SB24-197: Water Conservation Measures

• Implements recommendations from the Colorado River Drought Task Force to address unprecedented drought conditions in the Colorado River basin since 2000.

• Allows water right owners to loan storage water to the Colorado Water Conservation Board for instream flows on stream reaches where the board lacks decreed instream flow rights.

• Expands agricultural water protection programs to water divisions 1 and 2, allowing owners of absolute decreed irrigation water rights to lease, loan, or trade up to 50 percent of their water.

• Provides protections for electric utilities in Water Division 6 from water right abandonment claims from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2050 if they owned the right since January 1, 2019.

• Reduces or waives matching fund requirements for water plan implementation grants awarded to the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and Southern Ute Indian Tribe.