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cattle shipping hubs: Denver, Cheyenne and Sterling. <br />The romantic old spread has water rights dating back to 1873. But because its grasses are so sparse, it <br />could feed only a few hundred cattle. <br />Crops were hard to grow because the soil was too sandy. Even amultimillion-dollar effort to create a <br />massive hog farm there in the 1980s failed. <br />Today other ranches in the area -neighbors include billionaire Phil Anschutz and Colorado Rockies first <br />baseman Todd Helton -are valued as much for their wildlife habitat as anything else. <br />But in the 70, Lembke and FRICO saw more than the hawks overhead and its lush wetlands. <br />"To most people it was worthless because they didn't have what we have -the FRICO water," Lembke said <br />The ranch also sits in a sweet spot in the South Platte Basin. The river runs through it, feeding a series of <br />high plains farm reservoirs that have kept Colorado's largest irrigated agriculture economy afloat for the <br />past century. <br />As more agriculture water from FRICO's farmers and others is bought by cities, the river will serve as a <br />delivery vehicle, carrying water across the ranch to canals that will feed water into natural recharge basins <br />where it will quickly seep into the sands lying below ground, slowly migrating back to the river. The concept <br />is already being used on a small scale in several areas along the South Platte. <br />The Lembke-FRICO partnership may mark a new era in Colorado's insular water world, one in which high <br />demand and rising water prices lure more private sector investment and new players. <br />Until now, cities have controlled most of the water projects on [he Front Range, using their ability to tolled <br />fees and levy taxes to finance development of their systems. But most cities operate independently, and few <br />are interested in expanding their reach to serve some of the urban corridor's newest, fastest-growing areas. <br />As a result, such booming communities as Commerce City, Brighton, Lochbuie, Watkins, Castle Rock and <br />Centennial have been left out of the municipal water loop, scrounging water when and where they can find <br />it. <br />Lembke believes the new system will help change that, providing a wholesale water system that any <br />community can buy into. <br />"We're doing this because it needed to be done," Lembke said. "Water doesn't have to be a win-lose <br />proposition. Through creative thinking, everyone can come out better than if they try to run stand-alone <br />empires." <br />Project faces criticism <br />But the project is being sharply criticized. <br />Some water officials believe the underground storage capacity of the ranch is being grossly exaggerated. <br />Others say [he project will cause too much stress on the river, hampering the cities' ability to claim their <br />own supplies. <br />Because farm water must be heavily treated before it's ready to drink, water quality is a huge concern. More <br />than 40 entities have objected in the special water court that oversees such water transactions. <br />"We believe there are some issues the court will have to interpret," said Peter Binney, Aurora's director of <br />utilities. "We believe there ought to be some limits placed on what they're doing." <br />http:/lwww.rockymountainnews.tom/drmn/cda/article~rint/0,1983,DRMN_21_4196615_ .. 11/9/2005 <br />