Revegetate or Dry Farm Formerly Irrigated Agricultural Land

     The bill requires a water right owner who changes the use of their water right in water division 2 from agricultural irrigation purposes to another beneficial use on or after January 1, 2027, to engage in revegetation or a conversion to dryland farming with effective erosion control and weed management on the formerly irrigated agricultural land. The bill implements a procedure that includes:

• The identification of a site-specific standard and evaluation methodology to measure and determine the success of the revegetation or conversion to dryland farming;
• A requirement that the water court appoint a third-party revegetation or dryland farming expert to conduct annual field reviews and issue reports concerning the success of the revegetation or conversion to dryland farming (maintenance period);
• After the conclusion of a maintenance period for formerly irrigated agricultural land, authorizing the water court to order additional maintenance periods or to limit the amount of water subject to the water right to the percentage of formerly irrigated agricultural land for which revegetation or conversion to dryland farming is complete; and
• Limitations on the percentage of water subject to the water right that can be used for the new beneficial use during the revegetation or conversion to dryland farming process.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)