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<br />\~e find wi'ch these federal claims is that one, they fail to state how <br />much water is being claimed. We don't ],now really whether the fed- <br />eral government is talking about a hundred thousand feet of water, or <br />a million, or very little. ;1e know they are talking about some. <br />11hatever they are thiru,ing and whatever they get has to come at .the I' <br />expense of existing appropriators in Colorado. One of the things <br />they are asking for in addition is for stream flows sufficient to <br />maintain fisheries and other values. The other thing we have to take <br />specific exception to is that they have asked for, at least in a fed- <br />eral court case, the appointment of a federal water master, presumably <br />to administer the federal decrees. If we have the state engineer on <br />one hand trying to administer decrees and federal people on the other <br />hand trying to administer decrees, we will have a mess on our hands. <br />And me being in the National Guard, I don't know whether I am going <br />to have to back up the state engineer if the Governor calls us, or <br />the federal water master if the President calls us. I don't lD,e to <br />be in that position. And neither does the state engineer. <br /> <br />lie think the federal government should follow the system of water <br />rights in Colorado and that whatever decrees it gets must fit into our <br />decree system and be administered by our state engineer. Those are <br />the two major objections we have to the government filings. I think <br />.the United states recognizes it must quantify its rights. Perhaps <br />~le could stipulate that they will be administered by the state engineer <br />under the state priority system. IVhatever federal decrees are granted <br />will fit into the state system with.wh~tever priority dates are granted <br />to the federal government by the court. We think that it is absolutely <br />essential at this point that the state intervene to assert these <br />interests. It is almost impossible for individual water users around <br />the state to appear in court individually and argue these matters. <br /> <br />We think this is where the doctrine of parens patriae should corne to <br />existence. The state should represent its citizens in this matter. <br />That's the substance of it. <br /> <br />ltr. Stapleton: Now I see you have a~,ed the legislature for $25,000 <br />as a supplemental appropriation. Have you had your hearings on .the <br />J;)Udget yet? <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />Nr. Sparks: No, we have not. We were up against a filing deadline <br />a month or so ago in one of the state cases pending in the state <br />court. We had a hurried conference with i'lr. Dunbar and we made an <br />appearance in that case so that the time would not run against us in <br />that one case. He discussed it. with Hr. Dunbar and it was agreed that <br /> <br />-51- <br />