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Douglas County
July 28 | Issue 2
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As County leaders, we must protect our region. Our quality of life is directly connected to our commitment to build a tomorrow that preserves the best of today. This vision includes protecting our natural resources, utilizing our county’s resources in a fiscally-smart manner, and wisely planning for our future. Thank you for standing with us.
Time for Citizens to Ask Important Questions About Our Water Future
As new mandatory water-use restrictions hit Highlands Ranch – with more likely coming for other areas of Douglas County – residents and business owners are rightly focusing not only on today’s challenges but the long-term water future.
Is this the “new normal?”
It’s time to ask important questions – or what we face today will seem trivial compared to the potential future damage to our quality of life and our economy.
Look at Aurora’s struggles.
Leaders are considering a plan to ban turf at any new construction – except for a very small residential backyard and perhaps small use in front yards. Officials are already targeting existing lawns and golf courses.
Depending on how Aurora resolves its water woes could have a major impact on Douglas County. What if Aurora pulls out of the Water Infrastructure and Supply Efficiency (WISE) agreement where Aurora sells unused water to other areas, including 11 Douglas County entities. Some are questioning how Aurora can sell water when it’s facing a crisis at home.
What will Douglas County do to find renewable water if access to WISE water evaporates?
Douglas County already needs new, sustainable long-range sources of renewable water, even without a crisis in WISE supplies. State authorities urge the county to reduce its dependence on the non-renewable Denver aquifer. Aurora’s dire water straits should intensify Douglas County’s search for quality solutions.
But not all water is equal – in sustainability, quality, or cost.
Some plans Douglas County is considering, for example, don’t provide enough renewable water to meet even our near-term needs.
Others don’t provide quality water, imposing additional costs to treat that water and bring it up to the standard we need.
And, will we pay to secure our future – above market costs or less-expensive below-market opportunities on the horizon now?
Fleck said the directive, combined with the “threat” of federal action if the states don’t act, creates an extraordinary challenge for water managers and users in the Colorado River Basin.
***John Fleck is a water policy professor at the University of New Mexico.
The letter, dated July 18, comes in response to an announcement last month by Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton calling for 2 million to 4 million acre-feet in cuts in Colorado River use by the end of next year to avoid the system from reaching “critically low water levels.” The system supplies water and generates electricity for millions of users across the West.
Drinking water in Frisco is tainted with dangerous levels of the PFAS “forever chemicals” from suspected firefighting foam runoff into nearby creeks, according to new EPA guidance that radically lowered safety levels and sent state officials in search of cities with similarly compromised water systems.
More than 100 city and town water systems across the state also have test results for PFAS above the new EPA guidelines, state officials said Monday, though in some cases the amounts were so low they must be retested for lab errors or other factors.
Capping her alarming testimony, Touton said the Colorado River system could collapse without change.
Drought and a warming climate are a double-edged sword.
Not only is the river basin environment robbed of moisture, it primes the land for fires that burn bigger and faster. For fires that affect the broader riverscape in more insidious, devastating ways.
Did You Know? The vast majority of Douglas County water providers and its residents utilize water from WISE?
WISE - which stands for Water, Infrastructure and Supply Efficiency - is a regional partnership that provides new supply by combining unused capacities in Aurora Water’s Prairie Waters Project with unused water supplies from Denver and Aurora. During the years Denver and Aurora don’t need all of that water, and when excess capacity is available in Prairie Waters, 11 Douglas County entities that are part of the South Metro Water Supply Authority can buy the unused water to help reduce its reliance on nonrenewable groundwater.
The important question that needs to be asked is how does the ongoing drought and fewer “wet years,” increased demand from a growing population, and pressure from the federal government and other lower basin states affect WISE and Douglas County’s water supply?
Upcoming News from DCFF
Every other week, DCFF will report on important news and challenges impacting our community. We hope you will stay engaged and connected with us.
