From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
Still gazing at the ripples cast by Colorado’s Water Plan, the Colorado Water Conservation Board is getting ready to dive into another wave of the future.
The board is preparing to update the Statewide Water Supply Initiative, which first outlined projected water needs of the state in 2004 and was updated in 2010.
The document now serves as the technical basis for the state water plan as well as basin implementation plans adopted by each of the nine basin roundtables.
The Arkansas Basin Roundtable got its first notification of the coming update at its [recent] meeting.
The first version of SWSI in 2004 predicted a shortfall of water for growing Front Range communities and helped launch legislation to form the Interbasin Compact Committee and basin roundtables in 2005.
The 2010 version identified strategies and refined estimates of shortfalls of water. It also better reflected the state’s need to preserve agricultural water and nurture local projects. It provided the groundwork for the state water plan.
The 2016 update will include new areas including strategies to deal with scenario planning, climate change and hydrologic variability. Gaps in water supply for agriculture, environment and wildlife will be addressed. It will also incorporate basin implementation plans and the economic value of water.
The IBCC this month looked at ways to fund the additional $100 million annually in water projects called for in the state water plan beginning in 2020. Jay Winner reported some ideas included a 25-cent statewide tap fee, container tax or lottery tickets, but no decisions were made…
In other moves, the roundtable approved a letter of support for the Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative for a five-year $650,000 grant from the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities. The collaborative is working on improving forest health throughout the Arkansas River basin in order to protect watersheds.