The Colorado River District Board of Directors regularly develops and evaluates policies which guide River District staff decisions and priorities. These policies address issues which concern or directly impact West Slope water users. Each policy undergoes a tri-annual evaluation during with Directors may update and hone policy language.
Revised and readopted 07/17/2024 Agriculture is a critical component of Western Colorado’s economy, environment, and community. The River District supports and promotes Western Colorado agriculture and will partner with agricultural interests to ensure a vibrant agricultural sector in Western Colorado.
Policy as PDF
July 19, 2023
The Colorado River Compacts of 1922 and 1948 must be enforced, protected and defended from legal challenge or amendment unless all seven basin states agree to the terms of any proposed change.
Policy as PDF
Revised and readopted July 17, 2024
The Colorado River Water Conservation District (Colorado River District) supports the intent of the 1956 Colorado River Storage Project Act (CRSPA) – “The Comprehensive Development of the Water Resources of the Upper Colorado River Basin Act.” (43 U.S.C. 620)
To that end, the Colorado River District supports the implementation of plans and policies that optimize the use of the initial units; Aspinall, Flaming Gorge, Glen Canyon dam, and Navajo for the purpose of “making it possible for the states of the upper basin (sic) to utilize, consistent with the provisions of the Colorado River compact, the apportionments made to and among them in the Colorado River and Upper Colorado River compacts.” (43 U.S.C. 620)
Policy as PDF
Amended and Readopted 10/20/2022
The Colorado River Water Conservation District supports the Colorado Water Plan.
The District believes that continued funding and refinement of the plan are necessary for the Plan to remain relevant and to contribute to the protection, development, and stewardship of Colorado’s water resources.
Policy as PDF
Revised and readopted July 17, 2024
The Colorado River Water Conservation District supports Colorado’s system of prior appropriation as a fair and orderly system for allocating Colorado’s scarce water resources. Moreover, Colorado’s prior appropriation system has been proven to be both successful and flexible in addressing the public’s changing demands, beneficial uses, and values regarding Colorado water resources (e.g., instream flow and recreational in-channel diversion water rights). Additional flexibility and adaptation of the prior appropriation doctrine may be warranted to ensure the allocation of Colorado’s remaining Colorado River Compact entitlement among the river’s sub-basins within Colorado and to fairly allocate water uses to ensure water rights (including conserved consumptive use) are equitably administered in the event of interstate compact administration.
Policy as PDF
July 20, 2022
The Colorado River District supports collaborative efforts to recover threatened and endangered species to the point where they no longer are in need of Endangered Species Act protections.
Policy as PDF
Revised and readopted July 17, 2024
The policy of the Colorado River Water Conservation District (Colorado River District) is that when the Congress or the President creates special federal land designations, such designations must clearly and explicitly specify and quantify the minimum amount, if any, of water necessary to fulfill the purpose of the land reservation. The Colorado River District will advocate that the quantification of any reserved rights be the minimum amount essential to preserve the primary purpose of the Congressional or Executive action that creates the federal land designation.
Policy as PDF
April, 2023
The Colorado River Water Conservation District (River District) believes the State of Colorado and the federal government have important roles and responsibilities in water planning and development.
Policy as PDF
April, 2023
The Colorado River Water Conservation District (River District) opposes any proposal to market Colorado River water between the states of the Upper Colorado River Basin and Lower Colorado River Basin states without the unanimous consent of all seven states. The District also opposes marketing of Compact-related waters among states of the Upper Colorado River Basin without similar, unanimous consent of the Upper Basin states.
Policy as PDF
Revised and Readopted July 20, 2022
The Colorado River District values and supports the environmental, human and economic benefits of flowing rivers and streams. The District recognizes the potential tension between instream uses and out-of-stream diversions for consumptive uses and the need to ensure balance between the two in an arid West.
Policy as PDF
Adopted July 17, 2024
Consistent with its mission to lead in the protection, conservation, use, and development of the water resources of the Colorado River basin, the Colorado River Water Conservation District (Colorado River District) works to protect the viability of the Colorado River and its tributaries for the benefit of all beneficial consumptive and non- consumptive uses within the District’s boundaries.
Policy as PDF
July 1, 2014
The public records of the River District are available for review at the River District’s office during normal business hours. Any individual or organization wishing to review River District records should provide written notice three days in advance. The River District may deny access to certain public records consistent with C.R.S. §24-72-204 and other applicable law.
Policy as PDF
Revised and Readopted July 20, 2022
The Colorado River District supports recreational water uses - and the water rights confirming those recreational water uses - that balance recreational needs with historical and future consumptive water uses, including water uses by exchange. A recreational in-channel water right (RICD) should not be granted if it would materially impair the ability to fully develop for beneficial use Colorado’s entitlements under the Compacts of 1922 and 1948.
Policy as PDF
Revised and readopted July 17, 2024
The River District opposes speculation in Colorado’s water resources where the purported speculator does not have a specific plan to put water to use for legitimate beneficial purposes, and particularly where an interest in water is pursued primarily to secure a financial profit. In contrast, the River District supports investments in water resources where the end-goal is to promote productive agriculture, to develop water for viable beneficial uses (both consumptive and non-consumptive), and to rehabilitate the State’s aging water infrastructure.
April, 2023
The Colorado River Water Conservation District (River District) believes there is no current or reasonably foreseeable need for new transmountain diversion projects. Transmountain diversion of Colorado River water results in adverse economic, environmental, and recreational impacts to the basin of origin. Front Range water demands can be met through a combination of better groundwater management, conservation, reuse, system interconnections, storage of native flows, and in-basin transfers and exchanges.
Policy as PDF
Revised and readopted 4/17/13
Revised and readopted April 17, 2018
Revised and Adopted July 20, 2021
Revised and readopted January 22, 2025
The Colorado River Water Conservation District (Colorado River District) supports the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program (Recovery Program) and its goal of recovering fish species listed as endangered while allowing historical water use and water development to continue in compliance with the Endangered Species Act, state law and Colorado’s entitlements under the Colorado River Compacts.
Full Policy as PDF
January 17, 2024
The Colorado River District and the Colorado River Water Projects Enterprise is authorized and directed to provide for the beneficial use of water available for use from the Enterprise’s storage capacity in Wolford Mountain Reservoir and other sources of supply such as Eagle Park Reservoir.
Policy as PDF
January 17, 2024
The Colorado River District and the Colorado River Water Projects Enterprise is authorized and directed to provide for the beneficial use of water available for use from the Enterprise’s storage capacity in Elkhead Reservoir.
Policy as PDF
July 20, 2022
The Colorado River District’s primary objective with respect to water quality is to protect the ability of its current and future constituents to use water beneficially while maintaining healthy rivers and the western Colorado economies that depend on those rivers.
Get Social