Bill moves out of committee

UPDATE:

 Senate bill 22-028 passes Committee by unanimous vote

By PRISCILLA WAGGONER

DENVER - Senator Cleave Simpson’s bill “Groundwater Compliance Compact Fund” passed the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee by unanimous vote on Tuesday.

If the bi-partisan, bi-cameral bill ultimately passes both the Senate and the House, SB22-028 will create a groundwater compliance and sustainability fund eligible to receive allocated funding to help both the San Luis Valley and the Republican River Basin in crucial efforts to achieve sustainability in valley aquifers and compact compliance, respectively.

In the course of hearing testimony, members of the committee – both Republicans and Democrats – asked interesting questions related to the feasibility and impact on local valley communities vis-à-vis the attempt to export water out of the San Luis Valley to Douglas County.

More details on questions asked by the committee, testimony provided by Senator Simpson, Senator Sonnenberg, Subdistrict No. 1 Program Manager Marisa Fricke and others as well as what-happens-next will be in Saturday’s edition of the Valley Courier.

ALAMOSA - Senator Cleave Simpson (R – District 35) has introduced a bill in the Colorado legislature that, if passed, could make a significant difference in sustainably managing groundwater use in the San Luis Valley. With sponsors from both parties and sponsors in the House as well as the Senate, Simpson’s legislation SB-028 titled “Groundwater Compact Compliance Fund” would do exactly as the name implies: create a groundwater compliance and sustainability fund to help finance reduced groundwater usage in both the Rio Grande River Basin and the Republican River Basin. Toward that end, funding could be used in a variety of ways, including but not limited to buying and retiring irrigation wells and irrigated acreage in the two river basins.

Justification laid out in the bill for the creation of such a fund is well known among people in the San Luis Valley.  The SLV economy is heavily dependent upon agriculture. With an annual rainfall of less than 7 inches, growers rely on groundwater well pumping as their principal source of irrigation water. However, such pumping may – and, in some cases, has - negatively impacted the valley’s aquifers, ultimately affecting the hydrogeology of connected surface stream flows that, in turn, threaten senior water rights and the state’s compliance with the Rio Grande Compact.

Long before any other basins were addressing sustainability in managing groundwater, growers in the San Luis Valley were looking ahead and taking steps to reduce groundwater usage. In Subdistrict No. 1 alone, more than $70 million has been collected from growers and redistributed to growers in a myriad of ways including, but not limited to, the purchase of water rights and well permits. But the challenge remains.

The language in Simpson’s bill describes the current situation best. “Despite the conservation districts’ and the state’s diligent efforts to implement strategies to reduce groundwater use, including the creation of six groundwater management subdistricts in the Rio Grande River Basin and the use of various federal, state and local funding sources to incentivize the purchase and retirement of irrigated acreage, extensive groundwater use in the Rio Grande and Republican River Basins continues to threaten aquifer sustainability, senior water rights and compact compliance.”

Against that backdrop, Simpson has initiated steps to “take advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity to significantly swing the pendulum in the right direction for the San Luis Valley.”

When Colorado received about $6 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act last year, the governor created three task forces to advise how a portion of that funding should be spent, including a task looking at behavioral health – which was allocated around $450 million, one for affordable housing – also allocated around $450 million, and a third to address economic recovery – which was allocated around $800 million.

Simpson was on two of those task forces – behavioral health and economic recovery.

The Treasury Department has ruled that projects related to water conservation qualify for expenditure of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. In collaboration with the Colorado Water Conservation Board and the State Engineer, Senator Simpson developed a plan that would request allocation of $50 to $80 million for the purpose of supporting both the Republican River Basin and the Rio Grande River Basin in purchasing acreage to put out of production – all toward the end of reducing groundwater usage through, among other things, retiring irrigation wells and irrigated aces and ultimate compliance of  requirements established either through compacts or state statutes that carry heavy consequences should groundwater usage not be reduced.

However, SB-028 is just the first step in this process. In order for $80 million to be allocated to the Groundwater Compact Compliance Fund, the fund itself must first be created by the legislature. And that is what Senator Simpson’s bill would accomplish.

Assuming SB22-038 passes and the fund is created, the next step will be to write the bill requesting the $80 million dollar allocation to the fund. 

Senator Simpson does not see ARPA funding as the sole solution. “There are still things we can do to improve our situation. I’m not giving up on irrigation efficiencies and technology developing in that area may hold some answers. Irrigation practices, moisture monitors or, for me, trying to find less water consumptive-use crops to grow in the valley. I think industrial hemp still has the potential to have an impact in the valley. Quinoa is the other one that comes to mind routinely about less water consumptive-use crops. But less irrigated acres in production in the valley is one important way. Once we get the dollars in that fund, we can decide then what is the best way to use the money to bring our water security issues to a better spot where demand more closely matches supply.”

Simpson didn’t stop there and went on to reiterate what is at stake. “But the train wreck in front of us is suspension of groundwater withdrawals by subdistrict that don’t meet their groundwater management plans that have been approved by the state. This fund is an effort to avoid that catastrophe that could be in front of most of the subdistricts in the valley.”

Simpson is optimistic the bill will become legislation.  It is endorsed by the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the State Engineer and the Colorado Water Congress. Governor Polis also expressed support and discussed allocating $15 million out of his budget toward the effort.

At this point, the bill has passed the Interim Water Resources Committee by unanimous vote and is scheduled to appear before the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on February 10.

When asked for his general take on how other senators and representatives are looking at the bill, Simpson said, “There seems to be a lot of support – except for those people who have ties to RWR.”