Western State College of Colorado

The Colorado Water Workshop began in 1976 as a collaborative effort between a Western State College history professor and "Gunnison Country" historian, Dr. Duane Vandenbusche, and a Gunnison water lawyer and Western graduate, Richard "Dick" Bratton. They felt that Colorado needed a place - high up near the Continental Divide, which divides the state in more ways than just geographically - where the various factions and interests involved in water issues could come to explore options "off the record".
1976 was right on the cusp of the dawning of the age of a general environmental awareness - a time when water quality issues began to become as important as water quantity issues, and when a western consensus about the positive nature of resource development and growth began to fragment. In the years since, the Colorado Water Workshop has gained a reputation throughout the West as a place where all parties can come and be heard, and hear as much as they are willing to listen to. In Dick Bratton's words - "Every responsible position will be adequately represented."

Below are the topics for the Water Workshops over the nearly three decades of its existence. (If anyone has special memories of the Workshops for which there is little information listed, please email what you remember and we will add it.)1976: Water in Colorado. A two-week course in historical, geographical and legal perspectives. 1977: Water and the Western Slope. History, Indian treaties, interstate compacts, interaction with Eastern slope, environment and conservation.1978: Water as Tool for Managing Growth: Values, Facts and Policy. State 208 project, water quality management, national water policy and the State's position, water development & water rights.1979: Mining and Water. Glen Saunders of the Denver Board of Water Commissioners chaired.1980: Water & the Development of Western Colorado. Environment vs. economy, river quality assessment, Colorado 'hit list' projects, future direction of natural resources on the Western Slope.1981: Groundwater: Problems & Possible Solutions. Nothing else on record.

1982: Colorado River: Perspective 2000-2020. Salinity control, EPA perspectives, development, Central Arizona project and metals flux.1983: Dams. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

1984: Acid Rain and the West. Views from the West, East and Canada1985: Colorado Water: At the Great Divide.

Transmountain diversion, report on Animas-La Plata, environmental constraints impacting water resource decisions, salinity and financial issues.1986: Water and Colorado's Recreation Industry. Beauty, Bucks, & Beneficial Use1987: Water and Colorado's Future: Currents of Change for Colorado Water Law & Policy. Animas-La Plata, physical/economic links among water systems, water laws, water markets, water transfers, planning, greenhouse effect, the Clean Water Act.1988: Water for Sale: Colorado in the Balance.
Water sales and transfers, water values and views, water futures and frontiers.1989: Enough and Clean Enough: Colorado's Water Quality/Quantity Debate. Water quality and water rights - a historical perspective, water quality/quantity conflicts - seeking effective processes for resolution and accommodation.1990: Colorado Water Institutions: Valuable Traditions, New Frontiers. History, water user's forum, case study: managing Arkansas River flows for instream uses, institutional examples from other states (Montana, California, Wyoming, Idaho), an exercise: "As Colorado's first Governor of the 21st Century, I would..."1991: From the Dome to the Ditches: Translating Environmental Legislation into Practice. Water use and environmental protection, CWCB instream flow program, California's 3-way water agreement group.1992: Showdown on the Colorado River. Interstate compacts, endangered species, Native American interstate rights, perspectives from the Lower Basin.1993: The Big Squeeze. Watershed-based approaches, ideas from the Association of Metropo-litan Sewage Agencies, water quality challenges, watershed approaches in Oregon, Carson-Truckee, Boulder Creek, sociological perspectives.1994: Quenching the Urban Giant. Municipal water issues as they relate to resource areas.1995: The Endangered West. The changing West – endangered species protection, irrigated agriculture; water users and environmental protection; working it out - watershed management efforts.1996: Instream Flows: Minimum Doctrine/Maximum Controversy. The impact of 1973's revolutionary in-stream flow law, and the evolution of instream flow policy and Colorado's program. 1997: Water Partnerships: Can Competing Users Cooperate to Manage a Vital Resource and Live Happily Ever After? Impacts, problems and opportunities of water partnering in management of western water resources; the Colorado River Compact as the prototype water partnership; reports on partnership efforts in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah.1998: World Water Lessons for a Changing West:. A closer look at distant lands where water issues mirror what we face in sharing the Colorado River’s resources into the 21st century, with presentations on New Zealand, South Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe. Keynote by Floyd Dominy. 1999: Garden of Dreams vs. High-Desert Reality.
Can we save everything, keep our lawns green... and have enough water for everyone?2000: Clean and Flowing Water. No further records.2001: Who’s in Charge? How are changes in the federal and state governments affecting water use in Colorado? How are recent court decisions and new legislation shaping the future? A mix of policy debates and case studies on the latest issues in water management.2002: Reclamation at the Century Mark: The Legacy and the Challenge. A large look at large-scale public reclamation in the West, past and present, since the Newlands Act of 1902 – its achievements, problems, and the remaining challenge.2003: In Hard Times: Collaboration or Contention? An examination of how Coloradoans and South-westerners in general are dealing with the growing drought, following the driest year on record in most of the West.2004: Technology, Science (including the “Dismal Science”), and the Changing Politics of Water.2005: Thirty Years Ago, Who Would Ever Have Imagined. A retrospective look at three very interesting decades in western water history, concluding with a workshop on where we are going in the "HB 1177 era."2006:Equalizations, Equity and Environment: Opportunities in the Colorado River watershed.