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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />021'7 <br /> <br />This statement is predicated upon the assumption t hat Denver will, <br />as she must eventually, construct adequate storage facilities. We <br />insist that Denver must turn her attention to the construction of stor- <br />age dams for the purpose of making fully available to her the water <br />she now owns, rather than making further and unjustified raids on <br />other tributaries of the Colorado River. On the accepted basis of <br />4.25 people per acre foot, Denver then has a firm supply of water now <br />for a population of 1,700,000, as against a population served, in 1958, <br />of 661,000 persons. <br /> <br />Therefore, if Denver will properly conserve the water she now <br />has a right to use for municipal purposes, she has a supply sufficient <br />for three times her present population. What will her reasonable <br />future needs be? According to a statement made by staff members <br />of the Denver Water Board in the Engineering News ::l.ecord for ([J)cto- <br />ber 29, 1959, the estimated maximum population of Denver in the <br />year 2000 will be 1,320,000 people, half a million less than she now <br />has water to serve. <br /> <br />Parenthetically and possibly degressing from one primary sub- <br />ject, we believe that this estimate or projection is entirely unrealis- <br />tic. It appears to be based upon an assumption that unt il the year <br />2000, the rate of population increase in Denver will be comparable <br />to that which obtained during the boom period following World War II. <br />We believe, for instance, that the number of new water service connec- <br />tions made during the year 1958, as compar ed with such installations <br />made in any year of the decade between 1946 and 1956 will support <br />our conclusion that Denver's estimate of her population in 2000 is <br />greatly exaggerated. <br /> <br />Western Colorado has never objected to the acquisition by Denver <br />of sufficient water for her present and reasonable future municipal <br />and domestic requirements. We do not now object. But we are oppos- <br />ed to Denver's taking any water from the Colorado River for agricul- <br />tural purposes; and we here again emphasize the fact that Denver's <br />demand for replacement releases from Green Mountain Reservoir is <br />prompted solely and entirely by her intention, probably acting through <br />other entities, to secure rights to the use of Colorado River water for <br />the irrigation of farm lands in the South Platte Basin. <br /> <br />It appears to be Denver's policy that she is, of a right which is <br />created by her might, entitled to take all the water she can physically <br />divert from the Colorado River system for the purpose of providing <br />for her future municipal needs and the development of agriculture in <br />Eastern Colorado. She apparently overlooks the fact that estimates <br /> <br />3- <br />