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<br />. <br /> <br />INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />The Arkansas River Coordinating Committee ("ARCC") was established by Governor Roy <br />Romer through Executive Order B 004 94 on August 5, 1994, Formation of the ARCC was <br />primarily in response to the July 1994 Special Master's Report in the Kansas v, Colorado <br />litigation (U. S, Supreme Court, No. 105 Original, 1985), and partially to address concerns <br />that State initiatives in the area of water-based recreation and wildlife might be overlooked <br />in the process of developing responses to Compact issues with the State of Kansas, <br /> <br />The Special Master had determined that certain well pumping in the Arkansas Basin of <br />Colorado had caused depletions to usable stateline flows into Kansas in violation of the 1948 <br />Arkansas River Compact. While final resolution of the litigation was (and is) still far off, <br />it was apparent that Colorado needed to examine ways in which groundwater was used and <br />administered in the Arkansas River Valley and anticipate changes necessary to achieve full <br />compliance with the Compact and the eventual Supreme Court decision in Kansas v, <br />Colorado, In addition, the Lower Arkansas River Commission, created by Executive Order <br />B 006 92 in May 1992, had identified a series of recreation and wildlife needs in <br />Southeastern Colorado which were dependent on new sources of water supply for successful <br />implementation. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The ARCC was created to provide a forum for coordinating plans to meet these two <br />important State objectives: compliance with the Arkansas River Compact and development <br />of parks and habitat in Southeastern Colorado, Both objectives required "new" water <br />supplies in a heavily over-appropriated basin, trade-offs and compromise were essential, and <br />the ARCC was created as the means for di verse interests to be heard and hard <br />recommendations fashioned, <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />3 <br />