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EXPANDED DEMONSTRATION PROJECT <br />Following the 2005 irrigation season, SPDC board members that had worked closely with <br />the demonstration project approached two neighboring districts to see whether there <br />might be support for a multi - district effort to seek funding support from the Colorado <br />Water Conservation Board (CWCB). After receiving an affirmative response from the <br />boards of both neighboring districts, a funding proposal was submitted to the CWCB. <br />During the CWCB November 2005 board meeting, $100,000 in grant funding was <br />awarded to the project over a three year period. <br />Shortly after grant funding was approved, the project encountered controversy. One of <br />the neighboring districts notified SPDC that they had decided not to participate in the <br />demonstration project. Issues linked to the ramifications of the Empire Lodge ruling and <br />the subsequent demise of GASP represented a strain on resources of the district and of <br />individual shareholders. The other partnering district notified SPDC that some of their <br />shareholders had entered into an option agreement for sale of ditch company shares. <br />Those shareholders whom had entered the option agreement did not want wireless <br />monitoring equipment installed at sites owned by them or on district owned sites. <br />Following these developments, an agreement was negotiated with CWCB whereby the <br />scope of the CWCB - funded project would include monitoring locations within the SPDC <br />system, plus key control structures that SPDC planned to look at automated or remote <br />manual operating capabilities. In addition, willing shareholders in the Johnson & <br />Edwards Ditch Company (J & E) agreed to install radio /control equipment on wells <br />designated through water court as Alternate Points of Diversion to J & E surface rights, <br />and at recharge facilities owned by participating J & E shareholders. <br />Ironing out these controversies consumed considerable time. A contract for the grant <br />funding was finally issued by CWCB in April 2007. At that point in time, CDI notified <br />project participants that the company was developing an upgraded product line that <br />would be specifically geared toward low energy consumption for solar charged <br />applications. In addition, the new product would be developed entirely "in- house" to <br />eliminate quality control issues CDI had been experiencing with circuit boards developed <br />for CDI by a contracting electronic design firm. New CDI units would not be available <br />until late 2007. <br />After weighing factors, including comparative product affordability, the high level of <br />technical support that had been provided, and the "fit" of CDI product capabilities with <br />project operational needs, led SPDC and J & E participants in the demonstration project <br />to delay start-up of installations with CWCB assisted funding until the new CDI product <br />line was in production. The first new units were installed in the fall of 2007 at the SPDC <br />main flume, and at the SPDC G2 and Sandhill Pond recharge sites. <br />