High and Dry The search for water in the Front Range — and a conservation plan that works By Natalia Bayona Every year, Colorado farmers douse their crops with 1.5 trillion gallons of water — enough to fill nearly a third of the Colorado River. Resources run low as families and industries funnel billions of gallons down the drain annually. State researchers caution, if such habits aren’t broken, residents may be parched within the next 40 years. The Colorado Water Conservation Board collaborated with groups who govern the state’s eight river basins, called basin roundtables, to propose a solution to the problem in the state’s first water plan, which was released on Dec. 10. The board reported the state’s population will grow to about twice its current size causing a supply gap of 163 billion gallons of water by 2050. Colorado’s water plan outlines rigorous conservation strategies, ways of finding new water, and alternatives to buying water from farms that continue to dry. But even the most extraordinary efforts to save water in Colorado’s Eastern Slope, where most of the growth is anticipated, won’t make up for the shortfall. That’s because farmers on the Front Range — the urban area throughout northeast and central Colorado — irrigate a majority of the 1.5 trillion gallons of water used statewide every year. The majority of the state’s water is on the Western Slope, which requires water managers to transfer gallons across the Continental Divide to raise crops and fill swimming pools in the Front Range. With westerners opposed to losing more water, the crowded counties of Boulder and Denver are finding new ways to reduce demand. The South Platte Basin, the 23-­‐thousand-­‐square-­‐mile basin stretching from the farms and goldmines of central Colorado near Fairplay to the Nebraska state line, caps the West’s needs by sending as much water as possible to the Front Range every year. A major goal of the South Platte is to break the cycle of “buy-­‐and-­‐dry,” a transaction made by utility companies that moves water from the farm to our taps. Selling of irrigated water has already led to a 20 percent loss in the region’s farmland. The Colorado Water Plan suggests alternatives like rotational fallowing, which allows farmers to sell the water rights to a specific plot for a short time and pick production back up the next season. Another possibility is planting native crops that require less water, a practice known as xeriscaping. 1 A map of Colorado’s basin roundtables. The South Platte and Metro Roundtable both rely on the South Platte and work together to manage the basin. Photo Credit: The South Platte Basin Implementation Plan Report However, the damaging effects of growth may be inevitable. “Some of the lands currently being farmed will be grown onto by the cities. In that case, there’s really no alternative,” says Mark Koleber, chair of the Metro Roundtable. As developments start to invade irrigated farmlands, entitlements to that water will be handed over to landowners. 2 Popula.on Es.mates/Projec.ons Comparison of Popula.on Growth in CO and Front Range, from 2000 to 2040 8,000,000 7,000,000 6,000,000 Colorado 5,000,000 Front Range 4,000,000 3,000,000 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 Year On average, the Front Range uses 945 billion gallons of water (about 19% of Colorado’s total supply) every year, according to a 2009 report by the Front Range Water Council. Of the 945 billion, 33 percent goes to residents and businesses and 66 percent is used in agriculture. The average family uses about 108,600 gallons of water in one year. (Graph derived from Colorado Economic and Demographic Information System) But residents and water managers of Boulder County are working to mitigate those effects. Long ago, cities like Boulder and Longmont voted in “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” mandates as their towns began to grow. And they plan to do more of that same thing in face of the 2050 gap. “Over the last 10 to 15 years, a lot of the communities’ conservation programs have been able to reduce demand on the existing water,” explained the South Platte’s Boulder Municipal Representative Ken Huson. “Municipal providers have been able to quite adequately...meet that demand through some water supply projects as well as reliance on really some good conservation programs.” Families have asked city officials to establish greenways along creek corridors, said Huson. “That’s really gotten people interested in water.” Boulder’s Center for ReSource Conservation, an environmental non-­‐profit working to conserve water and energy in homes and businesses across the Front Range, helps make this greener vision possible. The center offers Garden-­‐In-­‐A-­‐Box, a discounted xeric gardening program, to help landowners design and maintain gardens at a low-­‐cost. They inspect sprinkler systems and indoor water appliances and install low-­‐flow upgrades for families free of charge. The outdoor irrigation program is 11 years running in Boulder, said the center’s senior manager of sustainability programs Morgan Shimabuku. Throughout all of the group’s 3 operating range, the program saves “five thousand gallons of water per year per participant,” she says. But the Center for ReSource Conservation wants more from the South Platte plan. The plan is missing a clear objective, Shimabuku noted. Other states with a need for mandatory water reduction gain the most public involvement by setting a statistical and identifiable goal. Shimabuku doesn’t see that kind of language in the South Platte’s plan. Nonetheless, a potential still exists for outreach with or without those guidelines. The South Platte’s current per capita water use is one of the lowest in Colorado, according to the state water conservation board. And Boulder’s activism is beginning to spread. “(People) learn from successful projects and are able to then take that part to their communities,” says Huson. Denver Water plans to integrate some of Boulder’s gardening and incentive programs into their water-­‐saving repertoire, too. The utility already operates the largest water-­‐
recycling program in Colorado. Their current goal is to reduce 22 percent of per capita water use by 2016. One pilot campaign sends families monthly reports that measure how efficiently they water their lawns based on the size of their plot. The report also compares a family’s use to their neighbor’s use in hopes of breaking bad habits. Denver Museum of Nature & Science in City Park, Denver. Denver “Customers have responded well to the program,” Water’s recycled water manifolds explains Denver Water’s community relations provide heating and cooling to the specialist Heather Stauffer, and now that irrigation museum’s newest addition, a season is complete, staff will verify reductions in 126,000-­‐square-­‐foot Education & Collections Facility, through a watering by comparing usage rates to those of process called ground source heat families outside of the study area. pumping. Pumps transfer the Earth’s heat to water circulating in The Colorado Water Plan focuses heavily on such pipes buried deep underground forward-­‐thinking conservation, but being frugal before the water is fed back into the utility’s system. This unique won’t exactly do the trick. The need for so many method is 50% more efficient than gallons means more water will be apportioned from traditional heating and cooling. the river — and people are worried. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons) Residents, concerned about the environmental 4 pressures caused by development, have disputed over some projects set to enlarge reservoirs in the South Platte. Denver Water is awaiting a permit to expand the size of Gross Reservoir, located just south of Boulder, to three times its capacity. “It’s (been) more than a decade of trying to get this permit,” said Travis Bray, the system’s project manager. “A lot of opposition at first…which is good, we wanna hear those concerns.” Though, other projects look to give back to the wetlands what new water storage may take away. The Army Corps of Engineers recently discovered the Chatfield Reservoir southwest of Denver used to capture floodwater is able to hold an additional 6.7 billion gallons for municipal and agricultural use. In the case of most projects, public commenting periods often extend deadlines. Concerns about the Colorado Water Plan will be evaluated through September 2015 — three months before the final plan is handed to the governor for approval. However, not every body sees these extensions as a drawback. “The more we participate, the better it’ll be for everyone,” says Shimabuku.
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