University of Colorado Law Review Volume 55 Issue 3 Spring 1984

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410 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO LAW REVIEW [Vol. 55 there be a moratorium on transbasin diversions? Should state financ- ing for water resource development be expanded? Should state water management policies be coordinated with land use and other poli- cies? Should stricter water quality control measures be enacted? The report said the questions were asked to "stimulate thinking."'" The questions asked often refer to land use controls. At the time of the report's preparation from 1971-1974, there was new legisla- tion and extensive debate about growth and land use in Colorado. When the debate ended, the long tradition of local control of land use was still in place. This, together with the limited role of the state in water development, pushed land use controls into the background in discussions about utilization of water resources.'2° Phase II was a straightforward description of state and federal laws and agencies. Only a passing reference was made to the re- cently issued National Water Commission Report, but at the same time Phase II told how Colorado's appropriation doctrine allowed water to flow toward "those areas within the state that have the money and power to acquire water,"121 the very thrust of the Na- tional Water Commission Report. The Commission was simultane- ously contending that "sound economic principles should be adopted to encourage a better use of water resources and prevent waste. . . . [C]onsumer willingness to pay is the best indication of proper water use, subject to environmental controls."'" The two reports were like ships passing in the night, perhaps because Colorado already practiced what the Commission was proposing. Phase III, the Plan Formulation, never became a reality. Its proposed content included Objectives of Development, Economic Base Studies, Future Water Requirements Projections, Water Defi- cient Areas and Resource Availability for Those Areas, Potential Water Resource Development Plans, and Alternative Plans.123 Phase III was to illustrate how a state water plan could enhance economic development, social well-being and quality of environment, and to 119. STATE OF COLORADO AND U.S. DEPT OF INTERIOR, COLORADO STATE WATER PLAN, WATER FOR TOMORROW: PHASE I -APPRAISAL REPORT, 6.31 (February 1974). 120. See Merson & Eastman,supra note 117, at 555-56. 121. STATE OF COLORADO AND DEP'T OF INTERIOR,COLO.STATE WATER PLAN PHASE II, REPORT ON LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CONSIDERATIONS, 5.4 (August 1974). 122. See Meyers, The Busy Practitioner's Guide to the National Water Commission • Report, 19 ROCKY MTN. MIN. L. INST. 513, 515 (1974). 123. STATE OF COLORADO AND U.S. DEPT OF INTERIOR, COLORADO STATE WATER PLAN, PLAN OF STUDY, 11-13 (March 1971).