PUB00057

• Year: 1978
• Title: The Colorado Water Study Directions for the Future
• CWCB Section: Water Conservation & Drought Planning
• Author: EDO DNR
• Description: First publicatiom of the Colorado Water Study volumes
• Publications - Doc Type: Brochure

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MEANS TO INFLUENCE THE USE AND
DISTRIBUTION OF WATER

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The water study will inventory and analyze the technological,
institutional, statutory, and constitutional means (i.e., tools)
which may be available to influence the future use and allocation
of water in Colorado. The tools to be considered fall into three
general categories. The first category is tools which tend to increase
the supply of water available for use. This includes such things as
weather modification and construction of water storage projects. The
second category covers tools which tend to reduce the demand for
water, such as successive use arrangements, metering and pricing of
municipal water, and various techniques for conserving water in irri-
gation. The third and final category encompasses a broad range of tools
which may affect the legal and institutional availability of water for
various uses. Included in this category are, for example, proposals
to zone water rights; establishment of a "state water bank"; various
state, Federal, and local agreements concerning the use of water, such
as the agreement now in effect between the state and the U.S. Depart-
ment of Interior; and use of "public interest't criteria in water court
proceedings.

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In determining the efficacy of any given tool, several questions
had to be addressed. Although the specifics of each question as
applied to any given tool vary, the general outlines of the pertinent
inquiries are as follows:

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1. Is use of the tool technically feasible?

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2. How much water will it yield? Where? When? At wqat cost?

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3. What authority exists to implement the tool? If no authority
exists, what would be required?

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4. What statutory and constitutional problems, if any, are
raised by the use of the tool?

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5. What changes in the distribution and use of water are
likely to result from use of the tool?

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It should be emphasized that the examination and analysis of a
tool does not imply approval or suggest that the tool,in fact,be adopted.
Whether the use of any given tool is appropriate will depend on the pro-
jected consequences of its use, on the public perceptions as to the
desirability of those consequences, on the trade-offs between different
water uses, and on the magnitude of the legal or constitutional prob-
lems, if any, which occur with its use. Thus, the purpose of the

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