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House panel approves water-sharing measure

Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 31, 2006 at midnight

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Farmers could more easily share their water with cities under a measure approved by the House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee on Monday.

House Bill 1124, sponsored by Rep. Mary Hodge, D-Adams County, would give farmers an option to idle portions of their land from one year to the next without jeopardizing their legal right to the water. Cities would then buy the unused water from farmers.

The idea is to keep as much irrigated land working as possible, while giving farmers a way to generate extra cash and giving cities access to badly needed water supplies.

The measure cleared the committee on a 10-1 vote.

"This bill allows farmers to more fully realize the value of their water without having to permanently sell it," Hodge said.

The measure comes after a state study showing that growth will trigger water shortages by 2030 as Colorado adds more than 2 million new residents.

The study, known as the Statewide Water Supply Initiative, indicated that cities in the South Platte Basin alone, which includes metro Denver, Greeley and Fort Collins, would need more than 400,000 acre- feet of new water supplies in the next 25 years.

In Colorado and other western states, nearly 90 percent of the water is controlled by farmers. But permanently buying the water from farm communities often means crippling rural economies dependent on the sale of tractors, seed and fertilizer.

House Bill 1134 is backed by the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and the Colorado Cattlemen's Association, among others, because it gives farmers who want to keep farming a way to raise extra money, and prevents the dry-up of vast swaths of some of Colorado's most valuable farms.

The measure is seen as particularly important for fast-growing, water- short communities such as Parker, Castle Rock and Aurora.

Parker, for example, hopes to tap millions of gallons of agricultural water in the South Platte River by crafting rotational fallowing agreements with farming communities in northeastern Colorado.

The cities are willing to pay top dollar for the farm water because it is closer to home and can be developed without engaging in bruising water battles with the Western Slope, where Front Range cities have traditionally gone for water.