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Water quality needs to be improved: The water in the basin is poor for many users. Water quality generally deteriorates downstream due to extensive reuse. A statewide plan that represents all basins and interests is needed: People were concerned that without a statewide plan, water will go to the highest bidders such as urban centers. The group also was concerned that the ?deck is stacked? against Southeast Colorado?s interest, and that Southeastern Colorado needed better representation. Update the CWCB Basin Fact Sheet. The ex isting Fact Sheet?s information is from March 2002 and may be incorrect and incomplete. Provide better notice for all of the meetings to allow participation by the public and stakeholders. Look at getting a broader economic view (non-water related) at the Technical Roundtables for broader solutions. The comments below recap the concerns, issues and questions that were raised at the basin?s Public Information Meeting. These are general summaries of what was said, grouped by key theme, and are not verbatim quotes from the participants. The suggestions, comments and questions documented here will be incorporated into the SWSI study process. This public input is greatly appreciated, as it will help guide the SWSI study team as the process moves forward. The SWSI team will seek to answer any questions raised at these meetings, and will include these answers as part of the SWSI final report. With agriculture in economic trouble, selling water rights is highly controversial: ± Local farmers have a lot of nothing. No one is selling or buying farms or our products. We are broke. ± When farmers sell their water rights, they dry up agricultural land. Selling water rights translates into large sums of money, but there needs to be mitigation for the lost farm land. On the Western Slope, mitigation means one thing, but here on the Eastern Slope we need to find mitigation that allows farmers to make money but keeps water on our farm land. ± I heard that the Arkansas River is still the best source of water for Colorado Springs. How do you get people and cities to buy more expensive water when there is less expensive water here? By depleting the Arkansas to take care of municipalities, a part of Colorado that depends on agriculture is killed. And that?s not good for the entire state. We need metro areas to buy into more expensive water so we can save our water for agriculture. There needs to be an economic incentive for this activity. ± Farmers want to sell their water because they?re in trouble. We need to try to help each other so farmers can stay alive and keep farming, and so that there is enough water for everyone.