In 2005 the Colorado General Assembly passed the Colorado Water for the 21st Century Act. Nine basin roundtables were established to represent each of Colorado’s eight major river basins and the Denver metropolitan area. Together, the basin roundtables bring more than 300 citizens representing diverse interests including recreation, environmental, agricultural, industrial and domestic water needs.
The act also created the Interbasin Compact Committee (IBCC) to explore cooperative actions among the basins. The drought, climate change, and competing uses for a scarce resource underlie the necessity of the plan.
The executive order spurred the nine Roundtables, the IBCC, and the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) to action. See the CWCB’s page for a summary of those Roundtables.
Each basin roundtable has created a Basin Implementation Plan (BIP) to examine individual needs. The CWCB has written nine chapters that give overviews of local and statewide issues alongside goals and action items.
The CWCB created a Colorado Water Plan website that contains critical documents and draft plans from the CWCB and the basin roundtables. You can find out more at www.coloradowaterplan.org.
At their quarterly meetings in either Durango or Cortez, 40 members of our local roundtable come from all over southwestern Colorado to provide input into the water plan, arrive at consensus on difficult issues, and approve state funding for area projects.
SW Basins Roundtable Priorities
The Southwest Basins Roundtable continues to provide balanced solutions to address water supply and drought while respecting each unique community, culture, and environment. The Basin Implementation Plan defined goals and principles to help implement these balanced solutions.
The principles center on: Fostering cooperation and collaboration; acknowledging legal constructs; defining the Roundtable’s role and regional position; and facing challenges and threats.
The goals center around: balance all needs and reduce conflict, support the needs of agriculture, meet municipal and industrial water needs, meet recreational water needs, meet environmental water needs, promote health watersheds, and manage risk associated with the Colorado River Compact.
Basin Roundtables
The diversity of basin roundtable membership broadens the range of stakeholders who are actively participating in Colorado’s water decisions and brings in hundreds of citizens into the process.
*NOTE – the basins names below have links to the associated roundtable
Click the Roundtable name for information on each basin.
