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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I DRAFT 8/24/92, Page 3 We assume (perhaps optimistically) that if, through this effort, a long-term water supply plan can be found to make sense from the perspectives of local and statewide water management, environmental protection, and economic feasibility, then institutional and legal arrangements can be identified for implementation of such a plan. C. The Role and Interest of the State Planning for municipal water supplies in Colorado has traditionally been the responsibility of local jurisdictions. In the last twenty years, however, the water planning context in Colorado has changed drastically. Issues such as trans-basin diversions, transfers of water from agriculture into municipal uses, preservation of minimum streamflow levels, water conservation, water quality concerns, and the impacts of federal laws and regulations have all become matters of state-wide concern. While local jurisdictions are best prepared to assess their own water supply needs, it is becoming increasingly apparent that some form of state-wide coordination is necessary to adequately address all of the issues involved in the planning and implementation of any major program of acquiring and utilizing Colorado's water resources, especially along the Front Range Urban Corridor. The State does not have the resources or mandate to assume the leadership for future planning, but in the absence of any other mechanism for thorough discussion and analysis, the State has the potential to serve as a convener and facilitator with a legitimate interest in the viability of the outcomes. As important as the ability to address all of the pertinent issues is the need to demonstrate a comprehensive approach to water management. Public acceptance and regulatory permitting for any major project require that all of the pertinent issues as well as comprehensive water management be considered in project planning, design and implementation. Since the time of statehood, Colorado State Government has been involved in water matters. Traditionally, State Government has limited itself to the administration of the water rights system and to assisting in the promotion and development of federal water projects. Many of those issues listed above, however, have required much greater State involvement in the water resources sector in the last few years. Today, a number of State agencies such as the Department of Natural Resources, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the State Engineer's Office, the Water Quality Control Commission and the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority are all deeply involved in the administration of water quantity and quality issues and in the planning and the financing of water projects. The Colorado Water Conservation Board, in particular, has a broad statutory mandate for water resource planning under Section 37-60-115 of the Colorado Revised Statutes. The recent denial of a permit for the Two Forks Project has led to an examination of some very fundamental issues in water management in the Front Range Urban Corridor of Colorado. One of the most basic questions is how to optimize the use of existing resources. The concept which is proposed here, labeled systems inte~ration, is a comprehensive approach to water management that could include interties of all Front Range water supply systems, as well as a program of lending and borrowing water, which would allow shortages to be mitigated while at the same time maintaining separate ownership and accounting of water usage.