Community Funding Partnership Update

At their July quarterly meeting, the Colorado River District Board voted unanimously to approve funds for three Community Funding Partnership (CFP) requests totaling just over $660,000. These projects include emergency repairs for the Feeder Canal which serves over 10,000 acres of irrigated agriculture in Delta County; infrastructure upgrades to the Big Blue Ditch in Gunnison County to improve efficiency and watershed health; and a significant investment in water supply forecasting technology in partnership with Airborne Snow Observatories. Including those approvals, the Community Funding Partnership Program will close out the first half of 2024 with 21 grant requests totaling over $2.8 million. In addition, the Program has set aside $5 million of the $20 million commitment to the Shoshone Permanency Project within the 2024 budget.

The Board also approved changes to the District’s multi-benefit water projects policy (click here for link) to broaden the availability of funds for aging infrastructure projects. Amy Moyer, Director of Strategic Partnerships, pointed out that these changes are responsive to the Board’s request earlier in 2024.

“Much of our water infrastructure on the West Slope is over sixty years old,” said Moyer. “These systems are facing the end of their designed life cycle, while simultaneously facing skyrocketing costs in engineering, design, and construction. Upgrading aging infrastructure provides multiple benefits in the categories defined by the current CFP Framework. We want to offer as many opportunities as possible to our constituents to adapt to the challenges they are facing today.”

Staff continues to celebrate the success of the District’s Accelerator Grant Program following the Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART Drought Resiliency grant program recent announcement of a $537,907 grant to the Town of Crawford to rebuild and modernize its Wiley Spring collection system. This unique funding program was designed to serve water users within the River District boundaries who need financial support to be able to complete the rigorous process and preliminary design and engineering requirements necessary to apply to federal grants such as WaterSMART.

Complete descriptions of the approved projects along with staff reports and recommendations are available in the public board packet: link available here.

Feeder Canal Landslide Rehabilitation Project
Project Applicant: Crawford Water Conservancy District
Recommended Amount: $121,687
Location: Delta County

Big Blue Ditch Diversion Rehabilitation and Piping Project – Phase 1
Project Applicant: Cimarron Valley and River Watershed Coalition
Recommended Amount: $61,233
Location: Gunnison County

Multi-Year Airborne Snow Observatories, Inc. Snow Flight Survey Allocation
Recommended Amount: $500,000
Location: District-Wide