Colorado-Real-Estate-Journal_323386

Page 28 - January 18-31, 2023 www.crej.com n Affordable housing n Annexation n Borrower nancing n Boundary disputes n Condominiums and cooperatives n Conservation easements n Construction law n Covenants n Easements n Entitlements n Entity structures n Environmental compliance n Exchanges n Foreclosures n Historic preservation n Land use planning n Lender nancing n Multifamily n Municipal law n Title and Survey n Zoning DEVELOPERS CONTRACTORS LENDERS LANDLORDS INSURERS INVESTORS OWNERS TENANTS BORROWERS Contact Merc Pittinos | 303.295.9812 Jake Tiernan | 303.292.7925 www .moyewhite.com Contact us for your real estate transactional and litigation needs including: Real Estate Counseling Moye White represents clients across the full-spectrum of real estate activities including acquisition, nancing, investment, development, leasing, and disposition. I n our recent report as the 2022 Terry J. Stevinson Fellows with Common Sense Institute, “Adapting Colora- do’s Water Systems for a 21st Century,” we stress that our state is facing significant future water supply and management challenges. The combined effects of population growth, climate change, competition within Colorado, and require- ments to share our waters with downstream states under a series of interstate water com- pacts and decrees means that Colorado will have to do more with less water. The solutions will include enhanced conservation mea- sures, investments in new water savings and manage- ment technologies, a willing- ness to better manage and share existing water supplies and a new generation of innovative and cooperative projects. More regional-based solutions will be needed to replace the inde- pendent go-it-alone approach that has characterized the water development strategy of many communities along Colorado’s fast growing Front Range. Implement- ing these s o l u t i o n s will require enlightened l e a d e r s h i p from both the p ro f e s s i o n - al manag- ers, and the boards and city councils to which they report. The need for enlightened water leadership is not a new challenge for Colorado. Indeed, over the past century, there were many instances when Coloradans stepped up and provided critical leadership at the state and national level to address a set of different, but nonetheless challenging, water issues of the day. Over a century ago, as Colorado and its neighboring states were developing their irrigated lands, legal and political battles erupt- ed over how much water each state could use from the interstate streams they shared. These battles delayed and threatened the con- struction of needed water supply and hydro- power genera- tion projects. In response, C o l o r a d o ’ s Delphius Car- penter (1877- 1951) stepped up and sug- gested that, instead of litigation, the states negoti- ate interstate water compacts. Carpenter, a first-generation descendant of Union Colony settlers, became Colorado’s lead negotiator for both the Colorado River Com- pact, signed in November 1922, and the South Platte River Compact, signed in March 1923. To reach these agree- ments, Carpenter understood that it would require diplo- macy, patience, compromises, and a new way of cooperative problem-solving. Today, Car- penter is heralded as the father of interstate water compacts. In the 1930s, as Carpenter’s health forced him to retire, the regional water leadership role was taken up by another Col- oradan, Clifford Stone (1888- 1952). Stone, as a state legis- lator from Gunnison, led the charge to create the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the state agency responsible for representing Colorado on interstate water matters. In 1937 he stepped down from his promising political career to become the CWCB’s first exec- utive director. Under Stone’s tutelage, Colorado negotiated and signed the Rio Grande, Arkansas, Upper Colorado River Basin, and Republican River compacts. Stone also chaired the committee of state officials that advised the U.S. State Department on the nego- tiations of the 1944 Internation- al Water Treaty with Mexico. Like Carpenter, Stone under- stood that in each case, to reach an accord, regional thinking and solutions would be need- ed. Stone was also a driving force for intrastate agreements and cooperative projects. His efforts laid the groundwork for many of the water supply projects we rely on today, such as the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, the Fryingpan-Arkan- sas Project and Dillon Reser- voir. It’s true that both Colorado and its rivers are very differ- ent today than they were in the era of Carpenter and Stone. Colorado had a population of a barely a million people then; today it is approaching 6 mil- lion people. Droughts were common then, but the impacts of climate change on river flows were not as severe. We can learn from the approach and style of leader- ship of Carpenter and Stone. We must adopt a willingness to consider news ways of think- ing, accept that regional and cooperative-based solutions are preferable to continued fighting, and rededicate our focus to improving the live- lihood of current and future Coloradans. Common Sense Institute is a nonpartisan research organization dedicated to the protection and promotion of Colorado’s economy. CSI’s mission is to examine the fis- cal impacts of policies, initiatives, and proposed laws so that Colora- dans are educated and informed on issues impacting their lives. s Colorado’s water future: Leadership lessons from the past Erik Kuhn Terry J. Stevinson Fellow, Common Sense Institute Jennifer Gimbel Terry J. Stevinson Fellow, Common Sense Institute Economy

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