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<br />I <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />and they want to be as helpful as they possibly can, along with FHA, <br />HUD, and SCS. We think that if we do get adequate state funding, we <br />will be moving in quite a bit different direction than we have in the <br />past with the Corps of Engineers or Bureau of Reclamation projects. <br /> <br />This means that we are going to relook at some of these projects such <br />as the Fruitland Mesa, Savery-Pot Hook, and maybe even the Narrows to <br />see how they could be rescoped to fit within financing which the state <br />and the Small Projects Reclamation Act could come up with. <br /> <br />We know we could greatly reduce, the cost. 'We would' construct smaller <br />reservoirs. We may have trouble, but we wouldn't figure on loading them <br />with 12 or $15 million worth of mitigation damages for the fish and <br />wildlife, either. And this is about what we are getting into. We are <br />breaking some of these projects with so-called. "mitigation." <br /> <br />At the same time, we could work actively with our own'Division of Wild- <br />life and with our parks people to develop recreational and. fish and <br />wildlife facilities at all of these projects, again using money that is <br />available to them instead of depending on the federal government. We <br />think this is probably the only future of this state. We are not help- <br />less, by any means, just because the President or the next one continues <br />to turn thumbs down on some of the things that should be done. <br /> <br />This leaves us then with Senate Bill 325, and if that bill is passed, <br />then we are off and running with much greater self-sufficiency at the <br />state level. There is a tremendous amount of work that can be done and <br />should be done in this state to improve our water systems. The Yamcolo <br />is an example where a fairly small project'will take care of the needs <br />of that district and in which we recently had planned a reclamation <br />project. We had projects planned for that area, but they just simply <br />never did materialize. <br /> <br />We are helping the Overland people reconstruct the Overland Reservoir, <br />because, in the first place, there is a serious dam safety problem in <br />the old reservoir, and while we are doing it we are almost ubublihg the <br />capacity of that reservoir in an area where the people have been hard <br />pressed for water supplies for a number of years. Again, there is some <br />federal help involved in that. We hope to start construction on that <br />project, and that is through the Small Reclamation Projects Act, which <br />this board is putting up $800,000 for. with that $800,000 we were able <br />to testify in Congress last year that the State of ColoradO is willing <br />to come up with the front-end money, as the President has suggested. <br />It made an impression on Congress, and it made an impression on the <br />President. That project was not in his budget last year, but he <br />approved it. <br /> <br />There are literally hundreds of those small projects around the state <br />where we can improve the efficiency, as we are doing now in many cases. <br />So 325 is'extremely critical to us. Its present status is that it has <br />passed unanimously out of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources <br />Committee. Since that time, it has been pending in the Senate Appropria- <br />tions Committee. The Senate Appropriations Committee has been badly, <br />tied up in trying to handle supplemental appropriations up to this date <br /> <br />-37- <br />