Study Green Infrastructure for Water Quality Management

Water Resources and Agriculture Review Committee. The bill requires the university of Colorado and Colorado state university, in collaboration with the division of administration (division) in the department of public health and environment (department), in collaboration with the university of Colorado's Mortenson center in global engineering and resilience and the Colorado water institute located within Colorado state university, to:

• On or before October 1, 2024, start to conduct a feasibility study of the use of green infrastructure, which refers to nature-based, watershed-scale water quality management solutions that are an alternative to traditional gray infrastructure, which refers to centralized water treatment facilities, and the use of green financing mechanisms for water quality management;
• Complete the feasibility study on or before April 1, 2026;
• Establish one or more up to 3 pilot projects in the state to demonstrate the use of green infrastructure, green financing mechanisms, or both. Each pilot project may be operated for up to 5 years and the universities may provide technical assistance to the operator of a pilot project.
• Adopt rules establishing a prepermit baseline date to assist municipalities and other water providers to pursue prepermit solutions for compliance with state and federal water quality standards; and
• On or before November 1, 2026, submit a report and , on or before February 1, 2027, present the report, to the water resources and agriculture review committee on the progress of the feasibility study and any pilot projects and on any legislative and administrative recommendations to promote the use of green infrastructure and green financing mechanisms for water quality management in the state.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)