Colorado Water Feb 2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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While Living in Historic Times, Consider Your Contribution by Patricia J. Rettig Head Archivist, Water Resources Archive, Colorado State University Libraries Rsidents in today's Colorado are living n historic times, witnessing "a turn- ing point in history," as Eric Wilkinson, > =u general manager of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, phrased it. From Wilkin- son and other speakers, a distinctly historical theme emerged during the CSU Water Dialogue in Decem- ber, showing, significantly, that today's water leaders are drawing on the past to help understand the present and the future. Robert Ward, director of the Colorado Water Re- sources Research Institute and organizer of the Water Dialogue, began the day -long discussion about cur- rent water issues with a historical overview of people in higher education who have contributed to water resources development in Colorado. From Ralph Parshall (1881 -1959) to Daryl Simons (1918- 2005), CSU professors have helped get the state to where it is today. Russ George, director of the Department of Natural Resources, spoke about Delph Car- penter (1877- 1951), creator of the interstate river compact concept, as his inspiration for the interbasin compact idea. With water roundtables across the state working toward an Interbasin Compact Committee, George is leading the state into uncharted territory, though with Carpenter's compacts as an example. Eric Wilkinson and other members of his panel spoke about the role of the federal government in Colorado water. Wilkinson outlined the chang- ing relationship of the federal government to state water control from the establishment of the Bureau of Reclamation through the 1950s and 1960s as the Colorado -Big Thompson project was brought online. That changing relationship has to be considered as there are further developments in Colorado's water resources. Few people in the state can speak more eloquent- ly and intelligently about the history of Colorado water than Supreme Court Justice Greg Hobbs. 16 As the lunch keynote speaker, he dis- cussed the history of water conversations in Colorado. He detailed some of the past water leaders— distant and recent —in- cluding Elwood Mead (1858 -1936) and Hank Brown (b. 1940). Justice Hobbs also mentioned how the public is educated every 20 to 25 years about water issues, meaning, whenever drought occurs. Afternoon speakers focused less on the past and more on the present, such as current university research related to water issues as well as compet- ing water uses like rural /urban and west /east slope. However, current research builds on the past, and competing water uses are nothing new, so history was not entirely absent.