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,~ ',5 Story #2 Olllil~;) ~ Page 1 of2 Curry to take local issues to the state "It's a whole dUJerefll political scene ill Deliver flOW" bv Kristina Johnson The Gunnison Basin's power to fight transmountain water diversion has ratcheted up as Kathleen Curry- a Doyleville resident who was recently elected to the Colorado House of Representatives-prepares to head up the powerful House commitlee on Agriculture, Livestock and Naturai Resources, Just a few weeks after being elected to the state House, Curry was informed that she'd been appointed to chair the agriculture committee, which handles many of the state's water bills, On Monday, November 22, after learning of her appointment, Curry attended a meeting of the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District (UGRWCD) to discuss upcoming water legislation, Prior to running for state house, Curry served as the manager of the UGRWCD, a publicly funded entity that administers local water rights and has worked to protect Gunnison Basin water from Front Range diversion attempts, Curry returned to face the UGRWCD board on November 22 in a new roie-one that carries the potential to shape water policy for the slate as it reaches a critical crossroads. At that meeting, Curry asked board members for their direction and support in spearheading efforts to protect local water interests. As a freshman member of the House, Curry said she is expected to submit her first three bills by December 15, though she wiil not be officiaily sworn in unlil January 12, One piece of legislation Curry will likely deal with in her first term wiil be a funding request to extend the Statewide Water Supply Initiative (SWSI), a study that has ruffied the feathers of UGRWCD board members, who complain that they've been excluded from the SWSI process and say the resulting report could encourage attempts at transmountain water diversion. The SWSI study was commissioned by the Colorado legisiature in 2002 at a cost of nearly $3 miilion to explore, in each of Colorado's basins, existing water supplies along with existing and projected demands for water through the year 2030-and potential options for meeting those demands, The legislature will likely be the institution that makes decisions to fund, or not to fund, particular projects, On November 16, after an 18-month process, the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB)-the state agency charged with overseeing SWSI, approved the report and sent It on to the state legislature, At that time UGRWCD representatives voiced their concern that they had been left out of the SWSI process, something Curry also acknowledged at the November 22 UGRWCD meeting, "The SWSI dialogue wasn't at the level it should have been," explains Karen Shirley, current manager of the UGRWCD, "It wasn't as open as it should have been for a state tax-funded project: One particular concern, according to Shirley, is that the current SWSI report couid set the stage for a single solution to Colorado's water supply problems-and that solution could spelltransmountain diversion. " The state is putting a lot of pressure on west slope communilies to come to the table and talk about transmountain diversion projects," Shirley explains. At the UGRWCD board meeling on November 22, Curry emphasized the need to discuss alternatives to transmountain diversion, which include water conservation efforts and better use of existing water in the basins experienCing shortages. "We need to make sure there's equal attention paid to solutions besides out-of-basin diversions," Curry told board members on November 22, "I want money and time spent on other ways to deal with water- suppiy shortages," Now the CWCS is expected to ask the state legislature for an additional $2S0,OOO to continue work on Ihe Statewide Water Supply Initiative, Curry told the UGRWCD board that she plans to keep a watchful eye on how CWCS spends that money, .. On SWSI, the legislature was not very engaged in the expenditure of $2,8 million," she told board members, As the chair of the agriculture committee, she explained, she will likeiy be expected to sponsor the construction bill embedded with the CWCS funding request " Since I'm supposed to be the one who carries that bill, I think I can ask some questions," she said, ''I'm going to want to communicate directly with the CWCB staff about it," she added after the meeting, "I want to have an idea of what the money will be used for this time," Curry also asked the UGRWCD board members for direction on legislation that would compensate the Gunnison Basin in the event of a trans mountain diversion project. This type of legislation, known as Basin of Origin Protection, would require an entity diverting water to pay fees or build water storage projects in the basin where the water originates. Different versions of Basin of Origin Protection have come before the Colorado legislature in the past, but all have died, Basin of Origin bills have sparked debate among members of the UGRWCD board, Some argue that such legislation is needed to prepare for a worst-case scenario. Others fear that agreeing to Basin of Origin http://\Vww.crestedbuttenews,com/new s2, h tm I 11/29/2004