We may not always agree on the particulars of water policy and water use in the Centennial State, but we all recognize the importance of the Colorado River to our statewide economy and our Colorado way of life.
The Colorado River is arguably the single most important natural resource to the State of Colorado. It powers economies on both sides of the Continental Divide. It provides food and fiber to the nation and the world from both sides of the Divide. And its fate will determine our own.
Colorado’s constitution and our state’s laws have long recognized one simple truth: The waters that originate in our great state are the property of the public. The people of Colorado have the right to appropriate and use that water for beneficial uses, such as municipal, irrigation, industrial and recreation.
Long excluded from the list of beneficial uses of water is holding water for speculation. Our state supreme court has ruled unconstitutional any scheme that “would encourage those with vast monetary resources to monopolize, for personal profit rather than for beneficial use ... .”
Recently we have seen a series of articles and opinion pieces discussing and even advocating for the potential influx of financial capital from out-of-state investment funds to buy water from Colorado’s vibrant farms and ranches with the apparent aim of “solving” Colorado’s drought problems.
This is not the first time we have seen venture capital eyeing our state’s water resources. This time around, however, the investors and their representatives are portraying themselves as the only solution to a climate-change-driven reduction in the flows of our rivers.
We, the undersigned, have come together to set the record straight on this misguided concept.
Our organizations and the water users we represent are working collaboratively with the State of Colorado to examine solutions to the threat of water shortages brought on by a changing climate and prolonged overuse of the river’s water by downstream states. Together, we are exploring a multifaceted effort to secure our state’s water supply and protect irrigation for food product, our thriving communities and the environment that depend on this water.
Among these approaches is the feasibility of a proposed “demand management” program to temporarily compensate water users in Colorado and other Upper Basin states to reduce their use of water to assure that we are able to meet our obligations under the Colorado River Compact.
Demand management is complex. It is controversial. But we are approaching these conversations in good faith because we recognize that we must work together to protect the economies and livelihoods supported by the Colorado River throughout the entire state.
Since solutions to our water challenges must be undertaken for the benefit of the state as a whole, these efforts must be led by the state. The Colorado Water Conservation Board articulated a set of guiding principles for this process in November of 2018, principles with which we agree.
One thing is clear: There is no place for private, for-profit interests in this process. Moreover, private sector entities do not have the legal ability or authority to manage water across state lines or through federally owned reservoirs. This can be done only by the states and the federal government. Colorado state government has a long history of opposing interstate marketing and transfers of water by private interests, and that opposition should continue.
The introduction of private investors in our statewide water planning efforts will only serve to further exacerbate the water divisions that exist between our urban areas and our irrigated agricultural communities on both sides of the Continental Divide. Our state must stand strong to protect our Colorado way of life.
Andy Mueller, General Manager of the Colorado River District
Bob Wolff, President, Southwestern Water Conservation District
Jim Lochhead, Chief Executive Officer, Denver Water
Brad Wind, General Manager, Northern Water
Marshall Brown, General Manager, Aurora Water
Earl Wilkinson III, Chief Water Services Officer, Colorado Springs Utilities
Seth Clayton, Executive Director, Pueblo Water
Kevin Lusk, President, Twin Lakes Reservoir and Canal Co.
James Broderick, Executive Director, Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District
