Hydrohistorian
Who does what
State agencies and commissions
Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB)
State water policy, supply planning, instream flows, flood/drought programs, compact defense.
Created 1937 by HB 6; first meeting July 13, 1937; CRS 37-60-102.
Colorado Ground Water Commission
Designates and administers groundwater in the eight Designated Basins; large-capacity well permits.
Ground Water Management Act 1965 (SB 367); CRS 37-90-104 (twelve members).
CDPHE Water Quality Control Division (WQCD)
Monitors, permits, enforces surface, ground and drinking-water quality under the Water Quality Control Act.
CRS 25-8 (25-8-301); 1966 Water Pollution Control Act lineage (T4 only); current Act effective July 6, 1973 (25-8-206); commission reconstituted July 1, 1981.
CDPHE Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC)
Adopts classifications, standards, control regulations.
CRS 25-8-201.
Colorado Parks & Wildlife
State parks, wildlife, fishing, recreation.
SB 11-208 (signed 2011-06-06, eff. 2011-07-01) merged Wildlife + Parks; HB 12-1317 created the Commission; CRS 33-9-104, 33-9-101.
Colorado State Land Board
Trust-land agency managing 2.8M+ surface acres and a water-rights portfolio for public schools.
Colo. Const. art. IX §9; 1876.
State Board of Examiners of Water Well Construction and Pump Installation Contractors
Licenses well/pump contractors; regulates construction and abandonment.
CRS 37-91-103, -104.
Conservation districts (statutory)
Colorado River Water Conservation District
15 West Slope counties; safeguards Colorado's Compact entitlement.
1937; CRS 37-46.
Southwestern Water Conservation District
Nine SW counties, Durango.
April 16, 1941, HB 795; CRS 37-47 (§103).
Rio Grande Water Conservation District
Five SLV counties; runs six groundwater subdistricts (No.1 Closed Basin 2006; No.2 2016-03-01; No.3 2017-03-27; No.4 2017-07-21; No.5 2017-12-18; No.6 2018-10-04).
Created by the General Assembly, formed 1967 by local vote; CRS 37-48 (§102).
Republican River Water Conservation District
Republican River Compact compliance; CREP/EQIP retirement; 2012 compact pipeline; Wray.
2004; CRS 37-50.
Conservancy districts (CRS 37-45)
Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District (Northern Water)
C-BT with Reclamation, Windy Gap, NISP, Chimney Hollow; 1.1M people, ~550k irrigated acres.
Sept 20, 1937, Weld County District Court (Municipal Subdistrict 1970).
Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District
Fryingpan-Arkansas Project (~57,400 af/yr transmountain), Arkansas Valley Conduit.
April 29, 1958, Pueblo District Court.
Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District
Taylor Park, Aspinall subordination, anti-transbasin litigation.
1959 by vote.
Dolores Water Conservancy District
Dolores Project (McPhee Dam 1980–86), Cortez.
Nov 20, 1961, Montezuma County District Court.
Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District
Keeps water in the lower valley against buy-and-dry; Rocky Ford.
Nov 2002 by voters (~64%).
Central Colorado Water Conservancy District
South Platte NE Colorado; GMS (1973) and WAS (2004) well-augmentation subdistricts; Greeley.
Sept 1965.
St. Vrain and Left Hand Water Conservancy District
~500 sq mi watershed; augmentation, storage (Coffintop); Longmont.
April 19, 1971.
User associations
Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association
Operates the Uncompahgre Project incl. Gunnison Tunnel (1905–09); Montrose.
1902 (UVWUA) vs May 5, 1903 (Reclamation) — disagree.
Grand Valley Water Users Association
Cameo Diversion, 55-mi Government Highline Canal, ~23,000 acres.
1905.
San Luis Valley Irrigation District
Rio Grande Reservoir.
Dec 8 (or 10), 1908 under the 1905 Irrigation Act; reservoir full 1914.
Municipal
Denver Water
Independent Denver agency, rate-funded.
Aug 6, 1918 charter amendment; Nov 1918 vote to buy Denver Union Water Co.; Denver Charter art. X.
Aurora Water
City department; water, sewer, stormwater.
Dept established 1949 (museum timeline) vs "mid-1950s" operations (1956 first wells) — disagree.
Colorado Springs Utilities
Four-service municipal utility.
1878 first system; July 1924 bond vote; June 30, 1925 ownership.
Pueblo Water (Board of Water Works of Pueblo)
Independent charter board.
Utility 1874; current board form 1954 charter (replacing 1911).
Metro Water Recovery
Regional wastewater district, 2M+ people, 65 entities.
May 15, 1961 as Metropolitan Denver Sewage Disposal District No. 1, CRS 32-4-501–547; renamed Metro Wastewater Reclamation District 1990; Metro Water Recovery Sept 1, 2021 (NACWA says 2022 — prefer primary).
Federal / interstate
Upper Colorado River Commission
Four Upper Division States; administers Upper Basin apportionment and Compact deliveries; Salt Lake City (50 S. 600 E. Ste 100).
1948 Upper Colorado River Basin Compact (Santa Fe, Oct 11, 1948; CRS 37-62-101). Colorado's commissioner: Becky Mitchell (CWCB Director).
Reclamation Upper Colorado Basin Region (Interior Region 7)
Upper Colorado system; Western Colorado, Provo, Albuquerque, Wyoming, Power offices.
Reclamation Act 1902.
Reclamation Missouri Basin and Arkansas-Rio Grande-Texas Gulf Region
Billings HQ; Eastern Colorado (Loveland) and Western Colorado (Grand Junction) area offices. Interior Region numbers not stated on usbr.gov.
Reclamation Eastern Colorado Area Office
Loveland; C-BT and Fryingpan-Arkansas (Green Mountain, Ruedi, Mt. Elbert).
Reclamation Western Colorado Area Office
Grand Junction/Durango; eight West Slope basins.
USGS Colorado Water Science Center
Streamflow, groundwater, water-quality, soil-moisture, snow networks; Denver Federal Center Bldg 53 + Grand Junction/Pueblo/Durango. Founding year not on usgs.gov.
NRCS Colorado Snow Survey / SNOTEL
Snowpack measurement and water-supply forecasting. 1935 program legislation (SCS from 1939) — search snippets only; nrcs.usda.gov never responded.
NWS Weather Forecast Office, Boulder
Forecast office for northeast Colorado including the Denver metro and Front Range; 325 Broadway, Boulder.
NWS Weather Forecast Office, Pueblo
Forecast office for southeast Colorado; 3 Eaton Way, Pueblo.
NWS Weather Forecast Office, Grand Junction
Forecast office for western Colorado and eastern Utah; 2844 Aviators Way, Grand Junction.
Colorado Basin River Forecast Center (Salt Lake City)
River and water-supply forecasts for the Colorado River basin from its Colorado and Wyoming headwaters to Mexico.
Coverage set by NWS Instruction 10-903 (Aug 21, 2003).
Missouri Basin River Forecast Center (Pleasant Hill, MO)
Forecasts the Missouri basin from its Colorado, Wyoming and Montana headwaters, so Colorado's South Platte and North Platte.
NWS Instruction 10-903.
West Gulf River Forecast Center (Fort Worth)
Forecasts the Rio Grande basin of Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.
NWS Instruction 10-903.
Arkansas-Red Basin River Forecast Center (Tulsa)
Forecasts the Arkansas basin from its Colorado headwaters.
NWS Instruction 10-903.
Arkansas River Compact Administration
CO–KS agency (3 reps per state + federal chair), Compact art. VIII; John Martin operations.
Signed Dec 14, 1948; Congress 1949; CRS 37-69-101 to -106.
Rio Grande Compact Commission
CO/NM/TX state engineers + non-voting federal chair; Colorado side = DWR Division 3. No standalone site.
Signed Santa Fe Mar 18, 1938 (Congress May 31, 1939 — snippet); CRS 37-66.
Republican River Compact Administration
One member each CO/KS/NE; allocations, accounting, 2002 Final Settlement Stipulation model.
Signed Lincoln Dec 31, 1942; consent May 26, 1943; CRS 37-67.
Academic
Colorado Climate Center (CSU)
State Climatologist; CoAgMet, drought, extremes.
1974 (CSU news) vs 1973 (CCC deck) — disagree; first State Climatologist Tom McKee 1974–2000.
Colorado Water Center (CSU)
Federally designated Water Resources Research Institute.
1965 as CWRRI (Water Resources Research Act 1964); renamed Colorado Water Institute by HB 08-1026; "Water Center" rename year unverified.
Getches-Wilkinson Center (CU Law)
Natural resources, energy, environment, Western water law.
Natural Resources Law Center 1980 (CU Scholar; "early 1980s" per CU Law); renamed January 2013.
NGO / professional
Colorado Water Congress
Statewide association; legislation; conventions.
June 4, 1958.
Water Education Colorado** (formerly Colorado Foundation for Water Education)
Nonpartisan water education; Headwaters, Fresh Water News, Water Leaders.
2002 by HB 02-1152 (CRS section not located); rename announced Oct 23, 2017.
Colorado Ag Water Alliance
Coalition preserving irrigated agriculture.
Founding year unverified (IRS ruling 2019).
Colorado Water Well Contractors Association
Trade association for drillers and pump installers.
1931 as Colorado Water Well Drillers Association; renamed 1968.
Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust
Conservation easements on ranch land (840,000+ acres).
1995.
Not yet listed: DWR's seven division offices, the nine basin roundtables and the IBCC, and the water courts by division. They are next. Report a problem →