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<br />Beyond the four endangered fish species, there has also been controversy in the valley surrounding hatchery-raised trout.
<br />"Everybody is worried about rainbow trout versus farms in the valley here," said Berry "You can't jeopardize livelihoods of people
<br />out here for a fish you can raise in a hatchery That worries me,"
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<br />Ute Water Conservancy District
<br />With 25,000 taps serving 70,000 people, Ute Water Conservancy provides about 11,700 acre-feet of water to its customers
<br />annually Use is entirely domestic, except for a few feedlots and dairies,
<br />The District has grown about four percent each year in taps, though the increase in demand hovers at three percent, The
<br />District utilizes a step rate system: the more water used, the greater the cost per 1,000 gallons, 'The only way you can control water
<br />usage," said District Manager Larry Clever, "is to make it painful in the pocketbook, and our increasing step does that." The rate
<br />system has been in place since 1999 and has proven effective, "though there are still some hard heads around here that get $400
<br />to $500 water bills each month," said Clever.
<br />In 1995, the District started replacing 14,5 miles of raw water pipeline, a project that took four years to permit and three to
<br />build, It is the last major improvement Clever foresees in the near future, The District was established in the 19605, when only two
<br />users were on the lines in the rural areas, Today, forty users are on those same lines, which will eventually have to be upgraded to
<br />accommodate the increase, In addition, the treatment plant will need to expand its capacity, though it will not be a project on the
<br />scale of the 1995 pipeline replacement, according to Clever.
<br />When that pipeline replacement was planned, the District projected demands for fifty years, using a 2,5 percent rate of annual
<br />increase, "We've been selling a lot more taps than we thought we would," said Clever. Last year, the District implemented sections
<br />of a new raw water management plan, After analyzing last year's information, Clever says the new plan will undergo some major
<br />revisions this year.
<br />The District did not implement any drought measures in 2002, though it did participate in meetings with the four valley
<br />domestic water providers to monitor levels and strategize in case measures were needed, "We've been very conscious of the lower
<br />water levels," said Clever, "We've been planning for a bad year for a long time, But our reservoirs came out above 90 percent
<br />through very efficient water management,"
<br />In the future, "Colorado is going to require more usable storage," said Clever, who proposes expanding existing reservoirs to
<br />increase collection potentiaL "It's easier to expand than to build," he said, to accommodate the projected 4,500 acre-feet storage
<br />shortfalL Clever also proposed a water-leasing program at the state level as well as a conserved water statute, For example, currently
<br />there is no incentive for a farmer to pay the initial cost to switch to a sprinkler irrigation system that might save two cubic feet per
<br />second, "If he could get half of that water back, it could be a marketable commodity for him," he said,
<br />The biggest problem the District faces in the future is educating people that move to the area from outside Colorado, "We're
<br />getting people from places where getting rid of water is the major problem, Then they move here where holding it is the problem,"
<br />said Clever. "Someone comes from, say, Virginia, and loves their lush trees and grass, But that's not possible; we live in a desert
<br />here, It is difficult to get people to understand that 80 percent of our water leaves the state in two months, Our only choice is to
<br />grab it. But it's hard to educate these folks, That's why we're starting on the kids," Ten years ago, the District organized the first
<br />annual Water FestivaL The event has grown to attract and educate 1 ,800 fifth graders each year.
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