Alternate Storage Not Change If Already Quantified
Current law allows water to be stored only at a location that has been specifically identified in a decree. The bill allows a water right for which the historical consumptive use was previously quantified to be stored in any reservoir, without the necessity of adjudicating an additional change of water right, if:
- The water will be diverted from a point of diversion that has already been decreed for that water right and the alternate place of storage is located on the same ditch or reservoir system;
- Previous notice is given to the division engineer;
- Transit and ditch losses are assessed from the decreed point of diversion to the alternate place of storage;
- The division engineer approves the proposed accounting of the storage; and
- The water was not imported from another water division.
(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)