From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
About 25 people attended the third outreach meeting of the Arkansas Basin Roundtable. Many were associated with the roundtable, but the crowd also included county commissioners and ditch company officials. “By 2015, we can no longer feed the world, and by 2020, it’s in real bad shape. All you can talk about is moving the water,” said Ray Smith, a Fowler-area farmer who is also the president of the Oxford Canal.
He was reacting to presentations by Gary Barber, roundtable chairman, Todd Doherty of the Colorado Water Conservation Board and others regarding the mission of the roundtables and IBCC to find state water solutions. The groups have been meeting for five years, primarily to address the CWCB’s Statewide Water Supply Initiative. That report shows urban areas running low on water when the state’s population doubles in 2050, Doherty said…
[Gary Barber, roundtable chairman] gave the example of legislation proposed two years ago that would have put the burden of determining future water supply on county commissioners. In El Paso County, groundwater users are required to show a 300-year supply, leading to larger lots and more per-capita water use in rural areas, Barber pointed out. “We need a conversation,” he maintained. “It’s not as simple as it seems.”
More IBCC — basin roundtable coverage here.