Sustaining and Conserving Colorado's Water

Earlier this week at the Colorado Ag Classic there was a very interesting panel discussion around the state’s water sustainability and conservation. One of the panel members was Colorado Water Conservation Board Executive Director James Eklund. He brought a copy of the 400 page Colorado Water Plan that was released in mid-November. He shared with the audience there are two things to remember when securing water for Colorado agriculture.
Eklund: “We have to have our solution be market based. If they can’t compete in the market place, they will not work. With all the engagement int the world, a thirsty municipality and a really desperate farmer are going to find a deal and that deal right now is buy and dry. And so we want to influence that we want to put other products out there we’ve got to make them market competitive so that if you are out of production for a year you don’t have to make a dire and drastic decision to get out of agriculturally permanently.”
Secondly he said that there needs to be more alternatives that we currently have on the table and that will require a continued conversation with the ag industry and other stakeholders.