A bipartisan group of state lawmakers Tuesday urged Colorado’s two U.S. senators to support federal funding that will help the Colorado River Conservation District and its partners achieve their goal of buying the state’s largest and most senior non-consumptive water right.

The project, which dates back to 1902 and is named for the Xcel power plant just east of Glenwood Springs, is known as the Shoshone water right. The Colorado River flows through the turbines at the Shoshone power plant.

Tuesday’s letter from the General Assembly was signed by 16 lawmakers, which includes every legislator, Republican or Democrat, who represents the Western Slope, as well as members from the rest of the state who sit on the House and Senate agriculture committees. That includes House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon; Reps. Karen McCormick, D-Longmont and Marc Catlin, R-Montrose, who led the House Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources Committee; and Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Frisco and Jeff Bridges, D-Greenwood Village, who lead the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.

“Hot temperatures over the last 23 years have diminished the flows of the Colorado River by 20%, and sound science tells us we should anticipate and plan for further significant reductions,” the letter stated. “Without the Shoshone water rights, Colorado River flows would be significantly lower, (especially in drought years), diminishing over 250 miles of connected ecosystems that rely on the river’s flows to support Gold Medal fisheries and critical habitat for native, threatened, and endangered fish.

“These water rights are vital to Colorado’s $11.9 billion agricultural and $14.6 billion recreation economies, which support thriving communities and small businesses on both sides of the Continental Divide.”

The lawmakers called on U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, both Denver Democrats, to advocate for the project “and encourage federal investment in the permanent protection of the Shoshone water rights.”

The Shoshone water right is critical in compliance with the federal Endangered Species Act. The Keep Shoshone Flowing coalition says more than 1,250 Colorado water projects on both sides of the Continental Divide rely on the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program to maintain compliance with the law.

That’s tied to instream flow rights, which is water that protects the environment, including fish and riparian habitats, according to Western Resource Advocates’ Bart Miller.

In dry years, Shoshone calls between 41,000 and 86,000 acre-feet of water downstream from the power plant, “bolstering needed cold-water flows in the Grand Valley’s 15-Mile Reach, critical habitat for Colorado’s four native fish listed under the Endangered Species Act,” the Keep Shoshone Flowing coalition said. Those species are the Colorado Pikeminnow, Humpback Chub, Bonytail, and Razorback Sucker.

The 15-Mile Reach is 15 miles of the Colorado River that flows from Glenwood to Grand Junction. The Colorado Water Trust calls the 15-mile reach “the heart of the Upper Colorado River Basin.” Keeping the water in the Colorado River also improves water quality benefits for West Slope communities. It helps sustain the $14.6 billion water-based recreation economy that depends on the river and nearly $12 billion in agricultural activity.

The project costs $99 million, and the state has kicked in $20 million from the annual water projects bill. Another $3 million came from Garfield County; $1 million from Eagle River Water & Sanitation District and the Upper Eagle Regional Water Authority; $2 million from the city of Glenwood Springs, which sees the outdoor recreation dollars the Colorado River provides; $4 million from Eagle, Mesa and Grand counties; and, $20 million from the district’s Community Funding Partnership, a tax approved by local voters in 2020.

The total is around $56 million, leaving about $43 million to go. That’s where the federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and “Bucket 2” of the Act’s Environmental Drought Mitigation funding could come in. Bucket 2 is a pot of $450 million dedicated to drought mitigation and ecosystem restoration in the upper Colorado River system. Applications for the funding are due this month.

Funding being sought for Shoshone comes from the IRA’s “Bucket 2 Environmental Drought Mitigation, or B2E, which is money that goes to local and/or state governments and federally-recognized tribes for projects that provide general environmental benefits or ecosystem/habitat restoration benefits that address issues directly caused by drought.