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I lJil\12'll"'1 - Judge Rules pue To Set Water Rates I I WATER From 1-A plulOlS about thl! quality. extent and cost of Sef\'l('t>S bemg pro\'ldPd b~' the Denwr Water Board. Subur- ban ralE'S currenU\' are about dou- ble those of Denver. In a ~5'pagt:' opmion. ~la said Dt'nwr Water Board 31'tivitit's In the supplYing of water and is. suance of laps out.side the Denwr ellv limits "is a direClrnlerference With tht> (counties') primary gov- ernmental runclion in planrung and wRmg." If upheld, tht' ruling means the state Public Utilities Commis..",ion could have a major say in the pat- terns of gro\\.th in the Denver met- ropolitan area. lIowt'wr, wetter board orficials s<tid Monday an appt'al is likely. somt'thing that could k{'ep the is. sue In It'gallimbo for another two years_ Eta, who Was appomted to hear the ca.* ant'f aU Denwr.area ]udgl's dtsqualified thltmselH'S, or. dered the board to comply .....Ith rue regulations. The utilities com- mission now regulates some small .....alt>r companies in Colorado but no large muniCipal water systems, The larger systems haw bt>en px- empt from state regulation be- cause of the home-rule prOVision of thl'l'Onstitution. Io:la said the DeO\'er Water Board must supply water to the n'~ldents of Jefferson, Arapahoe and Adams rountit's "10 the extent a\'(Iilable beyond the needs" of l)enwrrt'sldenls, That. In t'~nct', IS an order to supplY water on demand U1 \1eW of Denver's tnaSslve suppiles of sur. plus waled Thf- board eslllnates II holds or can oblam enough waler rights to supply at Il'ast Uiee.quar- lers of the population In the metro- politan area beyond thp turn of the century, Ela a!$o ruled thal water rates for the suburbs be sUbJel'l to utili. lies commission regulations, The water board charges suburban res- idents rughf-r rates than Denver. ltes. The board supplies water to about 1 million reSidents of the metropolitan area, about half of whom Un' III the suburbs, O'Brit'n said he belie\'es the wa. ter board is subject to state rpgu1a. hon only for the servicps it pro- \1des beyond the Cltv limits Slnce Denver \'olers elect" their mayor who, in turn, appoints the water commiSSloners_ Denver votf'rs, in essence, have a say about water board policy that suburban resi- dents don't, he said. O'Brien also said he bt>lieves the decision ma)' t.,"able some subur. ban an'as to get more waler taps than lhey had pre\'iously, rl'SuU.mg to "orderly grO\l,1.h" of the sub- UTbsc Over the years, starting wllh Ule filing of the suit ut 1973, the three counties have argued that the Oen. ver Waler Board has become an unregulated monopoly controlling a very preCIous commodity - wa. tel' - that was almo.st impos.<;ible to obtaut except through the board. The countles charged that the board has interfered with the coun. ties'nghl to self.government, spt'. cilll'aUy Ul land-use planrung, be. cause the board arbitraril\' del'ides to wruch suburbs It ......ill supply wa- ler. Although he hadn't st'en the oplnJOn late :-'Iondav, Bill ~hUer, manager of the Denver Waler De, .. ..... .... I The Denver Post; Judge Ela trom Grand Junction partmenL, expressed no surprise at the way Eta ruled, Miller said Ela - in "his straightforv.'ard manner - had indicated as much" m a March ruling, when the judge refused to dismiss the lawsuit as reques:ted by waler board attor- neys. "I'm sure it will be appealed," said :-'IWer, The water board historically has lost cases heard by Westt'rn Slope judges, but many of those deci. SlOns haw been overturned on ap- poal (o;la refused to dtsmiss the coun- lies' case in :-'Iarch, as requested by lhe board. The judge said then that the actlvilles of the Denver I Water Board had "substantially Impaired" the ability of county commlSStoners to the three coun. ties to carTY out land.use plaruung,