Grand Lake will get no state help — for now — to restore its once-crystalline water

A state commission that sets water quality standards in Colorado is declining for now to wade into a debate over murky water in Grand Lake.

The Colorado Water Quality Control Commission will instead continue to monitor concerns about the popular tourist destination as federal and state authorities pursue solutions, the commission said at its regularly scheduled meeting Monday.

The lake is considered a prime jewel in Colorado’s scenic landscapes. Located on the western edge of Rocky Mountain National Park, it has been a tourist haven since the late 1800s.

But clarity deteriorated when the federal government began construction on the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, or C-BT, in the late 1930s.

The system gathers water from streams and rivers in Rocky Mountain National…