Colorado legislators passed House Bill 1280 out of the Senate. The measure, sponsored by Senator Gail Schwartz (D-Snowmass) and Representative Randy Fischer (D-Ft. Collins), aims to protect water right holders when they chose to loan or lease water to the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) for instream flow purposes.
"Our healthy rivers and streams are among our most important natural resources. If we can protect those resources while also protecting water rights, we have truly found a win-win solution,” said Jennifer Gimbel, Director of the CWCB.
 Current law provides the CWCB instream flow program with the authority to acquire existing water rights by loan or lease. Under the law, however, there is a risk that water rights that are loaned or leased to the CWCB for instream flow use will diminish or be lost altogether. HB 1280 aims to eliminate this barrier to loaning or leasing water rights to the instream flow program, in order to boost the popularity of the program amongst a range of water right holders.
“The growing demand for water requires that Colorado develop new and flexible solutions for protecting stream flows. Energizing the existing CWCB instream flow program will broaden the range of tools to draw from to meet new challenges,” explained Senator Schwartz.
This legislative session, representatives from a broad coalition, including state leaders, conservation groups, sportsmen, agricultural producers, water right holders, water districts, cities and counties, have all expressed support for the legislation.
The group also touted the benefits of instream flows which extend beyond the river banks. “The communities of Grand County, including Granby, depend on healthy streams for our economy and for our drinking water. Protecting water resources is critical for everyone, residents and visitors alike," said Ted Wang, Granby Mayor.
House Bill 1280 is one of four bills designed to reenergize the Colorado’s 35 year old instream flow program. In addition to HB 1280, the legislature is considering HB 1346, the CWCB’s annual projects bill, which would appropriate $1 million in funding for the Instream flow program; SB 168, which would provide $500,000 in funding for instream flows via the Species Conservation Trust Fund to help acquire water to prevent further endangered species listings; and, HB 1369, which would create a tax incentive for instream flow donations to the CWCB.
“The support we’ve seen for the package of instream flow bills is exciting. Trout Unlimited and the conservation community sincerely appreciate all the legislators who voted in favor of HB 1280, and we very much hope that the General Assembly will take positive action on the other bills as well,” said Drew Peternell of Trout Unlimited. |