Bolts Ditch Act

The bill would expand the list of entities permitted to access and use Bolts Ditch and the Bolts Ditch Headgate, an irrigation infrastructure located within the Holy Cross Wilderness in Colorado. Specifically, it would add the Eagle River Water and Sanitation District and the Upper Eagle Regional Water Authority to those already authorized under existing law to divert water and perform maintenance and repair on the ditch and headgate.

It would do this through a single targeted amendment — inserting the two new entities by name into one subsection of the 2019 Dingell Act. It would not alter any other aspect of wilderness management, would not change the underlying water rights or water uses, and would not affect any other portion of the Holy Cross Wilderness.

The Eagle River Water and Sanitation District and the Upper Eagle Regional Water Authority, both Colorado-based water utilities, would gain legal authorization to access and maintain Bolts Ditch and its headgate within a federal wilderness area. Water users and communities served by these two utilities in Eagle County, Colorado, also have a stake in reliable maintenance of this water diversion infrastructure.

Without this change, the two Colorado water utilities lack explicit federal authorization to maintain or use Bolts Ditch and its headgate within the designated wilderness. Adding them by name removes legal uncertainty and ensures the ditch can be kept in working order — protecting water supply access for the communities these utilities serve.

The bill is self-executing: it inserts the two named entities into an existing statutory authorization by a one-sentence amendment. No rulemaking, grants, or reporting requirements are involved. The Forest Service, which manages the Holy Cross Wilderness, would recognize the two entities as authorized users under the amended law without further agency action.