The two major-party candidates for attorney general — Republican Michael Allen, the district attorney for Teller and El Paso counties, and Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold — on Thursday outlined their priorities at the Colorado Water Congress.

Griswold attended the session after originally being scheduled to speak on Wednesday at the annual conference held in Steamboat Springs.

Allen, who is from Colorado Springs, said the attorney general’s role is to defend the state’s water rights, protect Colorado’s sovereignty and enforce the law.

“It means representing Colorado when there are interstate disputes,” he said.

On water issues, Allen said farmers and ranchers need greater certainty, cities must be able to plan for their future and businesses should know whether investing in Colorado means having a reliable water supply.

Allen said he will also ensure Colorado meets its compact obligations.

“But I also believe we need to understand the difference between being willing to fight and looking for a fight,” he added.

That means Colorado will fight when it’s needed and negotiate when that’s possible, he said.

Allen said conservation is fundamentally an economic issue and he doesn’t view it as competing with economic growth.

“A healthy water system is an economic asset,” he said.

He added that responsible water management gives businesses and communities confidence to invest in Colorado — which requires stronger conservation, better infrastructure, improved technology, resilient storage and water reuse where appropriate.

“We will be conservationists who protect our watersheds and support agriculture,” Allen said, adding that Colorado’s water policy should also allow responsible economic growth. “As attorney general, that’s the role I want to play. I’m not going to pretend that every water problem has an easy answer. We know it doesn’t.”

Griswold said she is excited about the prospect of working together to help safeguard Colorado’s water, protect the state’s natural resources and support rural and agricultural communities.

She called for water policies that protect and conserve water supplies and water rights. She added that, as attorney general, she will work with water experts on “innovative solutions” to the state’s problems.

She briefly touched on the legal challenges in managing the Colorado River and in dealing with Nebraska’s lawsuit over the Perkins County canal. That included a pledge that the team of attorneys in the Department of Law will protect Colorado’s interests in negotiations over the Colorado River, including if the states ended up in court.

Should Colorado or the Upper Basin states be sued, “we will be ready to fight to defend every drop of water,” she said.

On the Nebraska canal dispute, Griswold said she would continue the current attorney general’s efforts to defend Colorado at the U.S. Supreme Court.

She said cooperation and proactive conservation are essential to fairness in interstate negotiations, which require respecting the priority system, compact allocations and headwater “realities,” she said.

“Colorado should get credit from Lower Basin states and the feds for the hard work we’re doing to conserve water,” she said.

She added that the state must also protect its agricultural producers. Drought and compact strategies, she said, “must be fair, transparent and designed in partnership with agricultural producers and the attorney general must help craft solutions that maintain working lands and rural communities.