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.' Honorable Lewis Entz Honorable Diane Hoppe November 12, 2003 Page 3 Assembly and the CWCB can help identify how to help make this project a reality, Towards that goal, I suggest that the Water Resources Review Committee ask the participants of the south metropolitan conjunctive use study to provide a status report at a special joint meeting you could sponsor with the CWCB, I also suggest that the General Assembly and the CWCB stand ready to provide some amount of money to help Douglas and Arapahoe Counties implement an agreement to move forward with the conjunctive use project. That money could come from the resource conservation funds currently available to the CWCB and included in the annual construction fund bill, B. Creation of A South Metropolitan Water Authority The feasibility of achieving the water supply alternatives described above can be enhanced if an entity is created for the south metropolitan area to develop that water supply, At present, there are many entities in Douglas and Arapahoe Counties that are involved in water supply development, including many entities that have been involved iil this study, One of the more challenging problems is how to form a single entity that will integrate the dozen or so small water systems that currently provide water service to the area without compromising the authority ofthe individual entities, This single entity is needed to allow meaningful negotiations with Denver and the Colorado River District and to finance the hundreds of millions of dollars of infrastructure needed to solve the water supply problem, To address the challenge, the General Assembly and the CWCB should work with the entities participating in the study from Douglas and Arapahoe Counties to define the best mechanism for establishing a single entity for negotiation with Denver and the Colorado River District on a potential project. If a project is agreed to, this single entity would be responsible for implementing the project, including securing the necessary financing, As required, the General Assembly should consider legislation that creates a South Metropolitan Regional Water Authority ("SMRW A"), The General Assembly would define the powers of this authority but the idea is for the SMRW A to finance, construct and operate a wholesale water acquisition, exchange and distribution system among the existing local water service providers in the south metropolitan regions of the Denver metro area, The SMRW A could have the following charactistics: }> The SMR W A would have the power to appropriate new water rights, acquire existing water rights, issue its own bonds or contract with the Colorado Water and Power. Development Authority, acquire debt, enter into agreements with local water providers, seek governmental permits necessary to operate its system, and operate an integrated wholesale water supply system, . }> The SMR W A would develop new water supplies and facilitate trades and exchanges between existing systems by building and operating a regional integrated water supply infrastructure, ". ", ,c>.,. _,oQ