BOARD01477

• Board Meeting Date: 2/5/1969
• Description: Agenda or Table of Contents, Minutes, Memos
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

come prepared to make a statement but I have
one concern that if I can express myself
quick enough and brief enough here I'd like
to put before you.

I think Andy Williams put his finger
on a basic problem that probably occurs I
between engineers and lawyers in trying to
converse with each other. As an engineer
probably I get into a little rut and put
efficiency and maximum utilization of water
on a pedestal as the lawyers may tend to go, of
course, only toward the protection of vested
rights without looking at the efficiency
angle as well as we may like them to some-
times. I think both areas certainly have
their parts and need to be considered. We
probably each get into our ruts a little
too much.

Back about two years ago. when Dick
Eckles asked we engineers to start this work,
the directive was something like this. He
said 'You go out and look at this thing from
a physical and a mechanical standpoint and-
see what can be done with the water system
as it exists now. The wells that are in
place, the ditches that are in place, the
water that is being used, the land that is
being irrigated and the various uses that are
being made of it. See what can be done with
that water system as a system to operate it
in an efficient way and make the best use of
that water. Then we'll see what can be done
legally. What legal things need to be done
to make that work. '

I came out of my studies, at least.
thoroughly convinced that the South Platte
River and its underground aquifer can be I
operated in such a way that there should
very seldom, if ever. be water shortages.
Now that's a big statement. I am on record
of having said that before, maybe not in
quite as few words. Economically it may not