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The Pueblo Chieftain Online <br />Published: Thursday May 24, 2007 <br />Fountain Creek vision funds approved <br />By CHRIS WOODKA <br />THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN <br />Page 1 of 3 <br />MONTROSE - A $75,000 grant that will ensure continued funding of the Fountain <br />Creek Vision Task Force was approved Wednesday by the Colorado Water <br />Conservation Board. <br />The money will fund the Keystone Center's efforts to facilitate a vision statement <br />and strategic plan among government agencies and landowners affected by <br />Fountain Creek. The recommendation for the grant came through the Arkansas <br />Basin Roundtable, a second collaborative effort to find agreement on controversial <br />water issues. <br />"My initial thought was, 'Are we supposed to spend this money on facilitators ? " <br />said Harold Miskel, who represents the Arkansas Valley on the CWCB. "But <br />Fountain Creek is a vital link between northern El Paso County and the Arkansas <br />River mainstem. It is now used to provide and move water for several parties and <br />will be used more in the future." <br />Fountain Creek has sediment, water quality and other environmental problems, <br />and an existing watershed study has received some state funds, Miskel said. <br />The task force is an effort to broaden existing studies and actually improve the <br />waterway, he said. <br />` "Sen. (Ken) Salazar, El Paso and Pueblo counties have been pulling together folks <br />to find out what should be done and bringing them together is an important step." <br />The task force collected about $40,000 from members to provide interim funding <br />for the Keystone Center and has met nearly every week since the beginning of the <br />year with the goal of developing a plan. <br />There are preliminary efforts toward setting up a watershed authority, although <br />members of the task force aren't clear about what its role would be. <br />The group has worked with a sense of urgency, as projects that could impact <br />water quality and quantity are already planned in Fountain Creek. <br />Two participants, Colorado Springs Utilities and the Lower Arkansas Valley Water <br />Conservancy District, are moving ahead independently with a plan to hire a <br />coordinator for Fountain Creek technical issues, contributing $300,000 annually. <br />Those factors played a part in a recommendation to provide funding by CWCB <br />http:// www .pueblochieftain.com /print.php ?article= /metro /1180019893/4 5/24/2007 <br />