Water Rights: Laws, Guns, & Money

The kick the can legislature
·       Only 16 water bills this session
·       Like we need another study
State should step up to complex and sensitive water issues
·       Dan Beard – saying it like it is
·       Our problems are immediate, but others are dire

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Farm Box Farms – containerized farming
Eric Gostenki, VP of Sales
·       Produce 250 containerized farms per year and growing
·       Experimenting both with crops and concepts
Joaquin Gonzales, Director of Fodder
·       1 container produces as much cattle fodder as 30 acres of irrigated ground
·       Containerized fodder uses less than 5% of irrigated acreage

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Happy until lawsuits filed
·       Abandonment of water rights
·       Potential expansion of use
Prior appropriation provides path forward for dispute resolution
·       Times change farming practices and technology/manpower requirements
·       Society operates under reactive system
·       Only crisis prompts change
Technical issues that affect water users
·       Free river water and how it is used
·       Transit losses and how measured

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Meeting with Rob Graves at the Howling Cow Restaurant
·       Saving water – what is it and who can benefit?
·       Monitoring use of water is a problem
Other questions about moving water
·       Water quality issues
·       Thornton and 1041 issues
Elephant in the room
·       Buy and dry close in to the cities
 ·       Only the three Ds will stop farmers: Debt, Death and Divorce

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Bad omen for the Colorado water world
Five things to consider
·       Stop discouraging buy and dry
·       Do away with HB 1041
·       Pass bill to allow farmers to sell saved water
·       Resurrect Two Forks
·       Create a special zone for buy and dry

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Tragedy of the commons
·       Referring to a public resource
·       Transaction costs are almost prohibitive
Disincentive to saving water
·       Demand management in real time
·       Can’t fix what you don’t know
Cities’ rights administered in a more lax manner

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Martin Sarley, past river commissioner, Ian Ferrell, attorney
·       Importance of quantifying river conditions
·       Administer water per laws and court rulings
As much an art form as a science
·       Different administrations depending on history and district
·       Goal to be same with real time data

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More discussions with Evan Jeffries
·       Piping saves water simply by requiring less to transport
·       Leaving stubble from harvest keeps soil moisture higher
History shows why most water is owned by farmers
·       Other issues affecting farmers
·       Farmers in CA & AZ benefited unfairly from Mead and Powelll

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Experiences of Evan Jeffries in Evergreen and Otis
·       Running cows in a regenerative process
·       Manages and advises ranchers on water
Some illegal water ponds protected for use for firefighting
·       60 identified in Jefferson County
·       $300k to $500k per AF on Bear Creek

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Colorado River Basin talks with limited results
·       Six states agree
·       California holds out
Lawsuits are inevitable
·       Time consuming
·       Indian tribes left out again

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