University of Colorado Law Review Volume 55 Issue 3 Spring 1984

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1984] COLORADO'S WATER RESOURCES 413 ronmental regulation. The final coup de grace to a state water plan came from the legislature in 1983 when it removed a requirement that Construction Fund loans comply with a state water plan.136 The legislature was able to take this action because new policies controlling use of that fund were adopted by the Water Board in 1981 and enacted, verba- tim, into law in 1982.136 Without getting into the age-old debate about what is a goal, objective, plan or study, the bottom-line signifi- cance of this discussion is that the state does have a water policy. It is rarely detailed. It is not all laid out with precision in one place; much of it is process and the policy is constantly changing, but there is a policy. It may be helpful to examine how it is formed. IV. FORMULATION OF STATE WATER POLICY To help Colorado citizens use the water to which they are enti- tled, the legislature has created a number of state agencies, commis- sions, boards and authorities. They include the State Engineer's of- fice, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the Colorado Groundwater Commission, the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority, the Water Quality Control Commis- sion and a number of interstate commissions that are established by compact or in response to federal intiatives that affect interstate streams. These boards and commissions and authorities sound confusing, even complex, and they are. However, they also are purposeful and compatible, and there is a very substantial amount of consultation among them. Almost every one is established by legislation and any action recommended by them must be approved by the legislature and the Governor, either by seeking funds to carry out the policy or by enacting legislation approving the recommended action. At the risk of some repetition, it may be helpful to go through the institutional responsibilities of these agencies. The Colorado Water Conservation Board administers a Construction Fund which loans money to water users for the construction of water storage projects and the rehabilitation of dams. It also appropriates water for instream flows. The Board's more traditional role is to set state policy on the construction of federal water resource and flood control projects and to adminster the state's role in those projects. Finally, many concerns over interstate water are adminstered through the 135. 1983 Colo. Sess. Laws 1404. 136. Coto. REV. STAT. § 37-60-121(b) (Supp. 1983).