The Southwest Basins Roundtable has been involved in the development of the Colorado Water Plan, initially finalized in December 2015 and updated in January 2022. You can read the full document online.

Walk through the water plan with this online story map!

As part of the water plan process, the Roundtable developed a strategy just for our area, the Basin Implementation Plan. The following are additional area-specific documents for your reference:

•  Identified Projects and Processes (IPP) List (2022 Update)

Would you like your project to be on the IPP list?

• Basin Implementation Plan & IPP Map & Overview
• Southwest Colorado Statement of Importance

In early 2018, the following status update was provided to the Roundtable:

• Basin Implementation Plan Status Report 2017

Committee Meetings can be found here

The San Miguel Stakeholders Group, chaired by Kenny Heldman and Celene Hawkins, has adopted the San Miguel River non-consumptive needs assessment. For the full document, see the links below.

San Miguel River Non-consumptive Needs Assessment Report April 2021

Appendix A, Appendix C, Appendix D, Appendix E, Appendix F, Appendix G

Missed the ASO-WRF Hydro Modeling workshops? See the meeting recordings and presentation below:

ASO-WRF Hydro Modeling Recording January 2021 

Need grant writing support for water conservation projects? Contact Western Resources Advocates or Greg Peterson at Colorado Ag Water Alliance (ag or multi-purpose ag projects), (720) 244-4629, coagwater@gmail.com.

For WSRF grant applicants, please complete the following REQUIRED questionnaire and submit it with your application:

*NEW* Please submit your application via the CWCB’s application portal. For more information or questions, contact Roundtable Chair Ed Tolen, 970-442-1303, etolen@laplawd.org, and CWCB Liaison Ben Wade, ben.wade@state.co.us, 303-866-3441 x 3238. For the full application and instructions please visit the CWCB website. 

Additional water project funding is available through the CWCB, including the Water Plan Grant Program and Watershed Restoration Program. Visit the CWCB website for the full list of funding opportunities.

The Colorado Department of Local Affairs also provides financial assistance for water and wastewater treatment. Please see this resource for available options.

For municipal water supply projects, another source is the Colorado Water Resources & Power Development Authority.

Finally, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers multipurpose grants to states and tribes. Click here for more information.

Click here for the most recent Water Supply Reserve Fund Balance. The most recent fund balance summary is located on the lower right-hand side of the page. To review final reports for past WSRF grant projects, please see the CWCB website. Select “Southwest” under Basin Roundtable and “Final Deliverable Documents” under Document Type. In addition, CWCB prepares a general WSRF report on an annual basis which are posted on the WSRF homepage. See the lower right-hand margin.

See one recent report below here:

At the Joint West Slope Roundtables meeting in December 2014, it was clear that stakeholders needed basin-specific data to inform local water management. Since then, the Southwestern Water Conservation District, the Colorado River Water Conservation District, and the four West Slope Roundtables have undertaken a three-phased study to assess threats to Western Slope water development from basinwide constraints such as Lake Powell critical elevations and compact curtailment. Phases I, II, and III have been completed (see below):

More on Risk Study Phase III:

SWBRT Phase III Risk Study Resolution 7-11-18

Colorado Watershed Restoration Grant money can be used for planning and engineering studies, including implementation measures, to address technical needs for watershed restoration and flood mitigation projects throughout the state.

Check out this comprehensive fact sheet for Drought Financial Assistance opportunities, as well as this DOLA summary for water and wastewater treatment funding assistance.

As of July 2022, Roundtable leadership team is Ed Tolen (Chair), Brandon Johnson (First Vice-Chair), Al Pfister (Second Vice-Chair and IBCC Representative), and Ken Curtis (IBCC Representative). Mely Whiting is also an IBCC member appointed by the governor. Steve Wolff was elected the Roundtable’s alternate IBCC Representative in July 2021.

To learn more about the Roundtable or to be added to the mailing list, please contact Roundtable Chair Ed Tolen, 970-442-1303, etolen@laplawd.org, and Recorder Wendy Weygandt, 970-565-3332, wweygandt@mvic.info. You can also sign up for the CWCB Confluence Newsletter or the Nine Basins Bulletin!