Colorado River Basin Environmental Water Transfers Scorecard
Environmental water rights transfers are a subset of environmental water transactions. These types of deals tend to be of longer duration than less formal deals, and also provide for legal protection for the water left instream. A water right transfer for the benefit of streamflow, in most states, results in legal protection for the water instream with the same priority date at the original water right. State laws require a agency or court review of any changes to a water right, and the legal frameworks in western states for these more formal arrangements vary considerably. As a result, the legal scope of environmental water rights transfers substantially differs from state to state, as does the burden of getting those transfers legally approved. The Environmental Water Transfer Scorecard uses a framework based on existing research to assess the laws and policies of each Colorado River Basin state related to environmental water rights transfers, and in particular, the extent to which their laws and policies facilitate such transactions.