Colorado cuts into use-or-lose system that caused water waste

Colorado water rights owners are forging a way out of the state's ingrained "Use It Or Lose It" rule that penalizes those who divert less than their full allotment from rivers — opening a path to cut water use as shortages grip the West. For 139 years, state enforcers have said farmers, cities and ranchers who don't use all the water they are entitled to could have their rights curtailed. Critics have said that discourages conservation. A first deal in the works, made possible by a 2013 law, lets a ranch owner near Granby leave water in Willow Creek, a tributary of the overtapped Colorado River, without facing penalties.A second deal would leave more water in the Roaring Fork River, another Colorado River tributary, in Aspen. Colorado Farm Bureau leaders said they're watching to make sure water left in rivers by those who don't exercise their senior rights stays available to next-in-priority irrigators. "We're definitely taking a wait-and-see approach," CFB president Don Shawcroft said. "We had a certain understanding when the law was passed, but it's certainly up to the interpretation of the court and lawyers." The Colorado law says not using water won't diminish or cancel a water right if the owner is enrolled in a conservation program with local approval...more