Policy Conflict on Colorado's 2023 Water Plan

Many democracy researchers cite conflict as the hallmark of this governmental structure. While many of our current frameworks for understanding the policy process mention conflict, very few conceptualize conflict directly. The Policy Conflict Framework seeks to provide 1) an understanding of the sources, depth, and effects of local policy conflict as well as 2) develop generalized knowledge about the insights of policy conflicts. This study seeks to apply the PCF to understand the surrounding the renewal of Colorado’s water plan. Starting in 2015, the state of Colorado developed a framework to find solutions to the ongoing challenges with water policy. Every 10 years, they plan to update this framework with new information, visions, and actions on water distribution. In 2023, the Colorado Water Conservation Board started the reassessment of the 2015 water plan, creating a policy arena ripe for conflict analysis. By conducting ten interviews with relevant stakeholders, we map out the characteristics of policy conflict associated with the Colorado water plan. The results of this analysis will contribute to the larger understanding of policy conflicts by adding to the growing number of conflict studies, and greater understanding of how policy conflict characteristics in the water domain compare to other types of policy conflict. Also, by gaining an in-depth understanding of the policy conflicts about Colorado’s Water Plan, we analyze who are the primary decision makers and advocates on water policy and who is left out of the conflict all together. Thus, this study also contributes insights on how decision-making on water policy is conducted.