PUB00095

• Year: 1988
• Title: Colorado Water
• CWCB Section: Administration
• Author: League of Women Voters of Colorado
• Description: A publication to present facts, background and issues regarding water in Colorado.
• Publications - Doc Type: Other

Water supply, land use and population are interrelated factors. When water is
transferred from one area to another or from one use to another it necessarily inhibits its use
in the original area and bitter disagreements have resulted among the conflicting users.
Agriculture, hunting and fishing, recreation and tourism make important contributions to
Colorado's economy throughout the state. Can we manage and more efficiently use our
existing water supplies so there will be sufficient high quality water for all uses in all areas of
the state?

Citizens' Conflicts and Choices

THE CONFLICTS

In the past agriculture played a major role
in the development of Colorado. Even in its
present depressed state, it ranks as the third
leading industry in the state and irrigation still
uses almost 90% of the water. However, Front
Range cities are buying more and more
agricultural water rights from nearby farmers and
from more distant areas such as the Arkansas
River in southeastern Colorado and the Poudre
in the northeast. While the land in the northeast
can grow dryland crops, in the southeast the
land must be irrigated to grow anything at all.
Recreation and tourism, always important
in Colorado, have become the state's second

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leading industry in recent years. Water is needed
in West Slope streams and rivers to support
white water rafting and other water-based
recreational activities, fishing and hunting. and
wildlife. These uses are threatened by diversions
of additional water from the West Slope to the
Front Range for municipal and industrial use.
The relationship between water quality
and water quantity is not addressed in
Colorado's water law, yet this relationship is
indisputable. If there are more diversions from
the high quality streams to the Front Range, the
overall quaiity of West Slope waters will
deteriorate. The recreational industry could be
faced with not only less water but water of a
lower quality.

Colorado's economic patterns can
change almost overnight. The rapid
development of the state's energy resources
projected in the early 1980s at the height of the
energy boom did not occur. Large quantities of
water would have been needed to support the
planned oil shale industry, coal development and
new coal fired generating plants in northwestern
Colorado affecting the amount of water available
for agricultural, municipal and recreational uses.
International conditions could, however, lead to
another rush to develop Colorado's energy
resources.