Sharing water with farmers in our native Arkansas River Basin is one of the ways we are meeting our water needs for the future. This innovative program provides water for Colorado Springs customers while protecting rural communities and the agricultural economy in our region.
Agricultural water sharing is one way we are diversifying our water supply portfolio and addressing risks to our Colorado River Basin supply due to prolonged drought. Our Sustainable Water Plan identifies the ways we will meet our community's water needs over the next 40-50 years. This includes developing 15,000-25,000 acre-feet of new supplies through agricultural water sharing in the Arkansas River Basin.
In the past, water transfers between agriculture and municipalities primarily involved purchasing farms and transferring the associated water rights to the city. Today, we balance municipal needs with farmers' needs through partnerships to share the water and preserve the economics of the farm. These partnerships range from storage cooperation to investments in more water-efficient pivot irrigation.
By transitioning from traditional flood irrigation to pivot irrigation, less water is needed to preserve the economics of the farm and we are able to acquire the water from the parcel "corners" that are no longer being irrigated.
In essence, our Arkansas Valley Water Sharing program:
- Emphasizes collaboration rather than competition for water. Both partners benefit.
- Provides multiple ways to create stability for municipal supplies and the agriculture economy in the basin.
- Reduces large scale, indiscriminate transfers and permanent removal of water from agriculture.
- Supports the use of more efficient irrigation technology resulting in more efficient use of water and improved water quality for downstream users.
- In some cases, water sharing can help young farmers acquire their own farms, an otherwise cost-prohibitive endeavor in today's market.
We continue to build on the successes of our first water sharing agreements, started in 2016. This includes the Lower Arkansas Water Management Association (LAWMA) project, which provides water for Colorado Springs municipal use in five of every 10 years, while farmers in the Las Animas and Lamar areas take additional water during the other five years. We also supported LAWMA's development of storage to help them manage the program and their supplies.
Because we anticipate many water sharing agreements to occur in Bent County, Colo., we worked with county officials to streamline the water transfer process through an Intergovernmental Agreement, or IGA, which was approved in 2022. The terms of the IGA limit permanent dry-up of historically irrigated lands and provides economic and revegetation considerations for the county, while providing water for our customers.
