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<br />provide valuable insight and recommendations throughout the life of the project, and 2) <br />review by a Peer Review Committee of staff from the Colorado Water Conservation <br />Board and the Division of Water Resources. Committee members represent stakeholders <br />with a variety of perspectives; however all are vitally concerned with Colorado water <br />issues. Regular communication and feedback from both Committees will be important, <br />particularly at project milestones. We anticipate three meetings with each committee <br />including project kickoff and at approximately 50% and 95% completion of the study. <br /> <br />The project schedule for the proposed study is provided in Table 1 below. The estimated <br />project costs for this study are $95,000.00 as detailed below in Table 2. Funding will be <br />provided from the sources described in Table 3 below. <br /> <br />Summary <br /> <br />Rainwater conservation - the temporary storage and use of rainwater for irrigation <br />purposes - offers both benefits as well as challenges. However, given the stresses on <br />existing surface water and groundwater sources in Colorado and throughout the arid west, <br />the benefits seemingly outweigh the potential shortcomings. Rainwater conserved <br />represents I) an innovative water source, 2) water infrastructure that does not have to be <br />constructed, and 3) energy that does not have to be used to treat and transport that water. <br /> <br />The technical challenges of rainwater conservation are straightforward; the majority of <br />required technology and infrastructure exists and can be employed with few or no <br />modifications. The challenge lies with applying rainwater conservation practices within <br />existing Colorado water law and its doctrine of Prior Appropriation. It is achieving the <br />recognition that this approach represents sound public policy and wise use of an <br />increasingly scarce resource, while at the same time recognizing that the legal imperative <br />of existing Colorado water law, and senior water rights extending back to the 19th <br />Century, must be respected. <br /> <br />9 <br />