Boulder, CO -- The Colorado General Assembly will consider a series of bills in this coming session designed to help enhance and protect flows on the state’s rivers and streams.

The measures consist of incentives and legal changes ranging from tax credits for donating water to the state’s instream flow program to the elimination of water right penalties that create a disincentive for water right holders to commit water to the instream flow program to help maintain flows for fish and wildlife.

“Healthy flowing rivers are central to Colorado’s character and our economy.  Unfortunately, because of prolonged drought and competing demands for water, flows on Colorado’s rivers are becoming more and more threatened,” said Drew Peternell, the director of Trout Unlimited’s Colorado Water Project. 

Peternell, whose organization helped design the measures, said that the package of four bills, if successful, will help make huge strides forward in the effort to protect and enhance flows on Colorado’s rivers and streams.  The measures will likely include:

• An instream flow tax credit, similar to the conservation easement tax credit program, that would give up to a $250,000 tax credit for water right holders who donate a portion of their water to the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), the state entity authorized to hold instream flow water rights.  There would be a total annual cap of $2 million on the program.
• An end to the “use it or lose it” penalty as it applies to water right holders who want to donate or lease water for stream flows for a given period of time.   By removing the penalty, the measure would protect water right holders who enter into long-term instream flow agreements with the CWCB.
• A $1 million appropriation for the CWCB to acquire water and to assist with transaction costs associated with instream flow deals.  The appropriation would help to free the CWCB from relying exclusively on charitable water rights holders willing to donate water to the state.
• A $1 million appropriation from the Species Conservation Trust Fund to analyze native aquatic species of concern in Colorado and develop a plan for acquiring instream flow water rights to benefit those species, thereby helping to prevent them from being listed under the Endangered Species Act.

 Peternell said that many of the laws and programs in Colorado that deal with stream flows have not kept pace with the needs and realities of an environment influenced by an ever-changing state.

“Healthy flowing rivers and streams dilute water pollution, provide clean drinking water supplies, contribute to the quality of life and the attractiveness of our state and are key to Colorado’s burgeoning outdoor recreation and tourism industries, which inject billions of dollars into the state’s economy each year.  It’s important that we take the steps necessary to make sure that these vital resources can continue to support our state and this package of bills will help to do that,” he said.

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