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~ " .-'y. BENJAMIN F. STAPLETON Chairman. Denver FREDERICK V. KROEGER Vice.Chairman, Durango ...t~_ 5'" \',', \' :'.>'<. ,'" ,,,,,," '-', ".,.~' ~ FELIX l. SPARKS Director LAREN D. MORRLLL Deputy Oi rector JOHN T. BENTON Burns JOHN H. BROWNELL Hooper JOHN R. FETCHER Steamboat Springs C. M. FURIIEAUX Wal den ROBERT A. JACKSON Pueblo DAVID LE1NSDORF Crested Butte RICHARD D. LAMM Governor DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES COLORADO WATER CONSERVATION BOARO HERBERT H. VANDEMOER Sterting 823 STATE CENTENNIAL 8UILDING 1313 SHERMAN STREET DENVER, COLORADO 80203 TELEPHONE (3)31 892.3441 July 1, 1977 2439 M E M 0 RAN DUM FROM: Members, Colorado Water Conservation Board and Colorado Water Congress Executive Committee Felix L. Sparks, Director TO: 1. National Water Polic In accor ance W1t t e 1nest tra 1t1ons an um 1ngs 0 t e ledgling Carter administration, an announcement has been made that hearings will be held in Denver on July 28-29, 1977, to receive comments on the new national water policy being proposed by the President. As usual, we have received our information from newspaper accounts and other indirect sources. Despite the President's repeated vows to keep the governors of the respective states informed of matters of critical interest to the states, Governor Lamm, and presumably other concerned governors, has not been personally advised of these hearings and apparently no effort will be made to do so. In keeping with the hasty and ill-conceived plans which to date have been a trademark of the Carter administration, no one has yet been advised as to the contents of the new national policy that we are supposed to comment on later this month. The announcement of the hearings, which does not identify the issuing agency, does state that the new policy will be published in the Federal Register on July 15, 1977. In the normal course of events, we will receive that notice about a week later. We will therefore only have a few days to prepare our comments on a policy which will have a major impact upon the future of Colorado and the other states. A copy of the announcement is enclosed herewith. Responsibility for formulation of the new policy has been delegated to the Secretary of the Interior, the Director of the Office of Manage- ment and Budget, and the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality. These agencies have been packed from one end to the other with key people who have in the past opposed any further water resource develop- ment in the United States. It can therefore be assumed that the proposed new water policy will be formulated for the purpose of terminating further water resource development in this country. The last comprehensive federal water policy was established in 1973 through the adoption of a document entitled "Principles and