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<br />In Douglas County, we know that Colorado water law is not <br />designed to assist in controlling or directing growth. That <br />responsibility belongs to the individual governments through their <br />elected officials. However, we do believe that it is time to re- <br />evaluate our current water laws and guidelines to see if they are <br />appropriate for these times. Times change, and we should be able to <br />adjust to those times. We recently held a water conference in Douglas <br />County similar to this one today, and we came up with nine <br />recommendations that should help with the supply and demand of water <br />in Douglas County. They are as follows: <br /> <br />1) Water must be addressed at every step of the planning process. <br /> <br />2) A Master Plan for water must be developed from a data base and <br />model that addresses cooperation between water providers, <br />availability, demand, incentives, conjunctive use, and <br />conservation from an urban and non-urban land use standpoint in <br />Douglas County. <br /> <br />3) Governments should define "adequacy" when reviewing water supply <br />plans, since the State Engineer's Office review of applications <br />during the subdivision process does not address this subject. <br />Often submitted are augmentation plans that propose to augment <br />resources with nontributary supplies. These plans are only <br />evaluated under current legal requirements, and there may be a <br />difference between what is considered a legal supply and a <br />adequate supply (e.g., what is considered a paper water right and <br />a wet water right?) . <br /> <br />4) Require, as part of the homebuilding process, that wells be <br />drilled to the base of the aquifers, thereby reducing the cost of <br />having to continually redrill wells. This has been a problem for <br />certain large lot developments, including residential development <br />in the Chatfield Valley. <br /> <br />5) The county should develop a long-term supply plan. A lOO-year <br />life is too short a time frame for evaluating supply needs. <br />Supply plans should include renewable supplies. <br /> <br />6) The county should play a mediation role for development that <br />needs water. This can be of particular help where urban density <br />developments are proposed adjacent to rural developments, <br />potentially affecting their supply needs. <br /> <br />7) Institute mandatory landscaping requirements that conserve water. <br />Promote xeriscape, look at instituting an incentive program, with <br />a goal to conserving the resources we have in hand, and <br />lengthening out the time frame for using our nonrenewable <br />resources. <br /> <br />8) Institute a ranking program for homes in Douglas County such as <br />the Ideal Energy Home, whereby a ranking of 1 might be a water- <br />waster, and a ranking of 5 might be a water-conserving home. <br />This would allow prospective buyers to know what they are buying <br />into and provide more incentive to use water conserving <br />practices. <br /> <br />24 <br />