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OkmIez 4�s: A kValley4Wdpayfcrrauv •aiar wuI <br />The Pueblo Chieftain Online <br />Select file then print to print this article. <br />Publish Date Friday August 31, 2001 <br />Chieftain file photo <br />A farmer irrigates his fields in the lower Arkansas <br />Valley using water augmented by supplies from the <br />Fryingpan- Arkansas Project. Officials debated <br />Thursday on whether Aurora should be allowed to <br />participate in expansion of water storage. <br />'II• r l �� .II •�, 1 1 M <br />`Precious water' <br />Otero leaders: Ark Valley should pay for reservoir enlargement <br />By MARY JEAN PORTER <br />The Pueblo Chieftain <br />Otero County Commissioners Bob Bauserman and Kevin Karney were among the voices raised Thursday <br />against Aurora's participation in the enlargement of Pueblo and Turquoise reservoirs. <br />They made their comments at a special meeting of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District <br />board of directors in Pueblo, where the latest negotiations between Aurora and the district were outlined. <br />The ongoing negotiations deal not only with the enlargement question, but with Aurora's interim use of <br />Fryingpan - Arkansas Project storage space, Aurora's financial investment in the Fry -Ark Project, how <br />excess water belonging to Aurora should be managed, settlement of the two cases involving the proposed <br />sale of Rocky Ford Ditch water, and settlement of the issue of Aurora's payment in lieu of taxes to Otero <br />County. <br />"We agree that owners have the right to sell their water," Karney said, "but we all (in the district) helped <br />to pay for this project. A mill levy has been set to pay for it. Using the project to facilitate the transfer of <br />water out of the basin should not be allowed. No one out of the basin should be allowed to participate in <br />storage enlargement." <br />Karney said Otero County thinks the enlargement of the two reservoirs should be done on a mill -levy <br />basis rather than by user fee, as is being proposed. That's the way the reservoirs originally were built, are <br />maintained and how the construction debt is being repaid, he said. <br />"The (Pueblo) dam wouldn't be there without the counties east of Pueblo," Karney said. "Now they <br />(Colorado Springs) want to capitalize on it being there. You can't build new dams because of <br />environmental concerns. You can enlarge it only one time." <br />1 of3 8/31/011053AM <br />