Water And Irrigation - Digest of Bills

Digest of Bills - 2006

WATER AND IRRIGATION

S.B. 06-34 Colorado water resources and power development authority - board of directors - qualifications. Specifies that the board of directors of the Colorado water resources and power development authority includes one member who is experienced in public health issues related to drinking water or water quality matters. Reduces from 2 to one the number of directorships allocated to persons experienced in the planning and developing of water projects.

APPROVED by Governor March 31, 2006
EFFECTIVE March 31, 2006

S.B. 06-37 Water rights adjudication - recreational in-channel diversions. Modifies the requirements applicable to the adjudication of a recreational in-channel diversion ("RICD") by:

● Deleting 2 of the required factors and the discretionary factor with regard to which the Colorado water conservation board was required to make findings of fact;

● Deleting the requirement that the board make a recommendation regarding whether the application should be denied, granted, or granted with conditions;

● Changing the definitions of "recreational in-channel diversion" and "diversion" and adding definitions of "control structure" and "reasonable recreation experience". Limits the definition of "reasonable recreation experience" to nonmotorized boating;

● Requiring the water court to make specific findings regarding the application;

● Limiting the use of RICDs from April 1 to Labor Day unless the applicant demonstrates additional demand;

● Presuming that subsequent appropriations or changes of water rights will not materially injure the RICD if the individual effect on the RICD does not exceed .10% of the RICD's lowest decreed flow rate and the cumulative effects do not exceed 2% of the RICD's lowest decreed flow rate;

● Specifying that a RICD cannot call lawfully stored water;

● Limiting the RICD to no more than three time periods; and

● If the total volume of water decreed by the RICD exceeds 50% of the sum of the total average historical volume of water for the stream segment where the RICD is located for each day on which a claim is made, specifying that the state engineer will not administer a call for the RICD unless the call would result in at least 85% of the decreed flow rate for the applicable time period.

Applies the act only to applications for and the administration of new RICDs filed on or after May 11, 2006.

APPROVED by Governor May 11, 2006
EFFECTIVE May 11, 2006

S.B. 06-179 Water projects - funding - approval by basin roundtable. Creates the water supply reserve account ("account") in the severance tax trust fund. Transfers $10 million from the operational account of the fund at the beginning of each fiscal year into the account. Continuously appropriates the moneys in the account to the Colorado water conservation board ("board") to make loans or grants for water activities approved by a basin roundtable, including:

● Competitive grants for environmental compliance and feasibility studies;

● Technical assistance regarding permitting, feasibility studies, and environmental compliance;

● Studies or analysis of structural, nonstructural, consumptive, and nonconsumptive water needs, projects, or activities; and

● Structural and nonstructural water projects or activities.

Requires the board to jointly establish with the interbasin compact committee criteria and guidelines for allocating moneys from the account. Reverts the unencumbered and unexpended balance of the account to the operational account on June 30, 2010.

APPROVED by Governor May 26, 2006
EFFECTIVE July 1, 2006

S.B. 06-183 Water resources research institute - severance tax trust fund - appropriation.Extends the repeal date for the water resources research institute to July 1, 2017. Authorizes the expenditure of up to $500,000 per year from the operational account of the severance tax trust fund for the institute.

Appropriates $500,000 to the department of higher education, for allocation to the board of governors of the Colorado state university system, for the implementation of the act.

APPROVED by Governor May 25, 2006
EFFECTIVE May 25, 2006

S.B. 06-193 Colorado water conservation board - study - underground storage - appropriation. Directs the Colorado water conservation board to conduct a study of the most economically and technically feasible and ecologically sound underground storage sites located in the South Platte and Arkansas river basins. Directs the board to consider an artificial recharge assessment completed in 2004 and to consider the costs and benefits, including environmental costs and benefits, of select sites within those aquifers to which the assessment assigned the highest ranking value. Authorizes the board to consult with the interbasin compact committee, state engineer, and state geologist. Requires the board to submit a report containing its conclusions to the general assembly by March 1, 2007.

Appropriates $125,000 to the department of natural resources, for allocation to the Colorado water conservation board, for the implementation of the act. Adjusts the geological survey's appropriation in the 2006-07 general appropriations act.

APPROVED by Governor May 26, 2006
EFFECTIVE May 26, 2006

H.B. 06-1031 Southwestern water conservation district - directors - reimbursement.Increases the amount of reimbursement for nontravel expenses for directors of the southwestern water conservation district from $25 per day to up to $100 per day.

APPROVED by Governor March 27, 2006
EFFECTIVE August 7, 2006
NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. For further explanation concerning the effective date, see page vi of this digest.

H.B. 06-1032 Irrigation districts - inflation adjustments - director compensation - election judges - contract ratification. Amends the 1905 irrigation district law by:

● Increasing compensation paid to members of the district board of directors from $25 per day to up to $100 per day;

● Increasing compensation paid to election judges from $20 per day to up to $100 per day; and

● Increasing the value of district contracts that must be ratified by 1/3 of the electors from $50,000 to $250,000 and increasing the value of district contracts that must be ratified by the electors in the manner provided for the issue of bonds from $75,000 to $400,000.

APPROVED by Governor March 27, 2006
EFFECTIVE March 27, 2006

H.B. 06-1124 Water rights - rotational crop management contracts - adjudication - appropriation. Allows a water judge to approve a rotational crop management contract, defined as a written contract in which the owners of irrigation water rights agree to implement a change of the rights to a new use by foregoing irrigation of a portion of the lands historically irrigated and that provides that the owners may rotate the lands that will not be irrigated as long as there is no injurious effect on other water rights. Applies the same approval criteria to rotational crop management contracts as are applied to changes of water rights and plans for augmentation, including plans of exchange. Assesses a $1,734 application fee, an annual fee of $617 until the water court adjudicates the right, and an annual fee of $300 per year thereafter.

Appropriates $13,157 to the department of natural resources, for allocation to the division of water resources, for the implementation of the act.

APPROVED by Governor May 25, 2006
EFFECTIVE May 25, 2006

H.B. 06-1293 Sand and gravel pits - well permits - fees - appropriation. Increases from $1,343 to $1,593 the following well permit fees for sand and gravel permits:

● Exposing ground water to the atmosphere between January 1, 1981, and July 15, 1989;

● Exposing ground water to the atmosphere on or after July 15, 1989;

● Reactivating a mining operation that ceased before January 1, 1981;

● Reviving an approved but expired substitute water supply plan;

● Submitting a proposed substitute water supply plan after the original plan was disapproved.

Increases from $217 to $257 the well permit fee to renew an approved substitute water supply plan. Clarifies that such fees are for sand and gravel permits

Appropriates $9,400 to the department of natural resources, division of water resources, for the implementation of the act.

APPROVED by Governor May 26, 2006
EFFECTIVE July 1, 2006

H.B. 06-1313 Colorado water conservation board - construction fund - annual loan and grant authorizations - appropriation. Eliminates a $2,180,000 prior water project loan and grant authorization from the Colorado water conservation board construction fund (construction fund) to the Poudre Tech Metropolitan District. Directs weather modification permit fees to the construction fund and authorizes use of the fund for weather modification purposes.

Appropriates the following amounts from the construction fund for the following projects:

● $250,000 for satellite monitoring and data collection efforts related to in-stream flow monitoring, compact protection, decision support systems, and flood forecasting and warning projects;

● $350,000 for renovation of existing gauging stations, replacement of outdated collection platforms, and upgrading of transmission components of the satellite monitoring system;

● $100,000 for engineering support services necessary for the appropriation, acquisition, and protection of in-stream flow water rights;

● $75,000 for the Colorado water conservation board to assist water conservation districts, water conservancy districts, and other water providers with the development of cloud seeding programs that provide benefits to recreation, streams, and reservoirs through snowpack enhancement;

● $150,000 for planning and engineering studies, including implementation measures, to address technical needs for watershed restoration and flood mitigation projects throughout the state;

● $2,000,000 for the continued development of the South Platte decision support system;

● $500,000 for the preparation of revised and improved floodplain studies and maps for communities throughout Colorado and to participate in federally sponsored floodplain map modernization activities;

● $100,000 to continue to collaborate with the United States bureau of reclamation on an enhanced snowpack assessment project;

● $175,000 to continue to provide floodplain management technical services;

● $48,000 to collaborate with the United States geological survey on a pilot study to improve predictions of snowmelt runoff and the corresponding flood potential;

● $133,555 to participate in the Rio Grande reservoir multi-use enlargement study; and

● $100,000 to participate in a demonstration project to evaluate the effectiveness of electronic flow measurement and ditch operation control equipment featuring innovative radio technology.

Transfers $150,000 from the construction fund to the flood response fund. Transfers $2,000,000 from the operational account of the severance tax trust fund to the litigation fund.

APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2006
EFFECTIVE July 1, 2006

H.B. 06-1400 Interbasin compacts - charter approval - roundtable boundaries - appropriation. Approves the interbasin compact charter. Directs the revisor of statutes to publish the charter as nonstatutory matter in the Colorado Revised Statutes. Moves water districts 60, 61, and 63 from the Gunnison basin roundtable to the Dolores, San Miguel, and San Juan basins roundtable. Authorizes use of the operational account of the severance tax trust fund for purposes authorized by the interbasin compact law.

Appropriates $75,837 and 0.5 FTE to the office of the governor, for allocation to the director of compact negotiations, and $855,481 and 1.2 FTE to the department of natural resources, for allocation to the Colorado water conservation board, for the implementation of the interbasin compact law.

APPROVED by Governor May 26, 2006
EFFECTIVE May 26, 2006