Water in Colorado is of importance, as the American state of Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

 is the 7th-driest state of America, http://www.currentresults.com/Weather-Extremes/US/driest-states.php, http://web2.airmail.net/danb1/usrecords.htm. As result, water rights generate conflict (for example, see Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States

Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States

Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States, 424 U.S. 800 , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States created a new doctrine of abstention, to prevent duplicative litigation between state and federal courts....

), with many water lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

s in the state.

In-state

Various in-state interests make demands on Colorado's scarce water resource

Resource

A resource is a source or supply from which benefit is produced, typically of limited availability.Resource may also refer to:* Resource , substances or objects required by a biological organism for normal maintenance, growth, and reproduction...

s, including:

• Agriculture
  Agriculture
  Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
  
  ,
• Environmentalists,
• Industry
  Industry
  Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
  
  ,
• Colorado's citizens
  Citizenship
  Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
  
  .

In-state demands also come from:

• The ski
  Skiing
  Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
  
   industry,
• White-water rafting companies.

Out-of-state interests

Colorado doesn't control all the water originating within its borders, and out-of-state players have their own interests, particularly of the "big four" of Colorado rivers whose source is within the state:

• The Arkansas
• The Colorado
  Colorado River
  The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
  
  
• The North Platte
• The Rio Grande

See also

• Colorado River Compact
  Colorado River Compact
  The Colorado River Compact is a 1922 agreement among seven U.S. states in the basin of the Colorado River in the American Southwest governing the allocation of the water rights to the river's water among the parties of the interstate compact...
  
  
• Colorado Water Courts
  Colorado Water Courts
  The Colorado Water Courts are specialized state courts of the U.S. state of Colorado. There are seven Water Courts in each of Colorado's seven major river basins: South Platte, Arkansas, Rio Grande, Gunnison, Colorado, White, and San Juan. The Water Courts are divisions of the District Courts in...
  
  
• Colorado Water Quality Control Division
  Colorado Water Quality Control Division
  The Colorado Water Quality Control Division is part of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The Water Quality Control Division implements the federal Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act in Colorado....
  
  
• Water stress
  Water stress
  Researchers define water stress and water scarcity in different ways. For example, some have presented maps showing the physical existence of water in nature to show nations with lower or higher volumes of water available for use. Others have related water availability to population...
  
  

External links

• Colorado Division of Water Resources, official site
• Water in Colorado, a state site
• Colorado Water Conservation Board, a state site
• Colorado Division of Water Resources, a state site
• Colorado Water Knowledge (still under construction as of this writing)
• Colorado Water Institute (CWI), an affiliate of Colorado State University
• USGS site