Ark BRT Water Transfers Committee Work Summary

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SUMMARY TO DATE OF THE WORK OF THE ARKANSAS BASIN ROUNDTABLE'S WATER TRANSFERS COMMITTEE Marylou Smith Aqua Engineering, Inc. Facilitator July, 2007 The Arkansas Basin Roundtable's Water Transfers Committee is made up of a dozen roundtable members from rural and urban communities who have for nine months been struggling with the issue of water transfers, both interbasin and intrabasin. Guidelines/Vision The group first attempted to agree on guidelines for transfers, with two versions presented by subgroups within the committee (attached as Exhibit A and Exhibit B.) In disagreement about the wording, the committee then sought to have members present their "vision" for the basin, to assist in finding common ground. Sharing vision statements was helpful, but once again, the committee was unable to find wording for a common vision. To cultivate a spirit of collaboration, each member shared their view of what things would be like if strategies to better deal with transfers were not found (attached as Exhibit C). One member asserted that most, if not all, of the common goals were covered by the Arkansas River Water Preservation Principles, adopted in 2003 by a wide group of players including Colorado Springs City Council, Pueblo Board of Water Works, lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, Upper Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, and the Pueblo Chieftain. (Exhibit D.) He suggested adopting those principles as the "working" set of guidelines instead of spending any more time on wordsmithing. In a meeting to decide that, committee members developed a list of their respective interests, to assure that all those interests are covered by the principles. The interests they listed are attached as Exhibit E. The committee adopted the 2003 Arkansas River Water Preservation Principles "as is" for the time being, without further wordsmithing, and then decided to concentrate on actions to take as a committee to "meet" those principles. They developed two lists- "What We Can Do" and "What Pretty Much Ties our Hands-The Realities" (Exhibit F.) Growth/Impact Analvsis Study A persistent rural community concern is what they perceive to be uncontrolled, unsustainable growth of urban communities, thought to be a major source of need for water from agriculture. In an effort to better understand the topic, the committee spent the better part of one meeting discussing it. Strategies urban communities might use to control growth were explored, with each strategy presented being feared to have unintended consequences. The discussion did not lead to any substantive decision other than the less than satisfying statement that the committee "supports sustainable, smart growth." The underlying concern remains, on the part of the rural and some of the urban members that growth is an issue that cannot be ignored even if we do not appear to have answers to it. Arkansas Basin Roundtable Water Transfers Committee-Work Summary Page 1 of 4