CTU Hopes to Expand, Bolster Colorado's Instream Flow Program!


Within TU we hold this truth to be self evident: “Fish need water every day.” Unfortunately, Colorado in the 21st Century feels the drag of a 19th Century mindset. If enough people demand all the water they’re entitled to at the same time, fish lose. And, as we saw during recent dry years, fish are left with only enough water to keep the stream barely alive – if that. The obvious solution to these problems is to keep more water in streams. More water means a cleaner, colder stream and healthier riparian habitat.

Since 1973, one state agency, the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) has had the authority to acquire water for instream flow purposes. The CWCB has filed for more than 2,000 instream flow rights since then, but they are almost all junior rights that can be meaningless if a stream is over-appropriated – and most are. The CWCB also has the authority to lease and purchase senior water from willing sellers, including – under a law championed by CTU a few years ago, the ability to dedicate water to enhance aquatic environments, not just providing bare minimum flow. But leases and acquisitions have happened all too rarely, for a combination of reasons:

• CWCB has not secured funds for such acquisitions in its budget;
• Even for donors of water, the costs of going through water court to transfer water into a new instream flow use can reach into six figures;
• For those who lease water, Colorado’s use it or lose it doctrine means that they risk diminishment or loss of their water if they lease it to the CWCB for an instream flow; and
• There has been a lack of political will within the CWCB to encourage such acquisitions.

There are a few simple solutions that could go a long way toward strengthening Colorado’s instream flow program and put water back in our streams. And come January, CTU and its partners – including Environmental Defense and the Colorado Environmental Coalition – will try to convince the Colorado General Assembly to give those solutions the force of law:

First, create tax credits – similar to those for traditional conservation easements – that would encourage water rights holders to donate water for instream flows. Second, appropriate funds for the CWCB to acquire water rights and assist with transaction costs. And third, eliminate the use-it-or-lose-it deterrent for instream flow leases, so that those who provide water to help the state and their community are rewarded instead of punished. We hope you’ll join us and lend your support to this effort. Stay tuned to CTU for more on this later or for more information. Call David Nickum at the CTU offices, 303.440.2937 x 101.