CO SB214

Colorado Water Conservation Board must contract with American Ground Water Trust to study real-time water management strategies used by other western states that employ the prior appropriation system for groundwater and surface water

Study must examine whether real-time water management strategies based on actual hydrological conditions more effectively maximize beneficial water use than Colorado's current strategies and whether they allow increased groundwater pumping without injuring downstream users

Contract requires study completion within 3 months and compilation of research and findings within 1 month after completion, with results reported by January 15, 2017, to relevant House and Senate committees and the Water Resources Review Committee if available during 2016 interim

Board may expend up to $30,000 from the emergency dewatering grant account in the Colorado Water Conservation Board construction fund to pay for the study

Subsection (11) automatically repeals effective September 1, 2017