Colorado's Water Plan - Where we are and how we got here
In 2005, the state legislature passed the
‘Water for the 21st Century Act’ which set up several committees and a process for addressing complex water issues that have been difficult to resolve. The Committees are the Basin Roundtables and The Interbasin Compact Committee (IBCC). There are 9 Basin Round Tables (BRT), comprised of citizens from each of the state’s major watersheds- South Platte, Arkansas, Rio Grande, Southwest (Animas, Dolores, La Plata Rivers), Gunnison, Colorado River Mainstem, Yampa/White and North Platte. The Metro Roundtable was created to 1. Follow the format of the CWCB and 2. Recognize the major metropolitan area represented on that Roundtable. Basin Roundtables were designed to increase the number of people and the entities involved in addressing water supply problems and help plan for Colorado’s water future. The Interbasin Compact Committee (IBCC) is a statewide entity comprised of representatives from each Roundtable and 6 ‘Governor appointees’. More information on the IBCC can be found here.
The IBCC and BRTs have spent years discussing and attempting to find some solutions to the vexing water supply problems in Colorado. In 2010, the IBCC wrote a letter to the outgoing Governor Ritter and the incoming Governor Hickenlooper that set forth what they had been working on, what they had achieved and where they hoped to go. This letter is a helpful snapshot of what had occurred up to the end of 2010 and can be found here.
On May 15th, 2013, Governor Hickenlooper directed the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) “…to draft (a) Colorado Water Plan that will support agriculture in rural Colorado and align state policy to the state’s water values.” In his executive order, the Governor stated: “Colorado’s water quantity and quality questions can no longer be thought of separately. Each impacts the other and state water policy should address them conjunctively.” It is helpful to understand that Colorado is one of two Western States that does not have a State Water Plan to guide policy, research and funding. The process to create a State Water Plan is going on right now, but it is being done very quickly. The current plan is that the CWCB is drafting the State Water Plan and each Basin Roundtable is drafting a Basin Implementation Plan.If you want to learn about the Colorado Water Plan you will find more information at http://www.coloradowaterplan.com.
The Governor and CWCB leadership have repeatedly stated that they want this plan to be a citizen driven, grass-roots written plan. Thus, everyone with a stake in water issues has been invited to participate. However, there are limited ways to participate: - Attend your Basin Roundtable, join the drafting committees and provide input as to what needs to be ‘in’ the Basin Implementation Plan. On the CWCB’s website is a document entitled “Basin Implementation Plan Guidance”. It can provide you with some background regarding the Basin Roundtable’s task and can be found here. The dates and locations of Roundtable meetings and more information on the BRTs can be found on their website.
- Attend CWCB meetings. The CWCB meets bi-monthly.
- Provide input to your CWCB representative
- Provide input to CWCB Director James Eklund or his staff of the Water Supply Section.
