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3. I Water Supply Reserve Account - Grant Application For~ I Form Revised October 2006 I , I I I Please provide an overview of water project or activity to be funded including - type of activity, statement of what the activity is intended to accomplish, the need for the activity, the problems and opportunities to be addressed, expectations of the participants, why the activity is important, the service area or geographic location, and any relevant issues etc. Please include any relevant Tabor issues. Please refer to Part 2 of criteria and guidance document for additional detail on information to include. Attach: additional sheets as needed. The Water for the 21 st Century Act requires a pro-active effort by Basin Roundtables to determine the basin's water needs, both consumptive and non-consumptive. Section 37-75-104 (2)(c) states, in part, that: "Basin Roundtables shall actively seek input and advice in establishing its needs assessment, and shall propose projects or methods for meeting those needs]" In a river basin as large and diverse as the Arkansas, what method can the Basin Roundtable employ to aggregate the information necessary:to complete a needs assessment? This proposal suggests a subregional/watershed approach, distinguishing the needs of Fountain Creek from the upper and lower mainstem of the Arkansas River or other subregions with common interests. : How can this be accomplished in a contentious setting where several of the partie~ are embroiled in litigation? In what fashion can the Arkansas Basin Roundtable "actively seek" an objective assessment of the needs of the Fountain Creek watershed? As the Fountain Creek Vision Task Force Process Framework (attached) describes, the past six months have seen theicoalescing of a Consensus Committee, formation of working groups, and the identification of a neutral facilitator from The Keystone Center fqr the process. From a needs assessment perspective, the working groups are organized to look at water from a broad perspective, including Public Outreach, Water Quality, Water Quantity, and Land UselEnvironment. ' These working groups report to a Consensus Committee, the body which most closely reflects the diversity called for by 37-75-104 (2)(c): "affected local governments, water providers, and other interested stakeholders and persons." In this case, the Consensus Committee includes parties as diverse as county, city and town governments, Colorado Open Lands, tjte Sierra Club, Colorado State Parks, water utilities, water conservancy districts, individual property owners, fanners, area councils of government, and representatives from the offices of Colorado's congressional delegation. The members of the Committee meet monthly, deliberate on issues relating to the Fountain Creek watershed, and hear progress reports from the working groups. The 28 members of the Consensus Cohunittee are all equal participants in the consensus-based decision making of this critical body. : I i In addition, there are more than 200 members of the full Task Force, which includes all interested parties. These 200 people receive regular email updates on the progress of the Consensus Committee and the working groubs. There are quarterly Task Force meetings, at which this larger group can engage in a constructive dialogue with the Consensus Committee and working group members about the issues in the watershed and the best approach to resolving them. These emails and periodic meetings give an even broader group of watershed stakeholders the opportunity to shape the future of Fountain Creek and the communities that surroond it. I The ongoing deliberations of the Consensus Committee, the working groups, and :the full Fountain Creek Vision Task Force are all focused on two key tasks: 1) assessing the problems and needs in the watershed (including structural/non-structural, consumptive/non-consumptive, etc.), and 2) identifying specific, project-level solutions to meeting those needs. The n~eds assessment and the strategies and solutions for meeting them wilI be joined with the group's existing mission statement, vision statement, and goals statement to comprise the "Strategic Plan for the Fountain Creek Watershed." The plan will leverage the existing studies that hav~, been done on various aspects of the Fountain Creek watershed into specific, on-the-ground solutions to the needs and problems in the watershed., It wilI be a consensus-based document, agreed to by the diverse members of the Consensus Committee, and wilI include projects both within jurisdictions but also several that cross jurisdictions. The Strategic Plan wilI be vetted and improved by members of the affected and invested communities and wilI become the shared cornmunity roadmap for the future of Fountain Creek. Everyone involved in the Consensus Committee and the working groups agrees that the time has come to set aside past differences and begin working together on this shared strategy for improving and managing Fountain Creek. However, these are complex issues so emotions run high among stakeholders when discussing how best to address the many needs in this watershed. Several members of the group have already contributed or pledged $42,500 to initiate and educate the participant in this neutr\tl, facilitated program. The facilitator's role is to plan an overall process and individual meetings that enJourage productive and focused discussions and that wilI result in the written Strategic Plan for Fountain Creek. During and between meetings, the facilitator will work with stakeholders on the framing and articulation of their individual and group interests so that they get traction and find their way into the final plan. This wilI improve the depth and breadth of the plan, wilI make it more reflective of the broad needs and interests ~fthe various stakeholders, to achieve the Roundtable's mandate to assess consumptive and non-consumptive water needs. In doing so, Water Reserve Account funding wilI insure that the strategies and solutions identified in the olan are extremely Iikelv to be imolemented in the ~atershed. 4 . . .