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<br />999 -
<br />Platteville short of mater and nobody's selling
<br />BY JUDO OCHOA
<br />oehoa@~greeleytnb,com
<br />PLATTEVILLE -This south Weld
<br />County town will have to adapt
<br />tougher lawn-watering restrictions
<br />and buy or rent hundreds more shazes
<br />of water if it is going to make the start
<br />of a new water year in November, a
<br />representative of the Central Weld
<br />County Water District told town
<br />board members Tuesday.
<br />W f~ V ZLv `5 t,cn~ t,
<br />WATER
<br />save about 2,000 acre-feet of
<br />water with atwice-weekly
<br />watering schedule. An acre-
<br />foot oC water is enough to
<br />serve from one to three
<br />households a year.
<br />Council members agreed
<br />that saving water is critical,
<br />but they rejected the Gree-
<br />ley Water and Sewer Boazd's
<br />recommendation for twice
<br />weekly watering in favor of
<br />a less-strict standard.
<br />Under current watering
<br />regulations, residents are
<br />allowed to water lawns
<br />every other day.
<br />City Councilman Harry
<br />Felderman, who like nearly
<br />500 other residents has
<br />adopted a voluntary every-
<br />third-day watering schedule,
<br />---maid a-tvrir•-wccklywater=
<br />ing policy might be too
<br />tough on lawns. Council-
<br />men Don Feldhaus and Ed
<br />Phillipsen added that some
<br />residents think the twice-
<br />weekly watering schedule
<br />would be too confusing. If
<br />the council adopts the
<br />every-third-day watering
<br />system, the city would like-
<br />ly match its system to one
<br />Denver uses.
<br />That way, Greeley resi-
<br />dents could get watering-
<br />day information Crom Den-
<br />ver-area television and
<br />radio broadcasts.
<br />Other water conserva-
<br />tion measures the council
<br />proposed include:
<br />^ increasing fines for
<br />The board passed a motion
<br />instructing staff to prepare a stricter
<br />ordinance for lawn watering, which
<br />could include a 20 percent reduction
<br />in water use, and set times For wash-
<br />ing cazs, buildings and sidewalks.
<br />The town staff also is searching for
<br />water shazes to rent or buy.
<br />"The town does need quite a large
<br />number of shazes of water,' said Plat-
<br />teville's mayor, William "Bud"
<br />Marker. "We don't have the allocation
<br />that we need now for the number of
<br />homes that we have:'
<br />In past years, Platteville has been
<br />able to supplement its inadequate
<br />water supply by renting shares from
<br />other towns. However, with drought
<br />conditions this year, few towns are
<br />willing to pazt with any extra water.
<br />The town owns 677 units of Col-
<br />orado-Big Thompson water, which
<br />the Central Weld County Water Dis-
<br />trict treats and delivers to Platteville.
<br />Water supply discussion set
<br />The water supply out-
<br />look is grim as Colorado
<br />faces the worst drought
<br />in the state's documented
<br />history.
<br />With Chat as a back-
<br />drop, the Northern Col-
<br />orado Water Conservan-
<br />cy District will conduct
<br />two public meetings Fri-
<br />day where officials will
<br />talk about the situation
<br />with those who use water
<br />Erom the Colorado-Big
<br />Thompson Project.
<br />The first meeting will
<br />be a[ 9:30 a.m. at the Fort
<br />Collins Holiday Inn at
<br />Interstate 25 and Colo. 14.
<br />The other will be at 2:30
<br />p.m. at the Weld County
<br />Southwest Building near
<br />the intersection of 1-25
<br />and Colo. 119 at Del
<br />Camino.
<br />Northern water offi-
<br />cials continue to monitor
<br />and forecast water sup-
<br />plies for 2003, and they
<br />said the picture is far
<br />from pretty.
<br />Based on water use
<br />this year and average pre-
<br />cipitation, district engi-
<br />neers estimate that only
<br />50 percent of the water
<br />from the Colorado-Big
<br />Thompson wilt be the
<br />best-case scenario for
<br />next year. More likely,
<br />between 30 percent and
<br />SO percent will be avail-
<br />able.
<br />The project p; ovides a
<br />supplemental water sup-
<br />ply for mmtirpalities,
<br />industryand agriculture
<br />m fhe seven-county azea
<br />of northern Colorado.
<br />-slat! reports
<br />people who violate water-
<br />ing rules. Minimum fines
<br />would increase from $10 to
<br />$100. And maximum fines
<br />would increase from $50 to
<br />$500.
<br />^ Disallowing watering
<br />for newly seeded and sod-
<br />ded lawns, unless the city
<br />issued a special permit that
<br />allows every-day watering
<br />for new landscaping. The
<br />proposed restrictions on
<br />watering new lawns would
<br />be lifted Oct. 1.
<br />City Attorney Rick Brady
<br />told the council that the
<br />restrictions on new lawns
<br />might be a hardship for azea
<br />sod farms and nurseries.
<br />Councilman Carlos Leal
<br />agreed the measure was
<br />drastic.
<br />'"I hat's kind of harsh say-
<br />ing, 'No water for new
<br />lawns," Leal said.
<br />But in the end, all seven
<br />council members voted for
<br />the conservation package,
<br />including the ban on water-
<br />ing new lawns.
<br />'I don't want to be drink
<br />ing sand in two years;' Fel
<br />derman said.
<br />One unit is equal to one acre-foot of
<br />water, which is about 310,000 gallons.
<br />Because conditions aze extremely
<br />dry, the Northern Colorado Water
<br />Conservancy District only allows the
<br />town to use 70 percent, or 4?3.9 acre
<br />feet, of water.
<br />According to projections, Plat-
<br />teville will use 690 acre-feet of water
<br />See PLATTEVILLE, Page A7
<br />GREELEY (Colo.) TRIBUNE A7
<br />PLATTEVILLE OTHER TOWNS
<br />through October, which means
<br />it will can out sometime in
<br />August.
<br />Usually when a town goes
<br />over its allotment with the
<br />Central Weld County Water
<br />District, it can buy water from
<br />the district at an elevated price.
<br />"In a typical year [hat isn't a
<br />problem;' John Zadel, a repre-
<br />sentative of the water district,
<br />told the town. "But this year
<br />the district is in a condition
<br />whereby we are looking for
<br />water ourselves. I have a lot oC
<br />contacts, and I am working
<br />with those contacts to Find
<br />water for you:'
<br />Residents of the town who
<br />came to watch the board meet-
<br />ing speculated that the town
<br />,_mal~noc.haec fortrd.develop-
<br />ers to supply enough water
<br />when property was annexed
<br />into the town. Developers have
<br />to purchase an agreed-upon
<br />amount of water for every
<br />home they intend to build.
<br />Some towns force develop-
<br />ers to supply more than
<br />enough water to ensure there
<br />is enough in dry years.
<br />The only way to find out if
<br />Platteville did not require suf-
<br />ficient water from developers
<br />would be to look at past annex-
<br />ation agreements, Marker
<br />said.
<br />If Platteville cannot find
<br />water to rent ar buy, it may
<br />have the option of using its
<br />well, Zadel said.
<br />- Using the well would be a
<br />difficult procedure, but it just
<br />^ JOHNSTOWN -Owns
<br />about L,G00 acre-feet of
<br />water and last year used
<br />about 1,300 acre-feet. The
<br />town has no lawn watering
<br />restrictions in place.
<br />^ FATON -Owns more
<br />than 1,000 acre-feet of water
<br />and typically uses about
<br />one-half to two-thirds it. The
<br />town has no water restric-
<br />tions in place.
<br />^ L.A sALLE -Owns
<br />about 750 acre-feet of water
<br />and usually has a tittle left-
<br />over atthe end of the year.
<br />The town has lawn waterlog
<br />restrictions In place.
<br />^ MILLIKEN -Owns
<br />about 1,000 acre-feet of
<br />water and used 514 acre
<br />feet last year. The town usu-
<br />aliy yells some extra water
<br />but is holding onto it this
<br />year in preparation for next
<br />year. The town has lawn
<br />watering restrictions in
<br />place.
<br />might work, he said.
<br />The town may need that
<br />option if conditions don't
<br />improve greatly next year.
<br />Without an extremely wet
<br />winter, water allotments may
<br />fall as low as 30 percent next
<br />yeaz.
<br />"There aren't too many enti-
<br />ties that can withstand that;'
<br />Zadel said. "I haven't seen a 35
<br />percent allotment, so this is a
<br />whole different animal for us to
<br />try and figure out what we're
<br />going to do."
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