Laserfiche WebLink
<br />we define broadly as an institutiona1ized mechanism specifically designed to facilitate the <br />transfer of water use entitlements, is in use in a number of settings in the West. Our <br />evaluation of water banking experience to date leads us to conclude that banks can <br />provide an effective framework within which water transfers, particularly involving the <br />temporary transfer of water, can occur. <br />A water bank is an intermediary. Like a broker it seeks to bring together buyers <br />and sellers. Unlike a broker, however, it is an institutiona1ized process with known <br />procedures and with some kind of public sanction for its activities; COnceptually, the <br />process is straightforward: a valid water use entitlement is "deposited" with the bank and <br />is available for withdrawal by others, subject to certain conditions-most importantly, <br />paying some fee. One depositing the water use entitlement can withdraw the entitlement <br />from the bank so long as it has not been rented to another. The depositor banks the <br />entitlement hoping to earn more on its use by another. The renter goes to the bank <br />hoping to find water at a lower cost than from other sources. <br />In its role as facilitator the bank has several key functions. It decides which water <br />use entitlements may be banked and, probably, the quantity of bankable water associated <br />with the entitlement It decides who can rent water from the bank and sets the processes <br />by which the terms of the rental are established. <br />There is nothing new about the basic purpose of a water bank: water districts and <br />ditch companies long have facilitated "rotation" of water among users within their system. <br />The important difference of modem water banks is that they act to facilitate transfers to <br />uses outside of their original delivery system and for uses other than irrigation. <br />This report provides a detailed assessment of water banks. <br />Chapter Two of this report contains evaluations of the major water banks <br />operating in the West today: the Idaho water banks and the California drought banks. It <br />continues with descriptions of two newly proposed banks: the Texas Water Bank and the <br />Lower Colorado River Interstate Water Bank. Finally it discusses other bank-like <br />activities in several other states. <br />Chapter Three provides a thorough discussion of the use of groundwater recharge <br />to bank water for future use. The chapter begins with a survey of state laws governing <br /> <br />1-4 <br /> <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />