7777

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7777
• Author: Ward, R. C.
• Title: Proceedings 1993 Colorado Water Convention, Front Range Water Alternatives and Transfer of Water from One Area of the State to Another, January 4-5, 1993, Denver, Colorado.
• USFW Year: 1993.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

9) Suggest that homebuilders have landscape and interior "upgrades"
available to consumers that conserve water, i.e. a xeriscape
alternative.

As you can see, we are addressing the issues of preservation of
current resources as well as conservation in Douglas County. However,
we are still in need of renewable water resources. Did you know that
most residential water supplies in the United States are obtained from
renewable sources of supply (such as reservoirs filled by annual
precipitation runoff and wells in alluvium that are recharged
annually)? And, every major water project in Colorado has taken 30 to
40 years or more from concept to realization, and, that has only
occurred when the source of supply was initially available to the end
users.

We all know that renewable water resources are expensive to
develop and involve all kinds of legal, political, and environmental
considerations, but we have an obligation to explore these types of
resources. Remember, we have a mission to complete, and we must not
fail. We cannot afford to fail.

"In Search of Options"? You decide what your options are.
Maybe, we should be in search of more "cooperation and understanding"
. . . cooperation and understanding from all parties that have a stake
in water in Colorado. With such efforts, we can achieve far greater
rewards for all.

Questions for Mayor Lopez

Q: How can you plan for a population of 500,000 people without a
known source of water to support that population?

A: That's a good question. I have been asking that for the last
eight months. The other statement was maybe Parker and Douglas County
should not be the fastest-growing in the United States. One of the
things that I have learned is that growth is part of the problem when
it comes to water, but it is a~so part of the solution for many other
issues. When we talk about growth and we look at the necessity of
growth, we have to really look at the entire picture. The Governor
talked about creating more jobs, education, etc. for the state of
Colorado. Well, with a population of 7,000 people in the Town of
Parker, what do you think these people are moving to? Where do you
think they are building? We are getting a lot of people, not only
from instate, but people moving in from out of state -- mostly people
from California that like the open space that Douglas County offers.
A lot of this zoning occurred in the early '80s, when, with the vision
in the growth of Colorado, everyone was fully excited. I can't answer
for the previous adminstrations or the previous commissions for
Douglas County. I can only enlighten you on some of the problems that
we are facing and some of the things that we need to be addressing.

The other question that was asked is, are we doing anything now
to plan for adequate water supply? The answer is yes. If you
remember, earlier I mentioned that not too long ago we had a water
conference in Douglas County to discuss that issue and to come up with
a plan. Unfortunately it happened in the middle of a snowstorm on a

25