HB 1352 [Concerning an expansion of water judges's jurisdiction to address the effects of a water right adudication on water quaility] passed the state House yesterday with 33 votes, according to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. On to the state Senate now.
From the article, "Rural lawmakers' perennial push to address increasingly poor water quality for Coloradans who live downstream of the state's metro areas cleared its biggest hurdle yet Tuesday. The House narrowly approved a proposal that calls for water court judges to take water quality into account before ruling on transfers of water from one area of the state to another. Colorado water law requires judges look at who a water transfer or diversion might harm, but it doesn't direct them to weigh the environmental harm diverting water from a river basin might inflict on users downstream...
"Giving McFadyen the vote she needed to keep her bill alive in the closing days of the 2006 legislative session was Rep. Mark Larson, R-Cortez. Larson voted for the bill last month when the House cast an initial vote on the measure. But as a final vote on the measure languished on the House docket, he felt increasingly inclined to change his vote. Larson said his 'water buffaloes,' a term used to describe experts in the water field, took advantage of the lull to sway his thinking, too. They didn't like the idea of bringing water quality into the mix. On Tuesday, Larson's water buffaloes told him to go with his gut, even if it wasn't what they advocated. 'I was the 33rd,' said Larson, who said he expects to take some heat from the folks back home for his support. 'I'm pleased to have been a part of it.' Holding his ground on the measure was Rep. Ray Rose, R-Montrose, who maintained his opposition to the bill despite the urging of his rural colleagues. Rose said the bill has nothing to do with water quality and everything to do with transferring power from the state's Water Quality Control Commission to the courts. HB 1352 directs judges to use water-quality criteria established by the commission...
"[Buffie] McFadyen acknowledged her bill isn't in the clear despite passing the House. Among the critics she must now win over is Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus. Isgar heads up the Senate Agricultural Committee, the bill's next stop and a hurdle it must clear before it can be debated on the Senate floor."
Category: Colorado Water
6:12:30 AM 
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