University of Colorado Law Review Volume 55 Issue 3 Spring 1984

• Description: Plans and Studies: The Recent Quest for a Utopia in the Utilization of Colorado's Water Resources
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Other

1984] COLORADO'S WATER RESOURCES 419
struction of water supply systems resulted in less efficiency, although
that is hard to establish. One can only wonder if a state water plan,
along the lines of California's, would have produced a more or less
expensive, efficient and environmentally sound water supply system
for Denver, Aurora, and Colorado Springs.
The use it or lose it concept may result in some waste, although
so many uses are near the interior of Colorado there is probably less
waste than the rhetoric suggests and, in any event, it is not easy to
prove abandonment if water is not used for long periods.188 The state
has still not fully articulated when it should and should not intervene
in adjudication and transfer proceedings, although the right to inter-
vene is no longer questioned.187 For too long Colorado's adjudication
procedures assumed the court represented the state's interest in
granting decrees that accurately reflected the water right sought
when no objectors were present.188
How should the state's role change? The state has long acted
for its citizens in interstate conflicts. This work must be strength-
ened. Negotiations on the Colorado River about power revenues, sa-
linity control and the use of water by lower basin states require con-
,
stant and vigorous attention. One of Colorado's greatest challenges
will be to protect compact allocations under a system that fosters
developing water only when it is needed and can be paid for. The
Colorado Water Conservation Board and the State Engineer need
staff and access to staff in order to carry out this role diligently.
The state can have available on-going studies of specific
projects. For example, the work on the Una and Cache la Poudre
projects189 may help decisions now being made about joint use facili-
ties on the Colorado River and a Wild and Scenic River designation
on the Cache la Poudre River. It should also help in the event Colo-
rado River Basin power revenues are available for needed, scaled
down, old reclamation projects. In addition, these site specific studies
assist decision-makers who must address needs requiring immediate
attention, such as those resulting from the oil shale boom of the late
seventies and early eighties.17°
166. See Saunders v. Spina, 140 Colo.317, 344 P.2d 142 (1959);COLO. REV.STAT. §
37-92-402 (1973).
167. Wadsworth v. Kuiper, 562 P.2d 1114 (Colo. 1977).
168. See West End Irr. Co.v.Garvey, 117 Colo. 109, 184 P.2d 476(1947); 1943 Colo.
Sess. Laws, 190, § 173, (repealed 1969).
169. See 1981 Colo. Sess. Laws 1773-74.
170. Id.at 1773-74.The Una and Yellow Jacket Projects are located in areas containing
oil shale deposits which someday may be developed; COLD. DEP'T OF NATURAL RESOURCES,