Connected Municipal Use No Change If Already Quantified

Current law limits the place of use of water subject to a changed water right that has been decreed for use in a treated domestic or municipal water supply system to only that system. The bill authorizes the use of that water in an interconnected treated domestic or municipal water supply system if:

• The water is attributable to a water right for which the historical consumptive use has previously been quantified, diverted from a point of diversion that has already been decreed for that water right, and delivered from the decreed treated system to the interconnected treated system without the water being returned to the natural stream; and
• The owner of the water right has given written notice to the division engineer that identifies the proposed accounting for the use of the water right and the division engineer has approved the accounting.

The owner of the water right must give notice to all persons on the substitute water supply plan notification list for the applicable water division. The division engineer will review any comments received on the proposed accounting and make a determination whether the accounting is adequate. This determination may be appealed to the water judge. Other than the place of use, all of the terms and conditions of the previous change of water right decree continue to apply to the water right. A claim to any return flows from the use of the water right in the interconnected treated domestic or municipal water supply system must be approved by the water judge.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)