Press Room

Thursday, Aug. 26: Sen. Whitehead to give legislative update on water issues

Tuesday, August 24 2010

DURANGO— Senator Bruce Whitehead (D-Hesperus) will present his legislative update and preview possible legislation for next year at the Summer Conference for the Colorado Water Congress.  Senator Whitehead is the Chair of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. 

As the Senate’s “water guy”, Sen. Whitehead worked on several key water bills which deal with solving the state’s ongoing thirst for sustainable water supplies.  HB 1250, sponsored by Sen. Mary Hodge (D-Brighton) and Rep. Randy Fischer, is the annual water projects bill.  Sen. Whitehead proposed an amendment to the bill to authorize the state to allocate $12 million annually over 3 years from severance tax dollars for state water projects to purchase up to 10,460 acre feet of water from ALP. That is about one cent per gallon. The state currently holds the option for the purchase, but if the state does not act it will soon lose the opportunity to purchase the water.  Senator Whitehead also sponsored bills to increase the money available for water efficiency grants and planning (SB 25), and create an annual data collection and reporting structure that will provide information about water use and conservation practices (HB 1051). 

According to their website: “The mission of the Colorado Water Congress is to provide leadership on key water resource issues and to be the principal voice of Colorado’s water community.”  It also says: “We believe the state of Colorado’s water shapes the future of the State.” Senator Whitehead is a water expert and worked for the Colorado Division of Water Resources for 25 years. For the last two years, he has been employed by the Southwestern Water Conservation District as its executive director.