Laserfiche WebLink
<br />members of the audience? All right, we will then turn to the Dallas <br />CreeR project. Mr. Harold Westesen will make that presentation. <br /> <br />Mr. Westesen: Gentlemen, I speak to you on behalf of the Dallas proj- <br />ect. The Tri-County Water Conservancy District wa~ Set up seventeen <br />years ago by Judge Dan Hughes as the liaison agency between the people <br />and the government for the development of the Dallas Creek project. I <br />The fifteen-man governing board, with the help of the United States <br />Bureau of Reclamation, worked faithfully for many years to try to <br />bring this project to fruition. <br /> <br />In the beginning, the Dallas was to be principally an irrigation proj- <br />ect with a small portion of the storage to be used for domestic water. <br />As the years rolled by, this original concept changed with the times <br />and at the present time the water usage has almost reversed itself. <br />This gives us a very good benefit-cost ratio of 1.95 to 1 and a usage <br />more in agreement with Congress and the environmentalists. <br /> <br />With this as a background, I would like to explain to you why it is <br />imperative to us that the Oallas be built as soon as possible. In <br />the plans for the project, under M & I water was a domestic water <br />system for the Uncompahgre Valley. This system was to serve all the <br />people who were not being served by existing systems and the ultimate <br />goal was to benefit about 4,500 families. The people of this valley <br />had hauled water by wagon, trucks and pickups, in tubs, in barrels, <br />and tanks since time immemorial and stored it in cisterns. So when <br />they heard that a rural water system was included in the Dallas proj- <br />ect and since the project would definitely be built in the next <br />few years, the question arose - Isn't there some way that we can get <br />our water system now? <br /> <br />The Board of Directors investigated this possibility and came up with <br />a solution. They reached an agreement with the Uncompahgre Valley <br />Water Users Assocation and the city of Montrose whereby they would <br />furnish the district with up to 16 second feet of treated water for <br />a period of ten years, at which time the da~ would undoubtedly be <br />built and their o\~ stored water would be available. Also in this <br />arrangement the proposed water system would have to borrow $3.9 <br />million, but as soon as the project was completed this amount would <br />be included in the project costs at a lower interest rate and longer <br />period of time to pay it back. The plans were made, the money <br />borrowed, the system built, 300 miles of it, all depending upon the <br />dam being constructed. Now we are advised no new construction and <br />perhaps no project at all. We are being forced to raise our water <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />-21- <br />