Laserfiche WebLink
The comments below recap the concerns, issues and questions that were raised at the <br />basin?s Public Information Meeting. These are general summaries of what was said, <br />grouped by key theme, and are not verbatim quotes from the participants. The <br />suggestions, comments and questions documented here will be incorporated into the SWSI <br />study process. This public input is greatly appreciated, as it will help guide the SWSI study <br />team as the process moves forward. The SWSI team will seek to answer any questions <br />raised at these meetings, and will include these answers as part of the SWSI final report. <br />Clarify the SWSI process: <br />± <br />I?m concerned over SWSI?s funding source. I?m a little suspect about water <br />initiatives from the Eastern Slope. <br />± <br />SWSI needs to study land use and take that into consideration for future <br />solutions. <br />± <br />SWSI needs to identify additional resources to solve each basin?s needs. <br />± <br />SWSI needs to clarify how it will relate to any legislative-initiated water, funding <br />and solution referenda or bills. <br />± <br />The SWSI process will be going through the basins systematically. It passed <br />overwhelmingly through the state legislatur e and I feel that it is a good process. <br />± <br />Referendum A was a bad idea for Colorado and the Western Slope, because it <br />undermined the trust SWSI was meant to build. <br />± <br />There needs to be a mechanism to resolve conflicts between basins, especially if <br />the study shows that people want conflicting solutions. <br />± <br />SWSI needs to look at resolving water conflicts in the future. The water court may <br />not be the best or only means for resolving conflicts. <br />± <br />How were members of the Technical Roundtable nominated and elected? Will <br />SWSI be using the Internet to give updates of the project and Technical <br />Roundtables? <br />± <br />There should be a high level of different interests present at the meetings, <br />especially the Technical Roundtables. <br />More storage capacity is needed : <br />± <br />I have been involved with the damming of the Gunnison River and met a great <br />number of people committed to getting water to the Western Slope and storing it. <br />There is a misconception that the Western Slope does not need to store <br />additional water because it has enough. We should have additional storage in the <br />Western Slope because population estimates anticipate a nearly 100% growth <br />over the next 30 years. <br />± <br />The Colorado River basin gets all of its water from snowmelt, not rain. In order to <br />make an adequate assessment of the basin, SWSI needs to study how much <br />water the basin actually receives, how much it stores, and how much goes down <br />the river. <br /> : 85% of the water that falls in the mountain ends in mountain <br />streams. Almost all of our runoff comes from snow. <br />± <br />The basin also needs to take advantage of all options for increasing water <br />storage. There needs be new storage, but solutions need to consider <br />