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water availability. Entities with a surplus will not have to ration water to their residents while those with short supplies will. Such disparity tears at metropolitan unity. We are begining to see some of this already in the dis- cussion over formation of a Metropolitan Council and increasing animosity between those entities which did not impose restrictions in 1977 and the customers of the Denver Water Department. Public cooperation because of drought conditions is one thing. People recognize that there is no other choice and rise to the occasion to sacrifice. POlitically created water shortages are another. The people will not stand for it - witness what occurred in Marin County, California. There are currently 18 municipal and 15 smaller agencies supplying water from bedrock sources to people in the Denver metropolitan area. Not only would an increase in the number of governmental agencies be fiscal folly, but it also would lead to grave environmental harm. Subsurface mining and the forced destruction of the non-renewable underground environ- ment would be a tragic and irreversible consequence of the denial of the applications. The purchase or condemnation of agricultural water will certainly increase (See Exhibit 27, which is the testimony of the Consolidated Ditches of District No.2). This will cause undesireable social change (destruc- tion of rural values), increase urbanization of farm land and remove prOductive farm land from use. An equally unreasonable environmental cost attributable to denying the right-of-way applications would be an in- crease in air pollution. Without the project, with a reduced treated water supply and the attendant loss of horticulture and a return to a semi-arid landscape, there would have to occur a marked increase in airborne particulate matter and fugitive dust. The frequent high winds of the region, plus the lack of an irrigated landscape would lead to a devastat- ing increase in the ambient concentrations of particulate matter. It should be noted that in the most recent EPA calculations, the particulate matter ambient air quality standards will be the most difficult to attain in the future. EPA's precipitous opposition to Foothills demonstrates their shallow thinking and calculated disregard of their own studies. (See air quality data compiled by EPA as part of the EPA draft Denver Regional Environmental Impact Statement ~ Waste Water Facilities ~ ~ Clean Water Program.) Therefore, the approval of r1ghts-of-way for the Foothills Project is the alternative most compatible with attempts to reduce the amount of airborne particulate matter. As noted above, for over 100 years, the people of Denver have prided themselves on their esthetically pleasing domestic environment. This environment is unique in the arid west and is a direct result of a conscious choice on -20-