Practice Area

Environment & Natural Resources

Services

Facilitation

Allocation of Water Supply

Three parties–a developer, a private school, and a homeowner’s association (HOA)–were unable to negotiate an agreement regarding their rights to their collective water supply allocated by the county. Each party wanted access to the limited water supply for specific purposes. The HOA wanted to water lawns and maintain a swimming pool. The developer sought county approval to install water taps in the homes it planned to build. The school wanted water access for daily consumption and science and physical education classes.

Water Rights Dispute

Three parties within a community–a homeowner’s association (HOA), a developer, and a private school–were unable to negotiate an agreement regarding their rights to their jointly allocated water supply. Their goal was to seek help with coming to an agreement to meet their needs in ways that were also acceptable to the county government.

Working as counsel for the private school, Richard Alper also had a good relationship with the developer and the HOA. First, Richard identified each party’s needs through interviews and set up roundtable discussions to facilitate stakeholder collaboration. Applying his policy dialogue experience, he negotiated an agreement among the parties and drafted a joint allocation and operating agreement that created a phased water management plan.

  • By facilitating stakeholder collaboration in water supply management, Richard was able to help the affected community groups create a cooperative and sustainable water sharing plan.
  • The three parties presented their management plan to a work session of the county commissioners. The commission accepted this plan and incorporated it into their management plan as part of the comprehensive water plan for this part of the county.
  • The developer agreed to support the school’s application for a water appropriation permit. In exchange, the school agreed to support the expansion of the developer’s project, including water taps and sewer hook-ups before the board of county commissioners. The HOA gained an agreement for a water supply for its pool and lawns in exchange for supporting the allocation to the other parties with the county.
  • This agreement avoided litigation and protracted hearings before the county government by enhancing long-term cooperation and collaboration between the parties.

“Over the last three years I have worked closely with Rich Alper, co-creating a program to build the collaborative capacity of members of the community-based conservation efforts across seven Rocky Mountain states. Rich has been a key advisor and program partner, providing thoughtful questions, listening well, skillfully synthesizing complex information, comfortably guiding critical conversations with care and inclusivity, and providing good thinking on design and strategy for group coordination.”

Heather Knight, Former Associate Director - Practice Program, Center for Collaborative Conservation, Warner College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, and Retired from The Nature Conservancy of Colorado and Laramie Foothills Project Director

“Richard Alper is one of the real pros in the field of collaborative problem solving. His design and training expertise was essential in helping the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County, Maryland, get off the ground, and his facilitation services have helped several community groups turn their differences into joint problem-solving actions.”

Tom Dunne, Former conflict resolution consultant to federal agencies and Search for Common Ground, Co-founder of the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County

Conflict or indecision can stall progress and waste resources.

But it’s possible to find common ground.

Unbiased facilitation creates forward momentum by uncovering solutions based on common desires and goals.