The Trinidad City Council approved the purchased of water rights in the John Flood Ditch at its regular meeting last Tuesday. The purchase grants the city access to about 213 acre feet of water for $507,000, though plans call for it to be leased back to the original owner at cost for several years. 

More than $3.7 million for Southern Colorado projects are included in the energy and water appropriations bill, passed Thursday by the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee. U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar included more than $74.4 million in funding for critical energy and water projects throughout Colorado.

An appropriation of $1.29 million for Trinidad Lake is among $7 million in water or energy projects included in an appropriations bill at the request of U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo. Allard, a member of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, announced the appropriations Tuesday.