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Conclusions: <br />We draw the following conclusions on the basis of the information in this paper- <br />1 . There is a wide range of best - management, water - conservation practices that <br />Front Range water providers can use to maximize use of existing water <br />supplies. Some metro area providers are implementing some of these <br />conservation practices already, but we could be doing much more. <br />2. There is also a wide range of supply -side water efficiency practices, such as <br />better system integration, conjunctive use of surface and groundwater supplies <br />and other measures that can. stretch existing supplies even further: <br />3. These efficiency, measures usually are superior environmentally to new dams <br />or large -scale diversion facilities, especially those that would serve to import <br />more water from the West Slope. Efficiency measures also have cost <br />advantages and can be carried -out more quickly than new "structural" <br />alternatives. <br />4. Colorado water policy should focus on demand- and supply -side water use <br />efficiency as a solution to the current drought and long -term water shortages <br />before it launches a major program to use taxpayers' money directly or our <br />collective borrowing power on new dams and facilities, especially to import <br />water from the West Slope. <br />5.. How the state can encourage greater water use efficiency is a matter that <br />deserves measured and thorough consideration by all the stakeholders <br />involved, certainly Front Range urban water providers, West Slope interests, <br />the Colorado Water Conservation Board, environmental organizations and <br />many others. This consideration can take place with the prospect that a plan <br />for such encouragement could be developed for, and reviewed in, the next, <br />regular legislative session. <br />