Water Plan Public Comment Period Summary

The draft of the 2023 update to the Colorado Water Plan (Water Plan) ran from June 30 - September 30 2022. The 90-day public comment period and draft was built on seven years of stakeholder feedback. This includes input gathered through the Technical Update and the Basin Implementation Plans that fed into the draft 2023 Water Plan. As part of the launch, CWCB staff visited all 64 counties in Colorado and connected with nearly 10,000 Coloradans. A breakdown of the comments received are shown below:

• 2,000+ observations
• 1,597 suggested revisions
• 528 pages of input (across 74 letters)
• 90% English submissions (10% submitted in Spanish)

At the close of the public comment period staff worked with to incorporate many of the suggestions.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How many comments were incorporated?
Over 950 public comments were incorporated into the plan (about 60%).


How were comments addressed?
What comments could be accepted were generally guided by a set of sideboards the CWCB developed to standardize responses to comments. Comments are also put into one of three categories: 1) Comment Noted signifies that the comment was logged but no action was taken, 2) Already Captured denotes when a comment is already captured in the text; 3) Text Modified denotes when a comment resulted in a text change, addition of text, possible call-out box and/or inclusion in the executive summary; Sideboard may or may not be referenced.


Can you briefly explain the sideboards?
The CWCB used nine (9) sideboards which are linked in the CWCB's January 24, 2023 board memo (link and summary shown on the right). The sideboards provided guide posts for standardizing and grouping responses when similarly themed comments were made that CWC noted but may not have included due to various reasons the sideboards detail. You can also view a presentation about the sideboards here.


Are there any things to note beyond the sideboards?
The plan is bold, accountable and streamlined. It presents clear trackable actions CWCB can take (agency actions), supports partner actions that CWCB supports, and it describes when new information, data,, and modeling will be re-visited. During that phase of work, topics like where the state stands with storage, conservation and other needs will be addressed. The CWCB worked to bring new voices into this effort through both the Water Equity Task Force and by working with Colorado's two federally recognized tribes who helped write sections of the Water Plan which discuss the Tribes, Tribal Water rights, etc.


What organizations and sectors offered comments on the plan?
The responses spanned various entities, with the majority of responses from the general public (78%). Other entities included environmental and recreation non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at 8%, trailed by Government at 3%, Education at 3% and other groups such as private companies (2%), agricultural NGOs (2%), Other NGOs (2%), Water Conservancy Districts (1%) and Municipalities (1%).


What was the general tone of comments received during public comment?
The majority of responses were overwhelmingly neutral (85% of submittals). Some were positive (11%) and some were negative (3%). While not an exact measure, most letters tended to be complimentary and balanced with potential improvements (neutral) compared to those that were generally supportive (positive) or those that were generally unsupportive (negative).