University of Colorado Law Review Volume 55 Issue 3 Spring 1984

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402 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO LAW REVIEW [Vol. 55 II. POST-1970 RESTRAINTS ON WATER DEVELOPMENT The financial and regulatory restraints on water development since 1970 are well known and have been frequently commented on.74 Only some highlights will be reviewed here. In March 1971, the Bureau of Reclamation and Colorado Water Conservation Board jointly issued a plan of study for a Colo- rado State Water Plan pursuant to the Water Resources Planning Act.76 A Phase I Appraisal Report and Phase II Report on Legal and Institutional Considerations were issued in February and August of 1974, respectively." At about this time, a Report to Governor John Love on Certain Colorado Water Law Problems was prepared and widely commented on for its discussion of the state role in affecting the use of water.77 Almost simultaneously, the National Water Commission issued a Review Draft — Proposed Report", followed the next year by the Commission's final report entitled Water Policies for the Future." All of these reports, which will be discussed in more detail later, squarely confronted government's role at the federal and state levels in allocating water resources. They presented the changes then oc- curring in the development of water resources. The entrepreneurial system of acquiring and using water, particularly the federal govern- ment's role in this system, was being subjected to intense scrutiny at the very time the post 1970 restraints were being implemented. With few exceptions, the plans and studies were not driving the changes; for the most part they were trying to understand and interpret them. A. The Availibility of Capital In the previous section it was shown how Colorado, for many years, had relied on the federal government for capital to develop its water resources, except for wells and municipal water that water 74. See, e.g., White, The Emerging Relationship Between Environmental Regulations and Colorado Water Law, 53 U. Cow. L. REV. 597 (1982). 75. U.S. DEP'T OF INTERIOR AND STATE OF COLORADO, WATER FOR TOMORROW, COLO. STATE WATER PLAN, PLAN OF STUDY (March 1971). 76. U.S. DEP'T OF INTERIOR AND STATE OF COLORADO, WATER FOR TOMORROW, COLO. STATE WATER PLAN, PHASE I, APPRAISAL REPORT (February 1974);REPORT ON LE- GAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CONSIDERATIONS, PHASE II (August 1974). 77. Carlson, supra note 24. 78. II C. Luce, H. Appling, I. Ellis, R. Ernst, R. Linsley, J. Murphy and J. Wheat, Review Draft—Proposed Report of the National Water Commission (November 1972). 79. NATIONAL WATER COMM'N, WATER POLICIES FOR THE FUTURE, FINAL REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT AND THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES BY THE NATIONAL WATER COM- MISSION (June 1973).