Colorado Water Conservation Board Construction Fund Project

The act appropriates the following amounts from the Colorado water conservation board (CWCB) construction fund to the CWCB or the division of water resources in the department of natural resources for the following projects:

• Continuation of the satellite monitoring system operation and maintenance, $380,000 (section 1 of the act);
• Continuation of the Colorado floodplain map modernization program, $500,000 (section 2);
• Continuation of the weather modification permitting program, $350,000 (section 3);
• Continuation of the Colorado Mesonet project, $150,000 (section 4);
• Acquisition of LIDAR data, $200,000 (section 5);
• Continuation of the Arkansas river decision support system, $500,000 (section 6);
• Continuation of the Colorado decision support system operation and maintenance, $500,000 (section 7);
• Continuation of the water forecasting partnership project, $350,000 (section 8);
• Creation of the Colorado water loss control initiative, $1,000,000 (section 9);
• Continuation of the watershed restoration program, $4,000,000 (section 10); and
• Continuation of the alternative agricultural transfer methods grant program, $750,000 (section 11).

The state treasurer will make the following transfers from the CWCB construction fund:

• Up to $2,000,000 on July 1, 2020, to the litigation fund (section 12); and
• $1,000,000 on July 1, 2020, to the fish and wildlife resources fund (section 13).

Section 14 appropriates $7,500,000 to the CWCB to continue implementation of the state water plan from the CWCB construction fund to be used as follows:

• Up to $3,000,000 to facilitate the development of additional storage, artificial recharge into aquifers, and dredging existing reservoirs;
• Up to $1,000,000 for grant funding to implement long-term strategies for conservation, land use, and drought planning;
• Up to $500,000 for grants for water education, outreach, and innovation efforts;
• Up to $1,500,000 for agricultural projects; and
• Up to $1,500,000 for environmental and recreational projects.

The CWCB is authorized to make loans from the severance tax perpetual base fund or the CWCB construction fund:

• In an amount up to $23,230,000 to the Pueblo conservancy district to bring levees up to federal emergency management agency standards (section 15);
• In an amount up to $17,250,800 to the Tunnel Water Company to rehabilitate the Laramie-Poudre tunnel (section 16); and
• In an amount up to $90,000,000 to the southeastern Colorado water conservancy district to provide nonfederal cost-sharing funding for the Frying Pan-Arkansas project. $10,000,000 is also transferred from the severance tax perpetual base fund to the CWCB construction fund and then appropriated from the CWCB construction fund for the 2020-21 state fiscal year to the CWCB to grant money to the southeastern Colorado water conservancy district for the Frying Pan-Arkansas project (section 17).

Current law prohibits the CWCB from recommending treated water distribution systems to the general assembly, and section 18 removes the prohibition.

Section 19 extends the CWCB's water efficiency grant program to June 30, 2030.

Section 20 reduces the $1,700,000 appropriation made to the CWCB in the 2019-20 state fiscal year for stakeholder outreach and technical analysis regarding the development of a water resources demand management program to $833,258, which amount is available to the CWCB through the 2020-21 state fiscal year.

Current law authorizes an annual, continuous appropriation of $150,000 from the CWCB construction fund to the Colorado water conservation board for the ongoing operations of a water education foundation, which is currently known as Water Education Colorado. Section 21 repeals the continuous appropriation.

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