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Ms. Denise Fort December 19,1997 Page 2 . federal partnerships to address evolving water resource problems and the importance of preserving the deference which Congress has always shown to state water allocation systems. We also encourage the Commission to focus on the issues suggested by Ken Salazar in his July 23, 1997 letter to President Clinton, which he listed as: . "importance of water to agriculture in the west" . "improving the delivery of services and coordination among federal agencies" . "protecting and recognizing interstate compacts and equitable apportionments as a cornerstone" . "developing and implementing settlements with Native American tribes" More specific comments on the draft report are contained in our separate, attached statement. Most of those comments address the Commission's recommendations as presented in Chapter 6 of the draft report. As a preliminary matter we note that the Executive Summary does not track the organization of Chapter 6 very well and that the outlining and numbering formats in both sections ought to be improved and made consistent to avoid confusion and eliminate what appears to be some redundancy, overlap and perhaps even inconsistency in the recommendations. Since we do not conveniently grasp the internal organization of Chapter 6 the attached statement presents our concerns with specific aspects of the draft report in the following order: . river basin governance . coordination of federal agencies and policies . . primacy of state law . importance of irrigated agriculture . ecosystem restoration and sustainable use . poor documentation and factual inaccuracies In conclusion, while we acknowledge the difficulty of the task given to the Commission and the effort put forth, we are disappointed in the end result as reflected by the draft report. The Commission's recommendations require serious reconsideration and modification and the draft report needs extensive revision before an acceptable and useful document can be forwarded to the President and the Congress. We would like an opportunity to monitor the Commission's efforts at revising the draft report and request that you publicly announce the time and place of any scheduled meetings for that purpose. We further suggest that you include a compilation or at least a summary of the comments you have received as an appendix to any final report that you release. Sincerely, ?~u.~_~ b Daries C. Lile, Director -\)'. Colorado Water Conservation Board .