BOARD02469

• Board Meeting Date: 7/18/2005
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

In a letter sent to more than 40 mayors serving in the conference leadership, Public
Citizen urged support for proposals to establish federal trust funds to finance water and
wastewater infrastructure. The group also sent the mayors a report it has issued detailing
the many examples of failed water privatization efforts.

With many cities struggling to get the necessary funding to maintain and upgrade existing
water infrastructure, private water companies are eyeing mayors as a new business target.
They are lobbying the USCM's water arm, the Urban Water Council, to convince it that
privatized water would be a cost-efficient solution to local budget crises.

Sen. Allard Introduces Rural Colorado Water Infrastructure Bill: On June 8 U.S.
Sen. Wayne Allard introduced the Rural Colorado Water Infrastructure Act, a bill that
will allow Colorado to participate in a program known as Section 595 of the Water
Resources Development Act. The legislation will allow Colorado communities to enter
into cost-share agreements with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to develop
and build water-supply and wastewater-treatment facilities, storm-water retention and
remediation projects, environmental restoration projects and surface water resource
protection and development projects

Allard Secures Funding For Multiple Colorado Conservation Projects: On June 6,
U.S. Senator Wayne Allard (R-Colorado) secured funding for projects in Colorado in the
FY 2006 Interior Appropriations Bil:

. $1.5 million for the Colorado Canyons National Conservation Area so the Bureau
of Land Management (BLM) can complete acquisition of nearly 1,500 acres of
private holdings;
. $500,000 to acquire land for the High Elk Corridor in the Elk Mountains between
the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area and the Raggeds Wilderness Area
in the White River National Forest;
. $1.5 million for Banded Peaks Ranch in Southern Colorado to complete a two-
phase conservation easement. Protection of this area compliments the Navajo
River Protection Plan and helps insure sustained flows of clean water
downstream;
. $982,000 for Platte River Fish Recovery, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-
Colorado Division of Wildlife cooperative program to implement the planned
recovery of four endangered species;
. $691,000 for the Upper Colorado Fish Recovery Program.

Endangered Species Act Oversight Hearing Held: On June 22 the U.S. House
Resources Committee's Subcommittee on Water and Power held an oversight hearing on
Environmental Regulations and Water Supply Reliability that focused on the effect of the
Endangered Species Act (ESA) on water supplies.

According to a Committee press release, the effect of ESA implementation has led to
water shut-offs in the Klamath River basin, costly litigation, and millions of taxpayer
dollars spent in vain. The hearing is one in a series to be held throughout the year around

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