Sidebar by Marcia Darnell
water – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
What is SWSI?
The Statewide Water Supply Initiative is a series of forums run by the Colorado Water Conservation Board. The CWCB gathers people in each basin in the state — ranchers, environmental activists, wildlife biologists, farmers, politicians, and just plain folks — to discuss current water-supply problems and possible solutions.
SWSI is not meant to replace local water boards or planning groups, but to encourage discussion and collaboration among different groups and different parts of the state.
The first meeting of the Rio Grande Basin in September was an open forum, designed to tell the SWSI project managers what the local issues are, and how they’ve been dealt with so far. The second meeting, last month, was a roundtable discussion among influential water users. Participants included Allen Davey of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District; Cathy McNeil, a rancher representing the SLV Association of Conservation Districts; Kate Booth-Doyle, of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Coalition; Alan Miller, Alamosa River Restoration Committee; Don Koskelin, city of Alamosa; and other ranchers, politicians, and environmentalists.
