BOARD00191

• Board Meeting Date: 3/21/2002
• Description: WSP Section - Agricultural Water Policy Discussion
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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. 46

CWCB Ag Workshop, 1/22/02
Draft Meeting Notes

Start 13: 11

Note: This is not a verbatim transcription, but a general summary of what was said,
trying to use as many original phrases as possible.

Harold Miskel: Welcome everyone, We have a couple more speakers we're going to try
and fit in as we go along. I ask all the speakers to be as succinct as possible so there's
enough time to ask questions and have a general discussion at end of the day. If there are
other people who aren't on the agenda that want to speak, if we have time at the end we
will let them, Rod, you have any other comments?

Rod Kuharich: Hope everyone has seen the agenda, We hope to take in information
today and at the end of the day deliberate where we want to go with a policy statement. It
won't be final at this time, but want it to address any concerns we may have, Dan
McAuliffe and I will be the editors, and will bring topics of concern back to the Board.
Greg Walcher will make the opening remarks. Looking in the audience, I'm glad there's
a lot of people here who have an interest in the matters being discussed today. Greg,

Greg Walcher: Let me thank the members ofthis Board for holding this forum, There
are very few places in government where two seemingly different agencies such as water
and agriculture come together, other than agriculture needs water to farm. But there are
interests that affect both of them, In Colorado there is a synergy between these two
agencies. Always has been, because they're the people who deal with water on a day to
day basis. There is a good relationship between the two, and in Colorado State
Government it is especially good, Don Ament and I have worked hard together for 3-
years, worked on many groups together. Lot of issues really effect both departments and
working together is important. There are many of reasons why CWCB and Agriculture
should be worried about agriculture in Colorado. Agriculture is absolutely critical to
Colorado's economy, not just Holyoke and Meeker, but to Denver as well. Agriculture is
the 2nd largest industry in Colorado. No question, it contributes hugely to the economy of
Colorado. From an environmental perspective, Agriculture is one of the best ways to
manage the environment, historically many of mans actions have always made the
environment worse, but in Colorado man has done the opposite, made the desert bloom
and created the breadbasket of the nation,

How we get water out of the ground and into agriculture has created one of our biggest
problems. Conventional wisdom says the era of water projects is over, but I disagree.
There is no answer to flood or drought other than more water storage. That's what the
CWCB is about.. ,Coloradoans have agreed to tax themselves to get water. We've
evolved to a point where we really have a couple of glaring issues facing to us, where are
we going to get water to supply our ever growing cities, and the other is drying up
farmlands. In general terms, state government believes it is bad policy to dry up farms to
water cities. It is bad policy, bad for Colorado, and bad for the environment. But if we