BOARD02534

• Board Meeting Date: 1/27/1999
• Description: 1999 Colorado Legislative Activities - HB 99-1054 - Repeal of Sunset Dates of the Office of Water Conservation
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Conclusions

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"The Office of Water
Conservation promotes a
bottom-up, rather than
top-down approach to
water conservation and
places Colorado in a
position to adopt a
proactive role in water
management, rather than
allow the federal
government to assume a
regulatory role," Peter
Evans, Director,
Colorado Water
Conservation Board

In the seven years since the owe was created as part of a
collaborative effort of water users, environmentalists and
agricultural communities, significant progress has been made in
bringing water use efficiency to the forefront. Over fifty
communities in Colorado now have water efficiency planning as
part oftheir overall water use plans, grants exist for 37 municipal
water efficiency demonstration projects and 7
agricultural/multipurpose projects are on-line. Grants as offered
by the owe have greatly assisted in this effort by providing start
up, matching funds and incentives for communities to examine the
potential of water efficiency techniques as a means toward
expanding existing water supplies,

Communities in over a third of the counties in Colorado
have received funds from the demonstration grant program and
over 800,000 acre-feet of water is now subject to water use
efficiency planning requirements, All state of Colorado
departmental agencies have met the requirements ofHB 91-1154,
and all new construction or renovation after January 1, 1993' must
have water use efficiency plans considered as part of their
planning process, Grant funding requests have exceeded $7
million, indicating a large demand for funds, resulting in nearly $1
million of grants allocated demonstration projects,

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Public information and technical help provided through the
owe has provided a focus on water use efficiency in the state by
providing a central location for education, assistance and
planning, By concentratitig this effort, the public has easy access
to water use efficiency information an!f professional assistance to
make Colorado's efforts to utilize its most precious resource in an
effective manner,

Water use efficiency is not an end-all answer for water
demand problems in the state, It is, however, an essential
component of water supply, river basin and watershed planning
and management. Balancing the environmental and economic
costs and benefits of different water conservation options is a
critical component to sound decision making, OWC provides just
such a focal point for the citizens of the state to obtain the
necessary information and technical expertise in water use
efficiency,

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