Colorado State Water Plan 1974 ‎(Phase II)‎

• Year: 1974
• Title: Colorado State Water Plan
• CWCB Section: Agency-wide
• Publications - Doc Type: Historical

Introduction
While the general adequacy of water supplies encouraged the enactment
and adoption of liberal laws and policies during the early development periods,
irrigation and industrial expansion, and population growth in later years have
brought full utilization of surface water supplies in some areas. This situation
has called for greater stringency in the administration of the water laws and
policies in the State. Currently, mounting evidence indicates direct inter-
relationships between occurrence and usage of surface and ground water. The
evidence has prompted recent legislation to cope with problems or rights thereto
and conflicts in surface and ground water usage and overall water right
administration.
While the constitution stipulates that the water of every natural stream is
dedicated to the use of the people of the State, this stipulation is subject to the
qualification inasmuch as decisions of the United States Supreme Court provide
for equitable apportionment of the benefits arising from the flow of an interstate
stream. Accordingly, Colorado may not use and control, as it sees fit, all of
the water in many streams originating within its borders. The equitable rights
of the lower states must be recognized, and a division of the water of all inter-
state streams is required before the states can know the quantity each has for use.
This division may be accomplished either by United States Supreme Court decree
or by interstate compact consented to by the United States Congress.
Colorado has by decree or compact defined its rights to the use of the
water of every major interstate stream. There are compacts apportioning the
flows of the South Platte River, the Republican River, the Rio Grande, Costilla
Creek, the La Plata River, the Colorado River, and for the Upper Colorado River
Basin. Supreme Court decrees are enforced for the apportionment of flows of
the North Platte and Laramie Rivers. The Arkansas River flows are apportioned
by two Supreme Court decrees and an interstate compact.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The preparation of this report has been made possible by the active
cooperation and participation of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the
State Attorney General's Office, the State Engineer's Office, and the Colorado
State Study Team.
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