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THE DENVER POST Set" July 29, 1978 3 City Charges Foothills Stall I By U.S.'. Units I ByBILL PAimVE Denver Post Staff Writer The Denver Water Board has accused I two federal agencies of failing to comply WIth a federal court order aimed at a ~ speedy resoJotion of rights-of-way ar- gumenis over tbe Foothills water project. The allegation was leveJed Friday I agamslthe V,S. Forest Service, which de- med the accusalion, and the Bureau of Land Management, which declined enm- Iment. The agencies granted the Water Board I property rights of way to about 94 acres of Jand in March. Part of the $135 million- plus Foothills project is to be built on that land. I The federal agencies this month amend- . ed conditions that bad been attached to I the rights of way in. March. The Water Boa~d, through its chief attorney, Wayne W"h~ms, ~aid Friday some of'the specif- IC. stipulatIOns - deaJing with water con- servation and streamflow - are illegal. . He sought' discussions on the stipula- lions, to which the agencies promptly I agreed. _ _ , , ; I . I 1 . ! I '"TIlE PROJECT would include a dam, reservoir and treatment plant on the South PJatte River, about 25 miles south- west of downtown Denver. The board objected primarily to condi- lions ordering a state and regional role in water conservation and' requiring tho Water Board to maintain certain stream- flows in the South PJatte, Those stipulations are illegal, Williams said, so the federal agencies have failed to abide by a decision issued last December by V,S. District Judge Fred Winner, His ruling was issued after the t Water Board filed suit against the federal agencies, saying their right-of-way deci- sions were taking too long. I Winner's ruling ordered the federal agencies to "render a final and appropri- I ately formalized decision" on the rights 10f way by March 15. THE REQUIRED Involvement of the state and the Denver Regional Council of Governments in water conservation plans, ,under certain conditions, illegally forces I the board to hand over some of its charter-delegated power, Williams said. . He also protested the federal order for I Denver to maintain South Platte stream lIows between Foothills' Strontia Springs Dam and the federal Chatfield Reservoir. The city bought its water rights generally for municipal use, not for fishery or rec- reation purposes, Williams said. I Craig Rupp, regional u.s forester, r disagreed with Williams' reasoning. "We think that we have complied with the judge's order," he said. A Bureau of Land Management spokes- man said Dale Andrus, BLM state direc- tor, needed to discuss the court matter l.Jl:it~wyers before he could comment on - - I I . I I . I I 00648