Colorado Water Congress records

The Colorado Water Congress began on 1957, in Washington, D.C. Leading a commission of representatives and state officials, Governor Steve McNichols presented testimony of a particular bill sanctioning the assembly of a significant reclamation project in Colorado. However, while McNichols and company were presenting their testimony, contention rose between his group of representatives and officials and representatives of other areas because they would be affected by the project McNichols wanted to initiate. As a result, McNichols thought it best to gather a conference of all the water users in the State of Colorado in one place and discuss amongst themselves the future of Colorado’s water crisis. The goal of this conference would be to amalgamate the wants of water users of the state, then present that data to the state government.

Despite being met with some animosity due to conflicting views of representatives, the first conference to take place in discussion of such issues was in September 1957 at the Colorado Water Conservation Board. A notable incident occurred at this particular meeting when two lawyers came to a disagreement on how the Colorado River water should be used after the Board was on the subject of an impending proceeding on the rights of individual water users. Although they did not agree with how the Colorado River water should be used, both opposing lawyers knew that action must be taken as soon as possible.

The next phase in the construction of the Colorado Water Congress was to assemble a group of qualified men who would represent the water users of the state of Colorado and aid the state in bringing its water crisis to an agreeable conclusion. John B. Barnard, Jr., first assistant Attorney General is responsible for the consolidation of 19 of the states water authorities, the selection being made based on how active they had been in the past over issues concerning the states water laws and issues. The first meeting of these elite 19 water officials also took place in 1957 in Denver, where they were told that the meeting was to be confidential, establish which ideas were agreed upon concerning the states water usage among all 19 men, and that all of their work would be done for the benefit of the state, omitting partisan politics and geographical bias.

As such, they would forget any earlier disagreements on which they came across in earlier meetings. A later meeting was called to legitimize the draft that the 19 men had generated; among those who approved it were approximately 90 representatives, commenting on the draft and giving input. This meeting was held in January 11, 1958. However, the newly formed Colorado Water Congress needed to maintain a non-partisan political standpoint now that they had consolidated and come up with a plan of action for Colorado’s water use. This was easily solved because Governor McNichols, a Democrat, along with the support of Attorney General Dunbar, a Republican, worked together to write a draft of their platform recommendations for the Colorado Water Congress.

Now that their political stance was secured, the Colorado Water Congress asked for the execution of three of their platform recommendations from the draft that they head created. Those three platforms were a memorandum to Congress requesting federal legislation to protect the inviolability of State water rights, for State legislation to allow the collection of a fee for the publication of water data held in a publications fund, and finally the appropriation of a $50,000 special legal and engineering studies grant. After the Colorado legislature approved these proposed platforms, Governor McNichols and Attorney General Dunbar added 10 members to

The Colorado Water Congress. As soon as the Organization Committee was born, they set about electing an Executive Committee to impart forms of by-laws and constitutions. After the complete legitimatization of the Colorado Water Congress by The Colorado legislature, the CWC began to contact several private and public organizations in order to secure funding. Now with financial support from public and private organizations, the Colorado Water Congress was able to hire a full-time secretary as well as secure an office temporarily in the 105 State Capital building. By the end of 1958, there were approximately 300 active members and 25 sustaining members.