2021 marked 20 years of the Water Trust and 20 years of restoring flows to Colorado’s rivers!

Over these last two decades we have restored over 13.5 billion gallons of water to 588 miles of rivers and streams statewide. We are so proud of this work and grateful for all of our donors and supporters who make this important work possible. Thank you for joining us on this journey, we look forward to many more years to come.

• 2001: The Colorado Water Trust is founded
• 2003: Adoption of our 1st strategic plan
• 2005: First Colorado Water Trust water rights filed for a permanent transfer of water in the Blue River
• 2009: Pitkin County and the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) sign an innovative Trust agreement to allow the County to lend water to streams for instream flow purposes
• 2009: First annual RiverBank
• 2011: Our 1st infrastructure project, CCC Ditch, reconnects flows and fish on the San Miguel
• 2012: Request for Water program instituted to lease water on a short-term basis to combat the effects of drought
• 2012: Creation of the David Getches Flowing Water Award
• 2013: 1st project on the Poudre River, the removal of the abandoned Josh Ames diversion dam
• 2014: Water court application filed for the West’s first permanent water sharing agreement between agriculture and the environment, the McKinley Ditch Project
• 2015: 1st implementation of SB19 (Rio Colorado Project)
• 2017: Recipients of the Palmer Land Trust’s Southern Colorado Conservation Award 
• 2019: 1st implementation of our 15 Mile Reach project
• 2020: Milestone of 13.5 billion gallons of water restored to 588 miles of rivers and streams statewide
• 2021: 20th Anniversary!