SB 10-078: Facilitate reuse of municipal effluent
January 23, 2010
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
“There’s no way to know what this might do and what mischief it could cause,” attorney Peter Nichols told the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District. “It looks like they could avoid court. This has the potential to change the place of use or the timing of use.”
The bill [SB78: Concerning the Use of Reusable Effluent That Has Been
Discharged Bact to a Water Body From a Domestic Wastewater Facility After Being Put To Beneficial Use] is sponsored by Sen. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton, and would allow cities that can measure the return flows from transmountain or fully consumable native water to reuse them — either by exchange or other means — without a trip to water court. Cities already have the right to reuse water “to extinction” when it is brought into the basin or when the consumptive use of crops on agricultural land is removed for municipal use. The cities, however, have to gain water court approval for how that water is used. This gives other water right owners the opportunity to assess whether the plan to reuse the return flows would injure their own ability to take water. The bill, as it is now written, places the responsibility of monitoring the measurement of return flows on the state engineer and does not mention water quality.
More 2010 Colorado legislation coverage here.
