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• Board Meeting Date: 1/23/2008
• Description: Director's Report - IBCC Director
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

At the March IBCC meeting, I would like an open discussion on your vision of Colorado's
future. Please come to the meeting prepared to articulate your answers to the questions and
discuss them as a group.. IftheIBCCdecides to develop water supply alternatives (question #4)
I would like your ideas on next steps. I will be prepared to discuss one method for moving
forward, but I hope you will have some additional ideas.

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Think about these questions with your "statewide hat" on, but also give attention to your region
of Colorado. Use this as an opportunity to examine our state's water supply future in a broader
context, not in project specific terms. Although we may eventually want to examine specific
projects, I see this visioning exercise as a necessary prelude. I also hope that you will use this as
an opportunity to draw on information emerging from the basin-wide water needs assessments
and think about how we can integrate solutions to meet our consumptive and non-consumptive
water needs. Finally, you should consider what else needs to happen in Colorado to result in a
future you would like to see.

uestions for IBCC Members
As we wrestle with Colorado's water supply future we should give some careful thought to
different visions of Colorado 50 years from now. I would like for each of you as IBCC members
to take time between now and our March meeting to explore the following questions:
1. What will the different regions of Colorado look like in 50 years if we let our current
approach to water supply play out i.e. a status quo scenario with no fundamental change
in water policy?
2. Is this the Colorado you would like to see?
3. Ifnot, what would your Colorado look like?
4. If your Colorado looks different than the status quo scenario, then how and when should
we investigate water supply alternatives that would lead to the Colorado you would like
to see?

As people describe this status quo scenario 50 years from now, many do not think this is the
Colorado they would like to see. Most people I talk to know that we must provide a safe and
reliable water supply for our urban communities. They would also like to see continued
agricultural production on the Eastern Plains and in the San Luis Valley; they would like to see
less urban sprawl along the Front-Range; they would like to see viable and sustainable rural
communities whether they are based on recreation, energy, or agriculture; they would like to see
less pressure on the headwaters so the state's environmental and recreational amenities can be
sustained; and they want a healthy and sustainable economy.

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The West Slope will have gone through or still be in an energy boom. This booming
energy industry will stretch between Moffat and Montezuma County and will further
intensify competition for Colorado's limited water supplies.
The San Luis Valley and North Park will see additional reductions in irrigated
agriculture. In the San Luis Valley, some of our state's most productive agricultural land
will be taken out of production as the communities strive to sustainably use their aquifers
while meeting our compact obligations. In North Park, reductions in agriculture will
likely be due to general pressures on the agriculture industry.

"-
;'

.J~