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<br />The reason that we are concerned is that. the four ditch companies have <br />been negotiating with the state. We have. talked to Sparks and Sherman, <br />and so forth, that the ditch companies would have liked to have had <br />the permanent pool in there and were working on this, .and al;!. of a . <br />sudden here comes this bomb shell that all the metropolitan cities are <br />in Washington, and we know nothing about it. So we are quite concerned, <br />because we think that we can cooperate with some of the cities b~cause <br />we have Barr Lake down below. We have Hennrlyn Irrigation Company. <br />We have three reservoirs down there, and we have tw~ reservoirs abov~ <br />Chatfield. And like in the srunmertime, a lot of the minimum stream- <br />f.1,ow'~that flows through the City of Denver" a lot of those streamflows <br />are coming out of the Wellington and Duck Lake and keeping that minimum <br />streamflow going. So we are totally unprepared because of the time. <br />But we would sure like some consideration if there is going to be some <br />dividing up of that .extra storage that goes in there. We think the <br />agricultural interest on the north side of Denver here should-be <br />considered., <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />And just to point out to some of you what has happened this particular <br />year -- The Henrylyn and ,the Farmers Company have some, Junior rights. <br />to close some downstream reservoirs down towards the state line. Now,: <br />they have had sort of a gentleman's agreement for the last 20 or 25 <br />years that up here we store our water early, and then the lower reser-, <br />voirs then take their chances of being filled at a later time. Well, <br />you all know how dry it was this year. So the companies down below,. <br />of course, were panicky, and you can't blame them. So they called us <br />out down there. Tl).en they ultimately filled.. The water goes out of. <br />the state. Our reservoirs up here are still not filled. <br /> <br />Now, if we had part of the Chatfield in lieu of putting some of our <br />water .into Barr Lake and Prospect. Reservoir" and stuff, if we held that <br />up there in Chatfield, the fellows down below know that it could be <br />released and if it was a situation that it had to be, that could be , <br />their water. But just regulating the river -- What happened this year <br />is that the water is going out of the state and our famers up here <br />are dry. And I think that we really need some consideration on this. <br />Us poor old famers don't have the people to be flying back to <br />Washington to be at that meeting. But we sure as hell want to be in <br />on it! <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />MR. SPARKS: Mr. Erger, this legislation does not purport to allocate. <br />space. As I understand from conversations this morning, the Corps <br />said flatly that they will not negotiate with various interests for <br />storage in Chatfield, that they will only negotiate with the state. <br />Whatever storage is available, will have to be determined by the'state. <br />So that matter is not at issue as to who gets the storage at this point. <br /> <br />-6- <br />