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<br />,. , <br /> <br />Fax <br /> <br />RECEIVED <br />JUl 3 11995 <br /> <br />Jul 31 08:25 <br /> <br /> <br />Phone" <br /> <br />FI)(i <br /> <br />Win-win at Wolford Mtn. is cause <br />to question demise of dam-building <br /> <br />KH.EMMLING, Colo. - As it <br />nears completion, the Wolford Moun, <br />tain Projec', which has been de. <br />scribed a8 a dam 80 good that even <br />environmentalists declined to oppose <br />it, is considered a pattern for future <br />high-altiLude water storage projects <br />in Colorado. Proponents of projects <br />such a8 Wolford Mountain are even <br />sayinr that the death of the dam. <br />building, era might indeed have been <br />exaggerated, and that Colorado <br />need8 additional impoundments to <br />keep its deeded water from flowing <br />down the Colorado River. <br />The *47-million Wolford Mountain <br />project, which charismaticaUy com. <br />bines recreation with water storage, <br />will store 60,000 acre feet of water <br />on Muddy Creek, a tributary ofthe <br />Colorado River. The project is fi- <br />nanced by the City of Denver and a <br />$20 million loan from the Colorado <br />Water Conservation Board. In reo <br />t\1m for h.Jping to tinance the proj- <br />ect, which will be officiaUy completed <br />in October, Denver will be permitted <br /> <br />to store water in the rellervoir, allow. <br />ing lat.er diversion to the Front <br />Range, In addlt.ion, t.here are local <br />economic benefits from recreation. <br />There are those who believe that <br />the success story of Wolford Moun- <br />tain is one that should be repeated <br />in ot.her high valleys of Colorado. <br />Misguided federal programs and <br />downriver interest!! are rapidly 1 <br />claiming Colorado's water future, <br />said Allen (Dave) Miller, a water <br />st.orage proponent from Palmer <br />Lake, Colo. "About a million acre <br />feet of water. or a thi rd of Colorado's <br />legal share of the Colorado River <br />Compact, is now being lost. during <br />heavy snowmelt years to storage and <br />growth in Arizona, California, and <br />Nevada," according to Miller. This <br />"tragic loss," he added, is worsening <br />because oft.he long-t.erm shift from <br />irrigated farming to tourism. <br />"The multiple use and reuse va). <br />ues or high-altitude st.orage are <br />worth billions of dollars for Colorado <br />nnd the entire We!!!.... noted Miller. <br /> <br />O~$'" <br />. ~r- <br /> <br />/ <br /> <br />~~I <br />tll,j (I' <br />l"~o <br />