ENVIRONMENTAL AND RECREATIONAL WATER NEEDS: A COLORADO CASE STUDY

摘要

Established in 2005 by the Colorado Legislature, the Water for the 21st Century Act creates an Interbasin Compact Committee and nine Basin Roundtables that provide a permanent forum for broad-based water discussions in the state. With assistance from the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), the Basin Roundtables are conducting assessments of the environmental and recreational water needs throughout the state in two phases. The first phase was completed during the past 2 years and included a comprehensive stakeholder-driven mapping effort of environmental and recreational "focus areas" throughout Colorado. This phase also included a pilot of the Watershed Flow Evaluation Tool (WFET). WFET is an application o the Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration (ELOHA). This paper describes methods the stakeholder process used in completing the mapping efforts and the results of the WFET pilot.