CO Water Conservation Board Construction Fund Project

Colorado water conservation board construction fund - project and loan authorizations - appropriations - transfers. The act appropriates the following amounts from the Colorado water conservation board (CWCB) construction fund (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, $175,000 (section 3);
• Continuation of the Colorado Mesonet project, $150,000 (section 4);
• Continuation of instream flow engineering support services, $250,000 (section 5);
• Acquisition of LIDAR data, $200,000 (section 6); and
• Technical assistance grants for beneficiaries of the federal "Colorado River Storage Project Act", $200,000 (section 7).

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

• Up to $2,000,000 on July 1, 2019, to the litigation fund (section 8); and
• $2,500,000 on June 30, 2019, to the water supply reserve fund (section 9).

Section 10 appropriates $17,500,000 from the fund to the CWCB for continuing implementation of the state water plan as follows:

• Up to $4,000,000 to support watershed health goals;
• 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 agricultural projects;
• 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 environmental and recreational projects;
• Up to $1,000,000 to provide continued funding for the alternative agricultural grant program; and
• Up to $5,500,000 to fund updates to basin implementation plans, improve basin data collection and metrics for tracking state water plan implementation, and for use of the data for future updates of the state water plan.

Section 11 authorizes the CWCB to make loans up to $15,150,000 from the fund for the Walker recharge project, a water supply retiming effort that uses the alluvial aquifer of the South Platte river to increase irrigation opportunities for agricultural production.

Current law:

• Makes money appropriated for use in Republican river matters available until June 30, 2019; section 12 extends availability until the money is fully expended;
• Authorizes and directs the state treasurer to transfer $200,000 from the fund to the feasibility study small grant fund; section 13 makes this an annual obligation on July 1 of each year and increases the transfer cap to $500,000 in order to restore the unencumbered balance in the fund up to $500,000; and
• Creates the flood and drought response fund; section 14 authorizes and directs the state treasurer to annually transfer money on July 1 of each year from the fund to the flood and drought response fund to restore the unencumbered balance in the flood and drought response fund to $500,000.

Section 15 changes a continuing annual transfer established in statute of $10 million from the severance tax perpetual base fund to the fund for implementation of the state water plan to a single transfer of $10 million on July 1, 2019.

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