9567

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9567
• Author: Colorado River Water Conservation District.
• Title: River of Shortages
• USFW Year: 2006.
• USFW - Doc Type: Drought, Demand and Consensus on the Colorado River - 2006 Colorado River District Annual Water Seminar.
• Copyright Material: NO

A letter from our Board President:
In 2005, Governor Bill Owens signed House Bill 1177, named the Colorado Water for the 21st Century Act. With
the passage of this legislation came the recognition that water is not an unlimited resource in Colorado, and how
we use that resource has a great impact on Colorado for future generations.
The Act calls for a broad cross section of citizens to participate in a roundtable process, basin by basin, to identify
uses, needs and future supplies for the water resources of their respective basins.
If the individual basins cannot supply their own needs, then negotiations may take place among the basins to
solve any shortages. The nine basin roundtables have been formed and are starting their work.
This process has brought several factors about water into much sharper focus for many citizens.
They include:
• The supply side of the equation is difficult to predict with any certainty. Drought and potential
ramifications from global weather change complicate the matter.
• How close to total development of available supply should we allow, given the very unpredictable annual
precipitation that Mother Nature provides?
• Resolution of outstanding issues in the historic 1922 Colorado River Compact remains a big factor in
determining the amount of water that can be developed.
• How should the available water supply be equitably divided among the various geographic regions of the
state?
As the West's population continues to grow, greater demands are placed upon our water resources for a
multitude of uses. The historical uses of agriculture are still in place. But agricultural water is pressured as
a water source from ever growing municipal demands. In many areas of Colorado, urban sprawl is putting a
new demand upon a limited supply of domestic water.
The need to maintain adequate flows in our streams and rivers to protect the environment and aesthetics has
been part of Colorado's water resource efforts for a number of decades.
Most recently, communities are taking steps to protect their local water resources for recreational purposes by
filing water rights applications for whitewater kayaking parks, thus trying to protect the economic benefits of
water-based tourism to their communities.
The bottom line to this entire discussion is that there is a limit to our water supply, and there is a growing demand
for its use.
The challenge for the citizens of Colorado is to find a balance of uses combined with conservation from all users.
We must be diligent and careful as we proceed to work through the issues so as not to sacrifice the future of
some geographic area or some segment of our economy.
The Colorado River District has a very talented and dedicated staff working very closely with the Board of
Directors to find resolutions to the water issues.
We are committed to finding answers that create a total Colorado that all Coloradans can be proud of for
generations to come.
William S. Trampe
2006 President
Colorado River District
Board of Directors

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