Water conservancy districts and water conservation districts which own or hold rights to water may enter into cooperative agreements with other political subdivisions of the state for the lease or exchange of water produced in the exercise of such district's water rights and the construction or use of waterworks within or outside of district boundaries, according to such terms as such district and political subdivision agree upon. Conservation districts, conservancy districts, and other political subdivisions of the state may enter into agreements with each other to provide funds or undertake measures to carry out section 37-45-118 (1)(b)(II), including agreements for the exchange or lease of such water outside the boundaries of the conservation or conservancy district. Such leases and exchanges may cover the time period necessary to amortize, or repay bonds issued for, the cost of constructing the waterworks involved, and may be renewable according to such terms as such district and political subdivision may agree upon. Any water rights leased or exchanged under this section shall be only for the time certain contained in each such agreement or extension thereof. Any water rights or changes of water rights which are necessary to implement such agreements shall be adjudicated as provided by law. If mutually agreeable, districts and other political subdivisions may submit any contractual disputes arising under this section between them to nonbinding arbitration, as they may determine.
Source: L. 89: Entire section added, p. 1420, § 1, effective April 12. L. 2001: Entire section amended, p. 1278, § 50, effective June 5.
ANNOTATION
This section allows water conservancy districts to enter into cooperative agreements with other political subdivisions for the lease or exchange of water outside of district boundaries under regulated conditions. However, it allows extra-district use only in specified situations, and the ultimate authority to approve such transactions rests with the water conservancy district. City of Thornton v. Bijou Irrigation Co., 926 P.2d 1 (Colo. 1996).
The northern Colorado water conservancy district (NCWCD) enacted rules and regulations to implement the limitations placed on the distribution of Colorado-Big Thompson (CBT) water by the Water Conservancy Act and the 1938 repayment contract between the United States and the NCWCD for the construction of the CBT project. The Water Conservancy Act, the repayment contract, and the rules enacted by the NCWCD all prohibited use of CBT water outside the boundaries of the NCWCD boundaries. City of Thornton v. Bijou Irrigation Co., 926 P.2d 1 (Colo. 1996).