Greeley staff brief board on Colorado water-right basics and propose changes to agricultural and nonagricultural water rental programs

Water Resources staff provided the Greeley Water and Sewer Board with a two-part briefing on Sept. 17: a primer on Colorado water-right administration and a staff proposal to revise the city’s agricultural and nonagricultural water-rental programs.

Leah, water resources staff, opened with a basic overview of Colorado prior-appropriation water law, water-court decrees, types of water rights (direct flow, storage, exchange, augmentation) and how return flows and river calls affect operations. Leah said Greeley routinely files as an opposer in water-court applications to prevent injury to the city’s senior rights and described operational tools such as augmentation decrees and exchanges used to manage junior rights and well use.

Why it matters: the presentation framed the rental-policy discussion by explaining how Greeley must mimic historical consumptive use and manage river-call obligations while operating wells, storage and exchanges to meet municipal demands and protect downstream users.

Proposed changes to the agricultural rental program
Bridal and other staff described the agricultural rental program (served largely on a first-come, first-served basis) and presented recommended changes to improve administration and revenue capture. Current practice charges farmers only the ditch assessment plus a 10% administrative fee capped at $500; staff said they rent roughly 10,000 acre-feet per year across multiple sources, including Colorado-Big-Thompson (CBT) units and Greeley-Loveland Irrigation Company (GLIC) shares.

Key proposed ag changes:
- Keep basin priority and first-come, first-served structure but move the request date from Jan. 1 to Jan. 15.
- Add a minimum charge of $35 per acre-foot for share types that lack a standard assessment.
- Remove the $500 cap on the administrative fee so the admin fee can reflect higher assessment amounts.

Staff said these changes reflect market analysis that showed willingness to pay in Weld County at roughly $70–$150 per acre-foot and that the city’s current pricing recovers assessments and modest admin costs.

Nonagricultural (non-ag) rental proposal: sealed blind auction
Bridal and Travis recommended replacing the ad-hoc, deal-by-deal non-ag rental process with a standardized sealed (blind) bid system to encourage competitive pricing, faster response and centralized records. Under the proposal, bids for wholly consumable effluent-like water would start at $800 per acre-foot and CBT units would start at $500 per acre-foot; staff proposed dedicating about 30% of the city’s CBT quota to the nonag rental pool as part of the program.

Staff said demand exceeds likely supply: staff estimated market demand next year of more than 11,000 acre-feet versus current typical non-ag availability of 4,000–4,500 acre-feet. The sealed-bid approach is intended to maximize revenue and improve predictability of allocations.

Board questions and concerns
Board members asked about timing, crop-insurance deadlines and equity for historic users. One board member cautioned that a May deadline for multi-peril crop insurance claims could affect growers who rely on rentals; staff agreed to check the exact insurance deadlines and to stage the program to reduce initial-year disruption. Staff also stressed that the board and staff can refuse bids and that long-term leases or infrastructure-exchange deals would continue to come before the board for separate approval.

Next steps
Staff requested feedback and said it will return next month with a more formal policy and an approval package. Staff also said they will centralize online submission and tracking, create standardized forms and emails for the programs, and complete implementation details ahead of the next rental season.