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| 8/22/2009 6:00:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Higher ed channels funds
from water managers
Joe Hanel
Journal Denver Bureau
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS - Colorado water managers have to deal with complex laws, a booming population and a host of other worries.
Now, they have to help figure out how to pay for public colleges, too.
That was the message a senior lawmaker and the head of the state's natural resources department delivered at the Colorado Water Congress' summer convention.
State lawmakers have turned to savings accounts for dams, canals and pipelines in order to cope with a budget crisis that's entering its third year. In the past two years, the Legislature has taken $107 million out of the water accounts, said Harris Sherman, director of the Department of Natural Resources.
"These are funds that have been built up over decades," Sherman said.
Sherman's department recently issued a report that predicted a doubling of the population to 10 million people by 2050. Sherman thinks most Coloradans don't understand how expensive it will be to provide water for everyone.
"There are staggering costs involved in meeting our future water needs - tens of billions of dollars," he said.
But the water project funds won't be paid back this year, and they'll probably be raided again, said Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee.
At the same time, cuts continue to threaten the State Engineer's Office, which administers water rights. The office lost six jobs in Gov. Bill Ritter's budget cuts this week.
"I'm getting tired of this. Every year this happens, and we have got to find a way to solve this," Curry said.
This week's cuts hit health care and human services especially hard. But in the long term, colleges are at risk. So Curry recommended that the water community reach out to advocates for higher education to find a solution to the perpetual budget crisis.
"We can't have just water meetings anymore," she said.
Sherman seconded the advice.
"Unless we find a permanent solution, every year, people are going to look to our funds to meet their needs," Sherman said.
Reach Joe Hanel at joeh@cortezjournal.com
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