[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 180 (Tuesday, November 14, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2176]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO W.D. ``BILL'' FARR

                                 ______


                           HON. WAYNE ALLARD

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 14, 1995

  Mr. ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me today in 
honoring Mr. W.D. ``Bill'' Farr for his 40 years of service on the 
board of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District [NCWCD]. Mr. 
Farr was a true pioneer in the development of water for Colorado's 
front range.
  During the drought years of the 1930's, the importance of water to 
farmers, fishermen, and other users on the front range became all too 
clear. In response, a friend of Mr. Farr's established the Northern 
Colorado Water Users Association, which would later become the NCWCD. 
One of the association's first projects, with which Mr. Farr was 
intimately involved, was to push for the construction of the Colorado-
Big Thompson project [C-BT]. In 1954, the C-BT became fully operational 
and brought a supplemental supply of water from the western slope to 
seven northeast Colorado counties. Mr. Farr was certainly correct when 
he said that the ``C-BT is like a second Poudre River. Without it, we 
would not have the front range we see today.''
  In 1955, Mr. Farr became a board member of the NCWCD. In the 1970's, 
Mr. Farr was instrumental in planning the C-BT's windy gap project and 
headed the municipal subdistrict of the NCWCD that built facilities 
below Granby Lake. As such, he is known as the father of the windy gap 
project.
  Mr. Speaker, so that the House may fully appreciate W.D. Farr's 
unrivaled contribution to water development in Colorado, let me run 
through a brief chronology of his involvement with this issue: 1931--
became board director with the Town-Boyd Lateral Co. of Eaton; 1942--
named president of the board of the Sweet Jessup Canal of Carbondale; 
1947--became board director of the Greeley-Loveland Irrigation Co.; 
1955--became board director with the Northern Colorado Water 
Conservancy District; 1970--named first chairman of the Municipal 
Subdistrict of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District; 1971--
became president of the National Cattlemen's Association; 1973--
appointed to the Water Pollution Control Advisory Board of the U.S. 
Department of the Interior by President Richard Nixon; 1974--named 
chairman of the Region 208 Areawide Planning Commission of the Larimer-
Weld Council of Governments; 1975--became first chairman of the 
Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority; 1975--became 
member of the Colorado Water Congress; 1985--named the Wayne Aspinall 
Water Leader of the Year by the Colorado Water Congress; 1994--
represented the Farr Family at the dedication of the Farr pumping plant 
at Granby reservoir. The plant is part of the Colorado-Big Thompson 
project.
  Clearly, Mr. Speaker, W.D. Farr's service to the State of Colorado 
cannot be overstated, and I thank you for joining me in recognizing his 
40 years of service with the NCWCD. As the Representative for the 
mostly rural and agricultural Fourth Congressional District of 
Colorado, I have a deep appreciation for the lifetime commitment W.D. 
Farr has made to ensuring that the front range has an adequate water 
supply year after year.
  Thank you, W.D. Farr.

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