2022 CO Governor's race: on Environment

Heidi Ganahl: When we talk about water, we have to talk about storage

"When we talk about water, we have to talk about storage, storage, storage," she said. "We've got to store the water that's rightly ours. And you've got to have a governor who won't cede control to the federal government, but will hold firm and stand strong against the federal government and the other states who want to take the water."

"You can't store your way out of a drought," Polis shot back, "The water simply isn't there." However, the governor did also say increased storage is part of the solution. "But we also need to make sure that we have best practices in ag, increasing profitability for our farmers and ranchers who have more water efficient practices. And we also need to connect for the first time in Colorado, our housing policy with our water policy," he said.

Jared Polis: Renegotiate Colorado River Compact via cutbacks in CA/NV/AZ

They both pledged to ensure Colorado gets the water it is due. "We're in a stronger legal position and also a stronger position because of the nature of water as an upper basin" state, said Polis. "The states that are going to have the harshest cutbacks are of course California, Nevada, and Arizona." Polis added that he does not support diversion of water from the Western Slope and across basins and that he would make sure that "one part of Colorado is not pitted against another part of Colorado."