Interbasin Compact Committee (IBCC) 2010 report

As many of you might know, I have participated since 2006 in the collaborative process, Colorado Water for the 21st Century Act, mandated by the Colorado legislature in 2005 and formally initiated in 2006. The process conforms to the two-tiered organizational structure, identified by Elinor Ostrom, the Nobel prize-winning economist. The IBCC constitutes the administrative group that defines how the grassroots organizations, the nine basin round tables, function. The round tables represent each of the basins within the state--Gunnison, Colorado, Rio Grande, Yampa/White, Delores/San Juan, North Platte, South Platte, and the Arkansas. A ninth round table, the Denver Metropolitan, allows constituents of the most populous region of the state to voice and petition for their water interests. The legislature instructed the round tables to "develop a basin-wide consumptive and noncomsumptive water supply needs assessment, conduct an analysis of available unappropriated waters within the basin, and propose projects or methods, both structural and nonstructural, for meeting those needs and utilizing those unappropriated waters where appropriate" (Colo Rev Stat 37-75-104). Two members of each round table sit on the IBCC, along with "six at large members appointed by the governor, one member appointed by the chairperson of the house agriculture, livestock, and natural resources committee, one member appointed by the chairperson of the senate agriculture, natural resources, and energy committee, and the director of compact negotiations" (Colo Rev Stat 37-75-105).

Governor Ritter requested, after he announced that he would not seek a second term in office as Governor, that the IBCC produce a report, agreed to by the various stakeholders on the progress that the group had made and their plans for the future. This report fulfills that request. Unlike previous year-end reports produced by the staff of the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), this document underwent the review and the approval of the entire IBCC.

The report begins with a letter to Governor Ritter and Governor-elect Hickenlooper, introducing the process and describing the consequences of inactivity. Two significant sections of the letter detail What we have accomplished over the past Year and  The Comprehensive Framework to solve the projected gap between the State of Colorado's future water needs, based on population growth, and the deficient supply. The Comprehensive Framework contains five principles and four critical water supply issues.  The first issue, all structural and non-structural projects and water saving processes promoted by the IBCC (designated by the group as 'identified projects and processes', IPPs) warrant the support by the state at the interdepartmental, state, and federal levels. Second, the group recognized the importance of conservation as a solution to a portion of the state's water gap. Third, the IBCC recognized the current and future reality of agricultural land dry-up, to satisfy municipal and industrial demand and accommodate future growth through residential development. Concurrent with municipal and industrial water needs, the IBCC addressed non-consumptive and biotic water needs of fish and fowl ecosystems and recreational interests. To find the right balance between these various options and potential scenarios, Camp, Dresser, McKee (CDM) created a scenario tool which illustrated the trade offs and repercussions of group assumptions.

The remainder of the report covered a 2010 update on Statewide Water Supply Initiative report, with current projections of agricultural, municipal, industrial, and energy demands and water supply. The document listed the projects and processes to meet the M&I gap and reiterated the combination of efforts and issues to accomplish their goals. The letter concluded with a request for continued collaboration and state funding.

After providing an historical timeline of IBCC events, the document included the subcommittee reports. The New Supply subcommittee, the water conservation subcommittee, the nonconsumptive subcommittee,
the Role of the State in Supporting Water Supply Process and Projects subcommittee, and the Alternative Agricultural Water Transfers subcommittee articulated their guiding principles, short-term and long-term strategies, and recommendations. The report concludes with a list of future tasks for each of the subcommittees and miscellaneous tasks that did not fit within the prescribed categories.