The University of Colorado at Boulder Law School

Program Overview

Western water resources policy has been a major focus of the NATURAL RESOURCES LAW CENTER (NRLC), beginning with our first water conference in 1981 (Water Resources Allocation: Laws and Emerging Issues). In the years that followed, the NRLC has convened 20 major water conferences and produced over 100 major reports and books. More importantly, the NRLC has repeatedly proved to be an invaluable source of insights and ideas for legal and policy innovation, serving decision‐makers, activists, academics and the public throughout the American West.

The WWPP is predicated on the belief that few (if any) factors will have more significance in shaping the long‐term future of the American West than our ability to improve how we conceptualize, structure, and implement water management. While the primary function of the WWPP will be to highlight innovations in water policy and law, the WWPP is cognizant that positive change can take many forms, including economic and administrative reforms, technological innovations, and social change, and that one role of the WWPP will be to identify the most productive avenues for innovation.

Activity Areas

The WWPP is focused on three related activities:

1. The WWPP will articulate and promote implementation of a comprehensive vision of improved water management in the West.
   The WWPP will improve the framing of issues, problems and potential solutions, and will promote enhanced coordination of activities and implementation strategies among other organizations that have similar (although usually more specialized) mandates. A tremendous amount of research, activism and debate is (and has been) focused on western water resources; however, the scope and pace of innovation have generally not been sufficient to protect highly‐valued social and environmental resources.
   
   It is increasingly dubious to believe that slow, incremental reform will, by itself, be sufficient to achieve long‐term goals in western water management unless:
   • all reform efforts share a consistent and logical vision for the future
   • the pace of innovation is accelerated, and
   • activity at this scale does not restrict opportunities for more novel and fundamental innovations.
   
   
   
2. The WWPP will investigate current issues and case studies in the region, identifying key trends, and focusing on the primary stressors of population growth and climate change.
   Since its inception, the NRLC has led the discussion in many areas of water management innovation, including instream flow protection, water marketing, the changing role of dams (and the dam‐building agencies), restoration of aquatic ecosystems, and new governance arrangements. Through the WWPP, the NRLC will continue to be “out front” on emerging issues, tracking, analyzing and framing those issues in a way that facilitates discussion, education and problem‐solving.
3. The WWPP will Identify and promote specific legal and policy innovations at multiple levels of government and in multiple decision‐making venues, working with and through our well-established networks of collaborators and advisors.
   Legal and policy innovation is the heart of the NRLC–WWPP mission, guided and informed by our work in the other two activity areas. The WWPP will provide the inspiration and leadership necessary to update water laws and policies to meet the needs of the 21st century. Given the physical location of the WWPP in the NATURAL RESOURCES LAW CENTER at the University of Colorado Law School — combined with the prominent role that prior‐appropriation law plays in guiding how water resources are allocated, used and managed — the NRLC‐WWPP is particularly well positioned for furthering this now‐familiar role.

 

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE WWPP . . .
The WWPP is a rapidly building and evolving effort within the Natural Resources Law Center.
For updated information, please contact:

Doug Kenney, Ph.D. Director, Western Water Policy Program and Senior Research Associate 303-492-1296 douglas.kenney@colorado.edu

Mark Squillace Director, Natural Resources Law Center and Professor of Law 303-492-1287 mark.squillace@colorado.edu