Colorado lawmakers face short-term spending problems in the legislative session that starts in January, but they will be asked to invest $55 million as the first step in a long-term solution for the state’s strained water resources.

The Colorado Water Conservation Board voted last week to seek the funding in next year’s budget to get going on the $20 billion statewide water plan unveiled a year ago.

The plan, 10 years in the making and championed by Gov. John Hickenlooper, would get all parts of the state – geographically and by economic sector – working together to ensure enough water for healthy rivers, sustained agriculture and growing suburbs.

At the heart of the plan is the idea of urging state water consumers to wean themselves from about 1 percent of their usage per year.

If all goes well, it’s still a tall order.

The U.S. Census Bureau and the state demographer’s office estimate that 7.8 million people will call Colorado home by 2040, an increase of about 2.3 million.

The larger population will require almost 300,000 acrefeet of new water each year, according to data analysis. By comparison, Lake Dillon, the picturesque mountain reservoir framed by the Ten Mile Range just off Interstate 70 and Denver Water’s largest, has a capacity of 257,304 acre-feet.

An acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons, enough to supply about two average Colorado homes for a year.

Of the $55 million requested for next year, $30 million would go into a loan fund to help cities finance repairs and other projects to help save water, and $25 million would kick-start other parts of the plan.

The budget legislators will consider next session, however, is projected at $28.5 billion, which envisions $500 million in cuts and delayed spending for such programs as transportation, health care and education.

The governor’s budget proposal also calls for the state to hang on to an estimated $32 million in severance taxes from mineral extraction that usually would go to local governments to pay for such projects as water conservation.

Severance taxes have been eyed as a way to pay for a part of the components of the water plan, including replacing leaky pipes, raising the height of dams to expand reservoirs, restoring watersheds and allowing water deals between rural and urban areas to still help preserve agriculture.

The 1 percent statewide water-saving target would represent 130 billion gallons a year, according to the plan. The savings target could eventually accommodate more than 1.1 million additional households, the plan envisions.

The $20 billion price tag includes water projects and river restoration programs across the state by 2050, with most of the money coming from local governments that benefit from individual projects, federal sources, private enterprise and environmental foundations. Statewide, taxpayers are expected to pony up about $3 billion over the next 34 years.

“In my view it’s a really important conclusion that after the first year we have a lot of objectives; we have a good first year of figuring out what we need to do, and now we have a commitment, at least by the board, to start spending resources to implement the plan,” said Bart Miller, Healthy Rivers program director for Boulder-based Western Resource Advocates.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done, but I think this decision helps us launch into moving down the path toward implementing the plan.”

The plan, drafted from more than 30,000 comments and scores of meetings across the state, should appeal to a broad base of politicians, Miller said.

“In the world of water, much of the issue is and should be bipartisan,” he said. “If you’re talking about water in the West, it feels to me that that’s an issue that transcends individual people or individual parties. It’s kind of a basic thing we all need to work together on.”

Miller and other conservation leaders used the anniversary of the plan’s unveiling to urge leaders to continue to progress, despite short-term budget hurdles.

In addition to the fast expanding state population, climate projections show hotter and drier conditions in the American Southwest, including Colorado, which could lead to more drought.

Abby Burk, Western Rivers Program lead for Audubon Rockies, said that while implementing the plan would not be easy, the issues are pressing.

“Now more than ever, Coloradans must continue to work together for implementation of the plan and reach for smart, bold actions now in order to secure our water future for people and the environment,” she said.

Matt Rice, Colorado Basin director with American Rivers, called the sweeping conservation effort “an example of people across Colorado, and across a wide array of interests, coming together to forge this important plan for our state’s water future.

“But any good plan is only as good as its implementation, and now we must urge our leaders to continue working toward fully implementing the principles developed in the final plan.”