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We've made less progress at the Oreat Plains Reservoirs. The Lower Arkansas River Commission recognized that stabilizing water levels in the reservoirs is a prerequisite to the establishment of a state park. Ron Desilet, the regional manager for the Division of Wildlife, and officials of the Amity Canal Company have been involved in extensive good- faith negotiations to achieve agreement on stabilizing water levels. I want to recognize the efforts of those individuals. One of the major issues has been whether water court proceedings will be necessary to accomplish that goal. In mid-December, I asked the Division of Wildlife, in consultation with the Anorney General's office and the Amity Company, to quickly work and explore alternatives to achieve agreement. I think both sides need to be open to looking at all alternatives to accomplish our goal. I also emphasized a number of important elements in reaching that agreement from my perspective. FU'st, the State will negotiate for fair value for the rights that are received. The agreement must be justifiable to the public from a business perspective, and we must have firm legal arrangements in place that assure that water will be operated as contemplated. Second, although I appreciate that we cannot control objectors in water COurt, for those who might choose to challenge the agreement, the agreement should not subject the state and water users in the Arkansas Basin to extended litigation. Third, we cannot undertake an agreement that will subject the state or water users in the basin to liability under the Arkansas compact. Fourth, the implementation of this recommendation will require broad support and cooperation from the public, public officials and water users in the basin. It is not something that the state can just do. From the state perspective, however, we are fully committed to this project. I believe that we can build on the constructive dialogue we have established with water users in the basin through the Arkansas River Coordinating Committee and other forums and get this project done, and again, we're fully committed to doing this as quickly as possible, The next topic rd like to touch on in looking ahead to the next year are rules that will be issued by the state engineer. In September the state engineer filed with the water court proposed rules to regulate tributary ground water in the Arkansas basin. I talked earlier about the importance of timely finalization and full implementation and enforcement of these rules. Eighteen protests were filed in water court. However, Wllike in 1974 when the state engineer attempted to amend rules in the basin, many of those protests were filed in support of the rules. Most of the major water organizations, including the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District, the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, the Arkansas Valley Ditch Association, the Colorado Water Protective and Development Association, the Lower Arkansas Management Association, and the Arkansas Ground Water Users Association either support the rules or did not file a protest. The state will request an expedited hearing on these rules so this process will not be delayed. I want to recognize the outstanding efforts of the state engineer, Hal Simpson, and the water users in the basin in working together to achieve a remarkable degree of consensus on some very difficult and tough issues and in coming to consensus on these rules. It's something that really nobody likes to do but I think everybody recognizes that it's something that is necessary for us all to do. They've gotten at the task and, I think, moved forward in really an admirable way. Fmally, I:d like to talk about some proposed legislation that we will be looking at in the upcoming year. In order to implement the recommendations of the Arkansas River Coordinating Committee, Chuck Lile and Hal Simpson have been working with water users on proposed legislation to solidify the direction that we are taking in the basin. This legislation will be called the Arkansas River Compact Protection Act. We feel that the Act is very important and will do a number of things for the basin. FU'st of all, it will provide state support for efforts of water users to achieve compliance with the new rules of the state engineer. Second, it will give the state engineer additional enforcement authority. Third, it will give the Division of Wlldlife more time to complete arrangements on the Great Plains Reservoirs. Fourth, it will give the state additional authorities to comply with the decree in the ~ v. Colorado litigation. And finally, it will give the state authority to participate in channel improvement activities below John Martin Reservoir. This legislation is important in that it will give legislative support and authorization for the activities of the state an<;i water users Arkansas River Basin Water Forum 6 itA River of Dreams and Realities"