the CWCB construction fund
for the Board to develop and implement a competitive grant program to advance various
agricultural transfer methods as alternatives to permanent agricultural dry-up in the South Platte
and Arkansas river basins, including but not limited to, interruptible water supply agreements,
long-term agricultural land fallowing, water banks, reduced consumptive use through efficiency
or cropping while maintaining historic return flows, and purchase by end users with leaseback
under defined conditions. One major goal of the grant program was to effectively advance a
diverse set of"on-the-ground" solutions to critical water supply issues and to support projects
that will yield usable and transferable information which can be applied to other projects
throughout the State.
During the initial round of grant requests, the total amount requested ($2.3 million), exceeded the
appropriated amount of$1.5 million. In addition, letters have been received from potential
applicants stating their interest in submitting requests at the November 2008 CWCB meeting.
Clearly, there is significant interest in this new area of water resource management and
additional funding of this important program will provide for further advancement of the tools
and methods to avoid the traditional dry-up of agricultural irrigated lands. The grant program
established under SB 07-122 limited the projects to those located within the Arkansas and South Platte
River basins. While the SWSI reports a potential dry-up of 500,000 acres in these basins and that is
. where the most critical need is located, this application proposes to open the projects Statewide. It is
conceivable that conservation projects, interruptible supply agreements and/or fallowing programs could
be implemented in other basins for benefits in and outside of the basin.