Studies and Reports - Summer 2017
A report on the Bessemer Ditch in Pueblo County examines how to maintain productive agriculture following a major agriculture-to-municipal water sale. The “study proposes means to maintain upwards of 2,000 acres of Pueblo County’s best production lands in irrigated agriculture. It suggests that market-based mechanisms—powered by legal frameworks established in Pueblo Water’s Water Court change case—be used to facilitate the movement of water from less productive ground back to critical production areas. These “water exchanges” can be accomplished voluntarily—in ways that benefit individual farmers and the agricultural community as a whole.”
There is also a supplement with maps of the study.
The Colorado Water Institute at CSU put a recent report on "Where now with Alternative Transfer Methods - ATMs - in Colorado?" The Colorado Water Plan calls for at least 50,000 acre feet of agricultural water to municipal water providers through voluntary, compensated alternative transfer methods (ATMS) by 2030. The purpose of ATMs is to provide an alternative for “buy and dry.” The report discusses the conclusions and recommendations of three meetings on ATMs in 2016.
The report is only 9 pages. You can find it here.
