Programs and Services

Watershed Networking

Development pressures due to exponential population growth along with the concerns of global climate change of  have substantially increased competition for limited water resources among all interested parties in Colorado – agricultural, municipal, industrial, environmental and recreational. The need for an extensive network to engage the citizens on natural resource matters is unprecedented. The Assembly's goal is a to develop a convenient, sustainable, open and continuous dialogue that encourages community and stakeholder collaboration and motivates citizen groups to contribute in development and natural resource decisions.

There is no better time for such a project! The old system of back-room decision making by an elite few has broken down. The new approach – symbolized by the recently created Water Roundtables – is just beginning. Finally, local watershed groups have a forum to be heard.  The Assembly is working to connect members of local watershed groups to the roundtables and to water-related agencies.

These roundtables are permanent structures set up to facilitate discussions on water management issues and to encourage locally driven collaborative solutions. As a result, the coalition of watershed groups are poised to create a democratic infrastructure that advances the interest of the under-represented. The newly formed roundtables are a democracy-building effort that by law is open to the public. But having the law call for democracy and having democracy actually work are two different things.

The Roundtable process could easily become another exclusive club, where water decisions are made by a handful of special interests just as in the past. Old water in new bottles. This is an extraordinary opportunity, but getting local watershed groups to the table won’t be easy... Not because they don’t care, but because time is precious and many watershed group members are volunteers overwhelmed with local issues. They simply don't have time to spare for another good cause, especially if it requires time outside of the watershed.

But for people at the grassroots to do their work, they must be in contact with the work being done at the highest levels of government. And that is where the CWA enters. We are working to create an electronic network that will contain current and archived information, allowing watershed group members to know when meetings are happening and what decisions are being made. 

We are profoundly optimistic at this moment. We believe that the agencies and elected officials want citizen-based decision making to work. But they need help making it work; the government can’t do this alone. On the other hand, citizens have to take some level of responsibility. The Assembly exists to make that happen.