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<br />,....,,'."'- ~" <br /> <br />repayment for past depletions. Therefore, a key element in achieving compliance with the <br /> <br /> <br />Supreme Court ruling is the adoption of rules requiring replacement of depletions from pumped <br /> <br /> <br />groundwater beginning in 1996. <br /> <br />Water users on the committee said that proposed rules would cause hardships. But they <br /> <br />also commended State Engineer Hal Simpson, who co-chairs the committee with Water <br /> <br />Conservation Board Director Chuck Lile, for his efforts to integrate water users' concerns in the <br /> <br />rules, which will be filed in water court later this month. <br /> <br /> <br />Several Colorado Water Conservation Board members indicated a willingness to help <br /> <br /> <br />water users obtain augmentation water by providing technical assistance and information, <br /> <br />exploring options for providing financial assistance through low-interest loans and taking steps <br /> <br />to ensure that state efforts to acquire water for wildlife and recreational purposes did not place <br /> <br />the state in direct competition with water users. <br /> <br />The board voted to loan $25,000 to the Arkansas Groundwater Users Association for a <br /> <br /> <br />feasibility study to evaluate its members' needs for augmentation water and identify possible <br /> <br />sources for that water, but also attached conditions that any financial assistance to water users <br /> <br />from state sources not be used to oppose the state's efforts to implement new rules, <br /> <br />"While I fully appreciate the difficulties water users are facing in the basin, I want to <br /> <br /> <br />make sure that state funds are used as efficiently and effectively as possible," said Jim <br /> <br /> <br />Lochhead, executive director of the Department of Natural Resources and a member of the <br /> <br /> <br />Water Conservation Board. <br /> <br /> <br />Lochhead emphasized, for example, that water users and state agencies should use <br /> <br />common methods and formats for data collection, so that data can be shared. <br /> <br />The committee presented recommendations that were developed by three subcommittees <br /> <br />__ augmentation water, water acquisition and recreation -- and endorsed by the committee as a <br /> <br />whole. They included: <br /> <br /> <br />. In the event that Colorado must repay Kansas for obligations incurred prior to the <br /> <br />May 15 Supreme Court decision and if repayment is required in water, the state <br /> <br />(more) <br />