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<br />o SWSI needs to be very careful to adequately account for future demand. Because <br />after SWSI is done, the basins that are looking for water will go to those who <br />aren't growing as much and say, "give us your water because you aren't growing <br />like we are." <br />o SWSI needs to look at existing storage projects, their original purposes and <br />storage capacity, and then look at current demand and usage on the storage <br />projects before building new ones. <br />o Consider the timing of releasing stored water. SWSI needs to look at historic flow <br />records, and then the decrease of agricultural activity and irrigation to determine <br />when and how to release water. There also will be a significant drop in flow of the <br />Dolores and San Miguel rivers in the mid to late summer time. <br />o The Warren Act allows water to be stored in federal projects. <br />o A problem that I see that is unique to this basin, or for any basin that is close to <br />a state border, is that we want to preserve our water before it leaves the state. <br />We need to make sure that state-border communities aren't the scapegoats for <br />the upper basin. The state-border communities are the most vocal in trying to <br />keep water in our basin. <br />o In the CWCB fact sheet, it says that the Delores/San Juan accounts for 23% of <br />the total river flow that leaves Colorado. How much can be used by Colorado and <br />how much has to go downstream? <br />o The problem in Durango is, how can we ensure that future growth has highly <br />efficient water use? We have an opportunity because the future population is not <br />here yet, and it will be easier to prescribe water use to newcomers, as opposed <br />to changing the behavior of the existing population. <br />o Our basin needs support for recovery programs. One of our greatest threats to <br />developing water is how the government administers the Endangered Species Act. <br />o When SWSI examines reuse and conservation, be advised that some people's <br />senior water rights depend on flows that come from normal use. Therefore, <br />conservation may actually hurt senior water rights. <br /> <br />Educate oeoole that water is not unlimited: <br /> <br />o Increase the awareness of where water users are getting their water. SWSI <br />needs an educating process to teach people how and where people are getting <br />water, and realizing that one affects the other. The state has not done a good job <br />of teaching people where they get their water from. Hopefully, a SWSI education <br />process will make the public more mindful of where they get water, and how they <br />use it. <br /> <br />GBSM, SWSI Public Information Meeting Summary, 11.10.03 <br /> <br />Page 3 <br />