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

396 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO LAW REVIEW [Vol. 55
the water.
This entrepreneurial system was affirmed as late as 1969 when
the legislature modified and updated the state's fundamental laws
for adjudicating water rights but retained them essentially as they
were from the time Colorado became a state.33 In fact, the legisla-
ture rejected a vigorously advocated proposal for Colorado to be-
come a "permit" state34 and reached a compromise that allowed
water referees to be appointed to assist courts in hearing applications
for the adjudication of water rights.3a
Those familiar with the growth in use of Colorado water know
that diversions to small ditches, often later extended, were followed
by the construction of mostly off-stream storage facilities. A few
large, on-stream reservoirs, such as the Denver Union Water Com-
pany's Cheesman Dam were constructed before the 1930's,3° as were
some smaller trans-mountain diversions. But much of the Colorado
citizenry's capital had been used up by the 1930's. Some irrigation
districts were in financial difficulty. This lack of capital, coupled
with the Depression, caused Colorado to seek project capital from
the federal government. Some of the projects dreamed about were
large, such as the Colorado Big Thompson diversion. The Central
Valley and Boulder Canyon projects, which were financed by the
federal government, indicated that Congress would now build recla-
mation projects on a much larger scale than had been true early in
the century.87
As already mentioned, the legislature created the Colorado
Water Conservation Board in 1937 to encourage the construction of
federal water resources and flood control projects in Colorado and to
administer the state's role in those projects. At the same time, it
enacted legislation authorizing formation of water conservancy dis-
tricts38 and created the Colorado River Water Conservation District
to protect the Colorado River Basin's interests.39 The Northern Col-
orado Water Conservancy District was immediately organized40 and
33. See COLO.DEP'T OF NATURAL RESOURCES,THE COLORADO WATER STUDY:DIREC-
TIONS FOR THE FUTURE 11-50 (1979).
34. H.B. 1307, Colo. Gen. Assembly (1969).
35. Cow. REV. STAT. § 37-92-302(4) (1973).
36. See Costa & Bilodeau,Geology of Denver, Colorado,XIX BULLETIN OF THE ASSN
OF ENGINEERING GEOLOGISTS, 301 (1982); Moses,supra note 28.
37. See Boulder Canyon Project Act, 43 U.S.C. §§ 617-617(u) (1980); 49 Stat. 1057
(1928).
38. COLO. REV. STAT. §§ 37-45-101 to 153 (1973 & Supp. 1983).
39. Id. §§ 37-46-101 to 150.
40. See People ex re Rogers v. Letford, 102 Colo. 284, 79 P.2d 274 (1938).