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<br />~- <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />.. <br /> <br />increasingly cashing in on the thirst of rapidly growing cities, according to the 2007 State <br />of the Rockies Report Card released Monday. Colorado College's annual study is <br />compiled by CC students and staff and looks at trends affecting the eight-state region of <br />Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. This <br />year's report primarily focused on water sustainability, forest health and energy <br />production. <br /> <br />The report cites 2000 U.S. Geological Survey figures showing that more than 87 percent <br />of the region's total water use was for irrigation, while 6.4 percent was for public supply. <br />Yet struggling farmers are frequently turning to municipalities to bail them out, a <br />practice that can hurt rural economies, it says. Still, cities and farmers have to look for <br />alternatives to permanently transferring water. <br /> <br />Selling water rights to cities is nothing new in the arid West. But urban areas such as <br />Denver, Las Vegas and Phoenix are growing far faster than the nation as a whole. The <br />demand for green lawns, clean cars and drinking water comes as groundwater supplies <br />shrink and farmers battle low commodity prices. Selling water rights becomes a "bail <br />out" for farmers, according to the report. The practice may bring short-term profits but <br />can hurt rural economies, the report says. Property taxes may plummet on land that <br />goes from productive to parched. Retail sales at businesses such as supply stores and <br />tractor dealers decline. Populations shrink. <br /> <br />The report points to Morgan County, which saw about 400 wells shut down a year ago <br />to protect senior surface-water rights. The estimated lost property value: $30 million. <br />The report highlights several ways agriculture can help cities meet their demands <br />without harming rural areas, including: <br /> <br />- Interruptible supply agreements that allow cities to negotiate with water-rights holders <br />to pay for water in times of drought. <br /> <br />- Rotational crop-management agreements in which a group of farmers periodically <br />fallow portions of their properties to deliver a regular water supply to their buyer. <br /> <br />- Water banks that allow unused water rights to be leased for current or future use. <br /> <br />- A "purchase and lease back" strategy in which a city buys land and its water rights and <br />leases them back to the land's user, allowing the land to still be used at least part of the <br />time. <br /> <br />FEMA's National Flood Conference Comes to Denver: FEMA held their annual <br />National Flood Conference (NFC) in Denver during the week of April30-May 3rd. The <br />NFC is held annually to gather various stakeholders with the National Flood Insurance <br />Program to improve operation of that program and its service to its constituents. <br /> <br />9 <br />