Colorado’s instream-flow program gives the CWCB the ability to hold water rights specifically for preserving the natural environment “to a reasonable degree” by keeping water flowing in the river.

But the instream flow program got off to a slow start, and drought was becoming an increasing problem in Colorado. One of the first big droughts was in the winter of 1976-77, ...

DENVER — At least $100 million a year is available annually in Colorado to spend on land conservation, but only about $1.5 million a year is available for buying water to leave in the state’s ...

A Colorado Supreme Court ruling this week that upheld an instream flow water right in the San Miguel River in Montrose County also is being praised as an important one for the state's instream ...

The Colorado Water Trust is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, with two decades of efforts to restore flows in Colorado rivers. But the Trust’s next 20 years likely will ...

Just one state agency has a mission that includes paying people to leave water in Colorado’s rivers for environmental reasons — and that can legally protect the flowing water — and that’s the Colorado ...

CRESTED BUTTE — The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) and the Colorado Water Trust closed on the purchase of up to 5.45 cubic feet per second of water under the Breem Ditch water right… ...

GOLIAD – Florine Davis remembers how the last flood brought down trees along the riverbank.

Instream flow rights can be controversial among consumptive water users because they decrease the legally available supply of water for other uses that may arise in the future.

Water rights have been secured to protect fish and other aquatic life on a stretch of Vallecito Creek, northeast of Durango. The Division Seven Water Court last week issued a decree to the ...