WHEREAS proposals for new water diversions and transfers out of the Colorado River Basin continue to pose a serious threat to the environment, economy and quality of life in rural Colorado; and
WHEREAS CLUB 20 was integral to the development of the statewide consensus document known as the “Colorado 64 Water Principles”;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that CLUB 20:
- Believes that future water supply solutions must benefit both the area of origin and the area of use; *
- Believes that adverse economic, environmental, and social impacts of future water projects and water transfers should be minimized, and that unavoidable adverse impacts must be reasonably mitigated;*
- Insists that all communities involved should commit themselves to identifying and implementing reasonable mitigation measures as an integral part of future water projects or transfers*, and that source communities be specifically involved in identifying appropriate and necessary mitigation measures;
- Supports the enactment of legislation to ensure that appropriate mitigation measures are required as part of any future out-of-basin water diversion; and
- Insists that any proposed new water development project for diversion of water out of the Colorado River Basin be fully analyzed for its potential to push CO closer to noncompliance with the CO River Compact, or other triggers for management of existing water rights on the Western Slope.
Adopted February 9, 1990
Amended September 8, 2006
Renewed September 7, 2012
Amended March 30, 2018
*Language taken from the “Colorado 64 Water Principles”