The Western Water Policy Program (WWPP) is the home for the water-related research projects, events, and advisory activities of the Getches-Wilkinson Center for National Resources, Energy, and the Environment – formerly the Natural Resource Law Center (University of Colorado). Since hosting our first major water conference in 1981 (Water Resources Allocation: Laws and Emerging Issues), the WWPP has convened over 20 multi-day water conferences and produced over 100 major reports and books.  More importantly, the program has repeatedly proved to be an invaluable source of insights and ideas for legal and policy innovation, serving policy-makers, activists, academics and the public in the American West and beyond.

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 water management.  While the primary function of the WWPP is 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 is to identify the most productive avenues for innovation.