WA-20-1 Drought Contingency Planning and Demand Management Programs on the Colorado River

WHEREAS The US Congress authorized new, non-equalized storage space in Lake Powell to be used for operation of a potential Upper Colorado River Basin demand management program, and WHEREAS This space in Lake Powell could be used by the four upper basin states of the Colorado River for voluntary, temporary and compensated contributions of water that have been previously consumed, and WHEREAS The conserved consumptive use savings shepherded to Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) reservoirs will be accounted for by the Bureau of Reclamation until   it is determined by the Upper Colorado River Commission to be enough for compliance with the 1922 Colorado River Compact, and WHEREAS The Colorado Water Conservation Board has adopted a policy stating that Colorado’s contributions to the conserved consumptive use space in CRSP reservoirs will be from “roughly proportional” contributions of water based on geography and by type of use. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Club 20 supports both the Upper Basin’s Drought Contingency Plan and the Colorado Water Conservation Board’s December 2018 policy regarding equitable water contributions to a demand management “pool” in CRSP reservoirs based on statewide contributions from all types of water users with the understanding that “equitable” and “roughly proportional” contributions from Colorado River water users is based on post-compact depletions of West Slope and Transmountain water uses, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Club 20 would only consider supporting  demand management programs for Colorado River Compact compliance that are not injurious to other water rights, and  that are voluntary, temporary  fairly compensated and does not contribute to the long term permeant reduction in west slope agriculture activities Adopted 5/29/2020

Resolution in PDF Format