Water Resources SB 213

The Act provides the Director of the Environmental Protection Division with flexibility in determining when and how to declare a drought and how to proceed in case of a drought. The Act no longer requires the Director to determine a drought status by a certain date or to conduct irrigation reduction auctions. The Act codifies the Director’s ability to implement augmentation projects and limit the ability of those with withdrawal permits to withdraw the augmented water for irrigation. The Act also creates irrigation efficiency requirements and sets forth a schedule requiring all irrigation systems to achieve eighty percent efficiency by 2020