C.R.S. § 36-4-104

The state board of land commissioners is authorized to take, on behalf of and in the name of the state, as speedily as practicable, such action as may, in the judgment of the board, be necessary or desirable to irrigate and improve such lands belonging to the state, and lying in the San Luis valley and elsewhere, as may in the judgment of the board be susceptible of improvement by irrigation.