River Uses & Management
CATEGORY: River Management
Non-Consumptive Water Rights Indicator
A non-consumptive water right is a water right that has a 100% return rate. A non-consumptive water right includes in-stream flow rights, recreational in-channel diversions (RICDs), and other environmental flow deliveries through leased water such as water releases for endangered fish flow targets.
Non-consumptive water rights score by Riverscape
Did You Know?
What is a non-consumptive water use? It is water in the river and on the floodplain that supports riparian processes and floodplain functions, aesthetics and quality of life, fish and wildlife resources, and recreation without using any of it (David Graf, CO Division of Parks & Wildlife, 2012).
In order to receive an “A” for this indicator, a river segment must both have a non-consumptive water right AND be consistently meeting the flow requirements of that non-consumptive water right.