Colorado Water and Land Use Planning Alliance

By Christy Wiseman

This article originally appeared in APA’s Water and Planning Network newsletter. You can sign up to receive Water and Planning Network newsletters by emailing water@planning.org 

Regional Context

Hot, dry, and crowded. That was the theme of a recent land use planning and law conference convened in Denver. For the approximately 30 million people who live in the Colorado River Basin, life is dictated by the realities of water: how much of it is there, where it is, how clean it is, who owns it, and how much it costs. It’s no surprise that people living in the greater western and southwestern region of what is now the United States have always grappled with water challenges. 

Today, a complex infrastructure and legal system collects, allocates, and distributes water throughout the arid region. In Colorado, we have engineered our way into making naturally ephemeral streams flow all year, pumping Rocky Mountain snowmelt from over the Continental Divide to thirsty Front Range cities (that contain over 80% of the state’s population), and storing massive quantities of water in reservoirs for later use. While Colorado is a headwaters state (meaning that many rivers get their start high in the mountains here), we are subject to both natural and human-made constraints, including the effects of regional megadrought and the legal obligation to deliver water to Lower Basin states and Mexico.

The natural hazards of this region - particularly drought, wildfire, and flooding - are being exacerbated by the dual forces of climate change and population growth. Growing demand is being managed in an environment of diminishing supplies. Meanwhile, planners in Colorado navigate unique systems that frame their work. For example, Colorado water law, rooted in the doctrine of prior appropriation, allows water rights to be publicly traded while protecting the senior priority of older claims. Local control means that the state delegates almost all land use decisions to local governments (i.e., towns, cities, and counties). This presents both challenges and opportunities for planners and other stakeholders working towards a more resilient future. It is within this hot, dry, and crowded context that Colorado decided to take collaborative action to work toward a more resilient future.


Coming Together to Look Forward: The 2015 Colorado Water Plan

In 2013, former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper issued an Executive Order directing the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) to develop the state’s first water plan. After a robust two and a half year planning process that included unprecedented public engagement, the Colorado Water Plan was born.

The Water Plan does not mince words. The executive summary states, “Colorado faces the possibility of a significant water supply shortfall within the next few decades, even with aggressive conservation and new water projects.” This shortfall, commonly referred to as “the gap,” is now estimated to be between 250,000 and 750,000 acre-feet for the combined statewide municipal and industrial sector by 2050. For those unfamiliar with the term, one acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons, or enough water to cover an acre of land at one foot in depth. While the exact figure is debatable, an average Colorado housing unit with four people uses approximately ½ acre foot per year. Even though per capita water use has declined approximately 5% between 2008 and 2015, rising demand from population growth and supply vulnerabilities from a warming climate outweigh these conservation successes.

The Water Plan addresses many facets of water planning, from municipal and agricultural use, to watershed health and energy production. Planners and allied professionals can especially appreciate its focus on demand management (i.e., water conservation). This is because land use choices have an incredible impact on water demand.

Picture: Chaz Baculi of the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy presents a StoryMap about the Colorado River Basin at the March 4, 2020 Colorado Water and Land Use Alliance meeting.

Picture: Chaz Baculi of the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy presents a StoryMap about the Colorado River Basin at the March 4, 2020 Colorado Water and Land Use Alliance meeting.


Gaining Momentum

Around the same time as the Water Plan’s inception (and even a few years before), a series of research projects, academic collaborations, conferences, training sessions, and similar efforts began facilitating thinking about water within the context of land use. Examples include the Land Use Leadership Alliance, the Net-Zero Water Initiative, Denver Regional Council of Government’s (DRCOG) Metro Vision 2035, and the Colorado Water and Growth Dialog. These various initiatives coalesced to solidify and mainstream the connection between the built environment and water demand.

By the time the Water Plan was completed in late 2015, many Coloradoans were galvanized to take action and begin addressing the identified gaps. In particular, planners and other stakeholders in the development community focused on a particular goal: Colorado’s Water Plan sets a measurable objective that by 2025, 75 percent of Coloradans will live in communities that have incorporated water-saving actions into land-use planning.

By 2015, the Colorado legislature was also on board and passed SB 15-008 to provide a legislative expectation and support. Among other water efficiency-related measures, the law calls for the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) to work with the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) to develop and provide training and make recommendations regarding how to better integrate water demand management and conservation planning with land use planning. With this directive in place, the stage was set for expedited progress.




A Collaborative Forms: Colorado Water and Land Use Planning Alliance

With new awareness about the expected water shortfall, the state wanted to harness hard-won momentum of the various initiatives mentioned above. In December 2017, CWCB and DOLA convened the Colorado Water and Land Use Planning Alliance (“the Alliance”). The Alliance is a non-formal multi-stakeholder group of representatives from state agencies, local governments, universities, advocacy organizations, research organizations, and other interested parties who come together with the purpose of coordinating to develop resources, provide technical assistance, and track progress on water and land use integration across Colorado. Particularly, Alliance members work to move the needle on the Water Plan goal of helping Colorado communities integrate water into land use planning.

Since late 2017, the Alliance has been meeting quarterly to coordinate technical assistance and education, develop metrics and collect data, and inform policy. At meetings, members share information, discuss relevant projects, leverage multiple organizations’ efforts, and ensure there isn’t duplication of work. For example, there are several water-focused environmental nonprofits in Colorado; the Alliance helps to bring together these parties to foster collaboration and broaden members’ professional networks. Similarly, local government staff who attend Alliance meetings can hear firsthand from other public sector planners. Meetings usually include twenty to thirty people from a variety of organizations. What’s more, the Alliance includes organizations representing interests from the broader Colorado River Basin, including voices from Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Logistically, Alliance meetings are facilitated and supported by DOLA and CWCB staff.

It’s important to note that the role of the Alliance is to convene stakeholders and experts in the area of water and land use planning integration. Alliance meetings serve as a forum to vet and discuss project and policy initiatives. The Alliance does not take formal action to recommend specific policies or proposed legislation as a group. Not all issues may interest all members; furthermore, Alliance members may not always agree on policy directives. This atmosphere is important to the group’s success. Members benefit from robust open discussion at meetings, but then choose to take individual actions that are appropriate for the organizations they represent. 

Alliance members often serve in an advisory capacity for each other’s work. In this way, projects are strengthened and vetted through the expertise of the group. Here are a few recent examples of Alliance members’ work:

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Alliance members have helped numerous Colorado communities with a variety of planning processes, including adding water policies to comprehensive plans, writing landscaping ordinances, and updating building codes. In addition to providing direct technical assistance, Alliance members are working to create metrics that measure the effectiveness of land use and water integration actions. The goal for these metrics is to empower local governments to self-assess their efforts as well as enable the state to track progress towards the Water Plan goal.




In Their Own Words: Alliance Members Reflect and Look Forward

“Sporadic, scattered, and nascent. There was no singular place for practitioners to meet up, learn from one another, and advance new ideas.” That’s how Drew Beckwith, Water Resources Specialist with the City of Westminster, characterizes the conversation around water and land use in Colorado before the formation of the Alliance. Now? “Every meeting I come away thinking, ‘Wow’, about all the work that everyone is doing on this topic.”

“The Alliance serves as a touchstone for all who are involved with bringing [together] water supply, demand, and watershed health management and the way we manage community development and growth in line with one another. We are able to collaborate and leverage our work in order to achieve results that are greater than our constituent parts.” - Waverly Klaw, Associate Director, Sonoran Institute

“The Alliance has come together at a critical time and has been successful due to funding from the state and the member NGOs as well as synergy between state initiatives, elected officials, managers and planners, academics, and stakeholders, who care deeply, see the need to act and are willing to put in the time and effort to collaborate to make holistic decisions about their land and water resources for their communities and the state.” - Faith Sternlieb, Program Manager, Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy

“How we choose to use our land completely determines our water needs, and land without water is of little economic value in the west. We at the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy are honored to be part of the Colorado Land and Water Planning Alliance. It is exciting to see the commitment and the enthusiasm that land and water planners and managers throughout Colorado are bringing to working together for community sustainability and to meet the Colorado State Water Plan goal of ensuring that 75% of Coloradans live in communities that are integrating land and water planning. The Alliance is leading the way to meeting this goal.” - Jim Holway, Director, Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy

The active players in the water planning sphere gained a recurring space to come together via the Alliance. To be clear- there is a lot of work yet to be done in order to promote water demand management and smart land use planning in Colorado. The state’s Water Plan will be updated over the next couple years. Before we know it, the existing Water Plan goal deadlines will come and go. Then, Colorado River Compact negotiations will begin again. The Alliance will play an important role in working to affect change on the ground, community-by-community, towards a more sustainable and water-smart future.

“As we look to the future, the Alliance will continue to ramp up its activity and impact. Every year, more and more local governments are actively seeking to integrate water into their long-range plans and policies in order to become resilient to future water scarcity. The Alliance is ready to assist these communities in achieving their goals.” - Waverly Klaw, Associate Director, Sonoran Institute




Lessons for Planners Across the Landscape

Regardless of where you are in the world and what water law system you must abide by, there is great opportunity in meaningful multi-sector and multi-disciplinary collaboration.

Planners in Colorado (and the broader Colorado River Basin) work within a unique context. However, anyone can utilize the Alliance framework to foster statewide or regional-scale collaboration on water quantity or quantity issues. Water truly does unite us all. Colorado’s experience has taught us the importance of forming partnerships with organizations across the water spectrum. This approach enables us to tackle relatively small issues within singular jurisdictions as well as large-scale issues such as the state’s projected water shortage. 

How can a planner convene a group with impact? The Alliance has illuminated several helpful steps. Create an environment that brings together multi-sector and multi-disciplinary stakeholders on equal footing. Connect your efforts to a broader goal borne out of a meaningful planning process. Welcome and communicate the stance that consensus on specific policy directives is not necessary to advance broader goals. Actively seek to avoid duplicative efforts, especially when funding is competitive. Simultaneously celebrate successes while searching for gaps in existing resources. Finally, ground yourself by knowing your work has an effect beyond your employer, your community, or even the planning profession itself.

As the APA Water and Planning Network website says, “Water is a central organizing element in a healthy and sustainable built environment.” Let’s keep working together to ensure this life-giving resource is both appreciated and available to all who need it.




Christy Wiseman is an AICP Candidate. She currently works as the Land Use and Water Planner in the Community Development Office of the Colorado Department of Local Affairs. Her position works in partnership with the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy, a center of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Paul Moberly