Colorado needs to pursue several paths in order to avoid a water crisis in future years that could threaten the state�s agricultural base, the governor�s top water adviser said.

��� �My father-in-law taught me to farm as if you�ve just had your last rain,� John Stulp told The Pueblo Chieftain editorial board Thursday. �Cities need to start thinking the same way, that there might not be as much water as they expect.�

�� Stulp was appointed last month by Gov. John Hickenlooper as special adviser for water issues and head of the Interbasin Compact Committee, a 27-member panel formed in 2005 to address water concerns from a grass-roots perspective.

�� Stulp, whose family has a large dryland farm and ranch south of Lamar, knows the perils of Colorado weather and the importance of irrigation to agriculture. The irrigated agriculture in his area makes dryland operations such as his possible, by supporting an economic base in the city.

�� Colleges, roads and communications, as well as more intangible social interactions within a community all depend on the strength of the core economy. In rural areas, that starts with water.

��� �It all comes as a package,� Stulp said. �Water just adds to the quality of life in Colorado, but we don�t always think about it. Only during the drought of 2002-03 did it really hit the public�s attention.�

��� For Stulp, the central question of water transfers � moving water off farms into cities � has been dogging him since he was a Prowers County commissioner in the 1990s. He recalled the attempt at that time by Colorado Interstate Gas to buy a controlling interest in the Fort Lyon Canal, and the negative consequences that were envisioned at that time.

��� The best example of what can happen when water leaves the land can be observed no farther away than Crowley County, which lost its farms when the water was sold, Stulp said.

��� �There�s no question about what irrigated land does for the value of a rural economy,� he said. �What drives me, and also John Hickenlooper, is that as we travel around the state and talk to people, water is an important issue.�

���� That being said, Stulp realizes the daunting task ahead: trying to plan for a population that will double in the next 40 years. He embraces the multifaceted approach the IBCC has chosen in dealing with water and is putting a lot of stock in the basin roundtables. He has called a summit of all nine roundtables on March 3 in Denver to discuss the state�s options.

��� �There�s no silver bullet,� he said.

���� The options include projects already being developed, new water supplies, conservation and alternatives to drying up ag land.

���� �I think we have come to the conclusion that you just can�t keep taking water from the Western Slope,� he said.

����� Stulp said conservation can go a long way, but does not believe it will cure all the problems.

� At the recent Colorado Water Congress, water managers from Australia shared their experience of dealing with a prolonged drought. Per capita water use dropped to 40 gallons per day, about one-third of the average use prior to the drought.

���� �In Denver, it�s 160 gallons per day. If it could be cut to 80, you could serve twice the number of people,� Stulp said.

��� Stulp also believes the state should do what it can to move people to where the water supply already is located, rather than move water out of the areas where it has been traditionally used. As the state�s past commissioner of agriculture, Stulp often voiced that point of view and he still says it should be promoted.

��� �You can use and reuse water, but once you ship it out, it�s gone,� Stulp said. �If we double our population in 40 years, think of how long you�ll be sitting in traffic on (Interstate 25).�

��� Stulp also supports the Arkansas Valley Super Ditch, but says there should be �side boards� on it � limits to the amount of acreage and the frequency which it can be taken out of production � to prevent permanently drying up land for leases. In any transfers, there should be benefits to the communities water is taken from as well as those that will use it.

��� �The local irrigation companies need to decide which land on their systems needs to be fallowed,� Stulp said. �And it�s important that a rotational fallowing program have some safeguards.�