LOVELAND, Colo. (AP) - A growing Colorado community will get some of its water from a farm that will continue operating under a deal that’s believed to be the first of its kind in the state.
Larimer County commissioners voted Tuesday to sell and lease some of the water rights of a county-owned farm to the city and county of Broomfield for $3.7 million. The Loveland Reporter-Herald reports the farm will still have enough water to grow corn and sugar beets in wet years.
Larimer County bought the farm last year for $8.4 million to keep it operating, with an eye toward entering into a water sharing deal.
The Colorado Water Plan encourages such deals as a way to prevent what’s known as “buy and dry” - when municipalities buy farmland just for the water, removing them from agricultural production.
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Information from: Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald, https://www.reporterherald.com/
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