Southwest - La Plata Archuleta Water District Water System Master Planning_Support Docs

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EJ September 4, 2008 Ref: LAPLAWD GRANT APPLICATION • It is my understanding that the La Plata Archuleta Water District has come to you with a grant request for $100,000 and I am writing to ask that you please scrutinize this project, and its merits, or, in my opinion, lack of merits, very closely before making a recommendation. I have also requested the opportunity to attend your meeting of 9/10/08 to make my plea in person. My three major points of contention are these: 1. There is not real community support for the project, and no real need. 2. There is very real potential negative impact to agriculture 3. There is the ethical if not legal question of special interests and conflict of interests by parties involved. If you read news stories regarding the recent election, and research the history behind it, you can better understand that this is not a project with broad community support at all. (I have provided copies of stories from Pine River Tunes, and Opponents of the Gopher Hole Project newsletter of December 2007.) The towns of Bayfield and Ignacio are excluded from the district. Southern Ute tribal lands are excluded, as is the potential service area of Grandview, which would be served by City of Durango. These municipalities and entities can readily support future growth in their areas, which is where growth should occur - not in the rural agriculture community where there are no services or infrastructure to support it. In addition, approximately 700 households were excluded by property owner requests, which equates to probably 1100 -1200 individuals who did not get to vote in the recent election. Obviously their vote would have been NO. That leaves only a few hundred households in a checkerboard 400 square mile district who actually expressed a need or desire for this project. Despite continuous claims by Mr. Lunceford of LAPLAWD that they have not yet determined their source of water for the project, this is and always has been about selling and diverting water from Vallecito Reservoir. Again, look at the history. No other source of water is practical or economically feasible. First and foremost, in order to provide a guaranteed supply of domestic and/or M & I water, there must be ample storage of good quality water, and senior water rights. While LAPLAWD has other sources of water available to them, these do not meet that criteria. The majority of PRID shareholders recognize that it is our water intended for this project and non other. That is the reason behind the revised contract with the Bureau of Reclamation. That is the reason behind formation of VSP Corporation. That is the reason behind PRID endorsement of LAPLAWD in their recent "Headgate "publication. That is the reason behind the Change of Use and Refill Applications by PRID that are pending now in water court - which, I might add have opposition filings from PRID shareholders, numerous ditch companies and other affected entities.