Water Leasing: Opportunities and Challenges for Colorado's South Platte Basin

Abstract

Agricultural water is a preferred source for meeting growing demands, but permanent transfers often require formerly irrigated land to be fallowed, removing a key industry from the regional economy. One alternative allows farmers to lease water to cities by fallowing their land on a rotational basis or limiting irrigation to reduce the consumptive use of their cropping operations. A survey of irrigators in Colorado’s South Platte Basin examines the remuneration needed for a farmer to enter into a lease agreement; the amount of water the farmer will release; the provisions desired in a lease agreement; and the characteristics shared by farmers who are willing to lease.water leases, alternatives to permanent water transfers, economic health of rural communities, Community/Rural/Urban Development,