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<br />M <br />- ~ <br />'.\l <br />('.! <br />..:..> <br /> <br />,. . <br /> <br />Keep our water here: RallJ!for the San Luis Valle)!. <br /> <br />Monday, October 19, 11:30 a.m., on the steps of the State Capitol in Denver <br />Join opponents of ballot initiatives No, 15 and 16 directed toward harassing the citizens of the <br />San Luis Valley, one of the economically depressed areas of the state. . <br />Here are just a few reasons why you should attend showing your opposition to the initiatives: <br />Initiative 15 - Water flow meters <br />. Imposes unnecessary costs and unreasonable deadlines along with setting up an <br />administrative structure that can cause significant crop losses through unrealistic inspection <br />and certification requirements on 3,500 wells. <br />. Requires users to install millions of dollars worth of a specific type of problematic water <br />meter on wells that are already monitored and administered by the state engineer. <br />Installation is required within five months. <br />. 750 large capacity wells, including the initiative's proponents', are conveniently excluded <br />frorn the requirements. <br />. The Office of State Planning angJ3udgeting estimates an annual administrative cost to state <br />taxpayers of $865,000. <br />. Singles out San Luis Valley users for discriminatory requirernents. <br />Initiative 16 - Payment to schools <br />. Irrigators would be required to pay about $1.2 million annually, with a one-time rninimum <br />payment of $5.6 million due within five months for water pumped prior to 1998. <br />. Requires the Rio Grande Water Conservation District to pay $40 per acre-foot on water <br />valued at only $5 per acre-foot. <br />. Children are being used as pawns. The funds generated through the initiative conflict with <br />the TABOR amendment already in the state's constitution. Expenditure limitations are <br />already met through other revenue resources. Funds would have to be refunded through <br />statewide distribution. <br />. Sets a precedent contrary to current state policy that distributes revenue from state trust <br />lands equally among the state's school districts. <br />. The initiative would jeopardize the Rio Grande Interstate River Compact and water <br />supplying national wildlife refuges and wildlife habitat areas. <br />. The Closed Basin Project, built by the federal government to ensure downstream water <br />commitments and senior water rights, would be jeopardized. <br />. The water is not owned by the State Land Board. It is already decreed to other users. <br />. No other water users are required to pay to use water that they already own. <br />. Proposal requires 60 percent of the irrigators who benefit from the water to pay for all of <br />the water pumped from beneath state trust lands. The remaining 40 percent would pay <br />nothing. <br />. State water policy should not be determined by private interests through the petition <br />process, <br />For rnore information call Citizens for Colorado's Water at (719) 852-5808. <br />Don't let out-of-state private investors financing these measures <br /> <br />control Colorado's future water supplies: <br /> <br />Vote 'NO'on the water grab initiatives 15 & 16 <br />