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Committee weighs water banking, surplus protection and stream monitoring
Summary
Members reviewed options for protecting surplus water (banking, leasing, conservation easements), discussed legal limits including the 50-year forfeiture rule for municipal suppliers, and recommended pursuing gauge installation and expert input (Emily Lewis) to clarify groundwater vs. surface-water options.
The Castle Valley water advisory committee spent substantial time exploring how surplus water might be protected, whether through water banking, leasing or conservation easements, and what monitoring data the town will need to make informed choices.
Members noted current statutory and program constraints: water banking statutes and recent rule changes tend to focus on distribution systems and surface-water/irrigation contexts, and a municipal public-water-supplier designation affords a 50-year forfeiture protection that differs from non-municipal nonuse rules. Speaker 5 recalled recent changes to water-banking rules that emphasize participation by distribution systems and irrigation-focused land use.
Given the complexity, the committee agreed that legal expertise would be helpful. Members proposed asking Emily Lewis, who worked on state-level water marketing plans, to brief the group on the legal and administrative pathways for banking, leasing and marketing water and how groundwater and surface water interact under current law.
On data needs, members urged improving local monitoring. Speaker 3 recommended installing a stream gauge above town on Castle Creek to quantify inflow, local use and outflow so the town can better demonstrate its water balance to regulators and in negotiations. The committee also discussed using USGS and university monitoring data and ensuring results are entered into the town’s database.
No formal financial commitments were made; members asked staff to explore funding for legal advice, to contact Emily Lewis about a possible presentation, and to investigate installing a gauge and related monitoring costs.
