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<br />TJ <br /> <br />-J"" EAGLE RIVER WATER & SANITATION DISTRIC <br />...... ,. UPPER EAGLE REGIONAL WATER AUTHORITY <br />846 Forest Road + Vail, Colorado 81657 <br />+ Phone (970) 476-7480 + FAX (970) 476~4089 + <br />erwsd@erwsd.org + Www.erwsd.org <br /> <br /> <br />One of the primary messages of the resounding negative vote on Referendum A is that State dictated <br />solutions on water issues are not needed or wanted. Rather, what are needed are local and regional solutions <br />spearheaded by the actual water providers working with area citizen groups, not political appointees or State <br />bureaucrats. <br /> <br />Now the same people who were behind the defeated Referendum A are trumpeting something called the <br />Statewide Water Supply Initiative (SWSI). Don't be fooled.. SWSI is a Referendum A "wolf' in "sheep's" <br />clothing as the solution to local water supply issues. We couldn)t disagree more with Commissioner Stone. As <br />its name indicates, SWSI is a State sponsored study headed by the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) <br />that was designed to select the large water development projects that would be funded by Referendum A. The <br />CWCB is the State agency that spearheaded the fight against the Town of Vail's in-channel recreational water <br />right (which the CWCB lost), and has 110 one on its board who represents Eagle County or the recreation based <br />industry. <br /> <br />Moreover, the make..up of the SWSI Technical Round Table advising the CWCB is dominated by <br />political appointees who do not represent the cities, towns, and water districts that are charged with the <br />responsibility to provide water and sewer service, and will actually pay for any water supply project. Equally <br />important is the fact that there is not a single person on the SWSI technical roundtable that represents Eagle <br />County recreational water users and only one out of the 27 members has any connection at all to the recreation <br />based industry, the most important industry on Colorado's western slope. That individual, however, is not from <br />Eagle County. <br /> <br />Water supply solutions need to be worked out at the local and regional leveL A case in point are the on... <br />going negotiations among Aurora, Denver, the Colorado River District, Eagle River water providers and area <br />citizen groups. Recently heralded by the Rocky Mountain'News as a model for achieving cooperative water <br />SOltltions, this is an effort to develop limited, responsible, environmentally sensitive water projects that share <br />resources and provide for everyone's water needs, but at the same time protects the west slope and water for <br />recreation, the fish and ,aesthetics. <br /> <br />Unfortunately, that is the same process which would have been undercut by Referendum A, and now <br />potentially could be hindered by SWSI. We trust and only hope that SWSI will be no more successful than, and <br />willlneet the same fate as, Referendum A. In the ll1terim, we intend to continue the ongoing process with Aurora, <br />Denver, and area citizen groups in an effort to achieve a meaningful and lasting resolution of Eagle River water <br />issues. ' <br /> <br />Rick Sackbauer, President <br />Eagle River Water & Sanitation District <br /> <br />Robert Warner, President <br />Upper Eagle Regional Water Authority <br /> <br />Glenn E. Porzak~ Special Water Counsel <br />Eagle River Water & Sanitation District and <br />Upper Eagle Regional Water Authority <br /> <br />F:\l5WSD\lADMIN\BOARD\LETIBRS\2003\SWSI VDAIL Y.DOC <br />