All sides want say on Colorado River
Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News
Published July 24, 2007 at midnight
GLENWOOD SPRINGS - Western Slope water officials, ranchers and environmentalists said they want a major role in a new state study that seeks to quantify how much water the Colorado River may contain for new development.
This year, Colorado lawmakers set aside $500,000 to lay the groundwork for the two-year study.
"We've told (the state) very bluntly, that we need total involvement," said Stan Cazier, a water attorney in Grand County.
Cazier's comments came Monday at a meeting of the Colorado River Basin Roundtable, one of nine groups around the state charged with finding new, cooperative ways to share the state's increasingly stressed water supplies.
Measuring the Colorado River's water is difficult, in part, because of the huge variability in how much snow falls each year.
It's also difficult because so many powerful users have a stake in the river and have their own view of how it should be measured. Front Range cities such as Denver, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, rely on the Colorado River for as much as half of their annual supplies.
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