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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LIMITATIONS ON THE WATER STUDY

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In authorizing the water study, the legislature did not give any
directions as to its scope and content. However, it was clear from
the outset of the study that not every topic relating to water and
its associated land resources could be examined given the relatively
modest budget available to the study. Therefore, some limitations
had to be established.

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In the first instance, it was decided that the study should be
statewide in its geographic coverage, although the state has been
divided into hydrologic regions for the sake of analytical convenience
(see map at front). Secondly, it was determined that the study should
deal with both surface and ground water resources, with one major
exception. The exception is that ground water use in the Northern and
Southern High Plains has not been examined. The reason for this is
that the use of ground water in those areas represents a one-time
depletion of a finite resource, and it therefore raises legal, tech-
nical, and public policy questions which are different from those
pertaining to renewable surface or underground waters. In addition,
Colorado is participating in a four-year, federally funded, multi-
state study of the High Plains ground water situation, which study will
thoroughly address the unique ~ircumstances which those regions confront.

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A second limitation on the water study is the omission of a full
analysis of water quality issues. Ideally, a comprehensive examination
of the state's water resources should include both the quantitative
and qualitative aspects of water use since the two are inextricably
related. However, the analytical problems of dealing with statewide
or regional water quality issues as they affect water uses are immense.
First, techniques for examining water quality impacts on a broad geo-
graphic basis are, at best, unrefined. Secondly, such an analysis
requires data which is difficult to obtain and subject to significant
error8. Finally, if reasonable accuracy is to be insured, the analysis
must be detailed and site specific. In short, substantial amounts of
money would have been required to obtain even a limited understanding
of the water quality aspects of one hydrologic basin, let alone the
entire. state.

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While the water study does not deal generally with water quality
matters, the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, through the state-
wide "208" water quality management program, has provided funding for
a brief ~xamination of the legal and institutional relationships and
conflicts between the existing Colorado water rights system and state
and Federal water quality programs. The results of this examination
will be published as they become available.

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