From The Pine River Times (Carole McWilliams):
Colorado now has a plan for its water supply future, motivated by the prediction of state population doubling to around 10 million people by 2050. The plan was released on Nov. 19. It contains well over 400 pages…
Sustainable funding for plan implementation is another objective. It says, “the State will investigate options to raise additional revenue in the amount of $100 million annually ($3 billion by 2050) starting in 2020.” CWCB would start this with $50 million from the Severance Tax Perpetual Fund. CWCB proposes to use this money to establish a repayment guarantee fund to help finance projects, also a green bond fund for large scale environmental and recreational projects.
Using these funds as proposed, the plan says, “an initial $50 million investment could leverage half a billion dollars of regional projects.”
Education to improve public awareness of water issues is the final objective, for better decision making about balanced water solutions.
The plan introduction lists steps that can be taken immediately:
Proactively protect the state’s interstate water interests; apply and strengthen the doctrine of prior appropriation.
Stress that every water conversation starts with conservation and includes water storage.
Investigate options to raise additional revenue to help implement the plan, with an estimated $20 billion needed over the next 30 years for water supply, infrastructure, recreation, and the environment.
Coordinate water uses and encourage projects that provide multiple benefits, including environmental flows, irrigation that also improves wildlife habitat, recreation, and interstate water compact compliance.
Increase efficiency and effectiveness of water project permitting while properly mitigating negative environmental impacts.
Strengthen outreach and education to the general public about water issues.
The plan’s objectives, goals, and critical action steps are consolidated in the plan’s chapter 10. While this was released as the final plan, it can have ongoing updates.
