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<br />Third Extraordinary Session <br />Sixty-third General Assembly <br />STATE OF COLORADO <br /> <br />LLS NO. R02S-2074.0l Priscilla Hemmerich <br />Berry HOUSE SPONSORSHIP <br /> <br />INTRODUCED <br />HJR02S-1003 <br /> <br />SENATE SPONSORSHIP <br /> <br />Teck <br /> <br />House Committees <br /> <br />Senate Committees <br /> <br />HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 02S-1003 CONCERNING ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE COLORADO <br />WATER CONSERVATION BOARD TO CONSIDER AND STUDY THE BIG STRAW WATER PROJECT. <br /> <br />WHEREAS, Water is the lifeblood of the arid west, sustaining communities, local economies, and a <br />richly divefse natural euvironment; and <br />WHEREAS, Demand for watef in Colorado is projected to increase dramatically as the state's <br />population continues to gfOW; and <br />WHEREAS, The 2000 census shows that Colorado's population grew nearly 30% since 1990 and <br />demographefs project similar growth patterns into the future; and <br />WHEREAS, Commensurate with that spike in population will come a sizeable increase in demand for <br />water; and <br />WHEREAS, Surface flows and reservoir storage are currently at record lows in Colorado; and <br />WHEREAS, The current drought is the worst drought on record in Colorado, including the last great <br />drought in 1977; and <br />WHEREAS, Tree ring and olher historical studies indicate that prior to recorded water records, there <br />were extended droughts of many years in Colorado on a periodic basis; and <br />WHEREAS, The Colorado Water Conservation Board is the water policy board of the State of <br />Colorado; and <br />WHEREAS, The Colorado Water Conservation Board is considering studying the project known as the <br />Colorado River Pump Back System, also known as the "Big Straw" water project, which project would take water <br />from the Colorado River at the Utah line and pump it back to approximately the Continental Divide for use in the <br />Arkansas Basin, South Platte Basin, and Colorado Basin; and <br />WHEREAS, The Big Straw water project has the potential to provide between 200,000 acre-feet and <br />400,000 acre-feet of water per year on a firm yield basis; and <br />WHEREAS, No other project of which the General Assembly is aware has the potential to deliver either <br />this much water or firm yield water for our use in the three basins; and <br />