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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.
Conservative Aurora City Council Leads on Acquiring Water Rights – From Greeley Farm
Aurora has been taking significant steps to reduce water consumption within the city, including changing building codes regarding the use of turf and placing drought surcharges and restrictions on watering. But Aurora is also recognizing that conservation alone is not going to provide water security.
Aurora is buying water rights.
Aurora recently announced the acquisition of water rights from a farm in Greeley. With this market transaction – the owners are able to exercise their private property rights and sell a highly valuable asset to a willing buyer. Aurora will eventually pipe that water roughly 65 miles from rural Weld County to Aurora for municipal use.
The conservative majority on Aurora City Council – which has led on several longstanding, difficult issues including crime and homelessness – has recognized they must take bold action on water or are guaranteed that the challenge will only grow deeper. That’s why the Council is engaged in an ongoing acquisition program that includes three to four transactions each year.
“We take the needs seriously, our job is to meet the citizens’ water needs, which is only going to get more difficult in the future,” Alex Davis, Aurora’s Deputy Director for Water Resources told The Denver Gazette. “So any opportunities like this are important to use, and are welcomed.”
Aurora's leadership clearly understands that there is a need for additional water in the decades ahead. These conservative, thoughtful public leaders also are showing that it is an important role for municipal government to not only understand the need – but also to seize opportunities to address major infrastructure challenges.
While the majority of Douglas County elected leaders are planning bold, strategic steps to resolve our county’s water security, some pointedly ignore the obvious and would rather kick the can down the road. Douglas County cannot afford such a dereliction of duties.
Aurora’s leadership offers at least two positive points relevant to Douglas County.
The county needs an in-depth, county-wide audit of our current water supplies to determine how much water we actually have on hand compared to what our current and futures needs. This county-wide plan will be an indispensable roadmap for the county’s water future.
The county must not be left behind while other jurisdictions are working on developing new supplies and also purchasing additional water from willing sellers. Many water providers serving Douglas County have not acquired additional water supply in many years, despite growing warning signs that additional resources are needed.
Leadership means recognizing reality and leaning into the tough, complex choices that must be made. Douglas County has done that time and again, and a county-wide water plan will be the cornerstone of this new leadership challenge.
Recent Headlines
Aurora poised to acquire farmland, water rights near Greeley
The City of Aurora is preparing to purchase farmland near Greeley and its water rights in a $7.75 million deal that could close later this month.
A resolution approving a purchase and sale agreement with WETCO Farms was passed by the Aurora City Council as part of the resolutions consent calendar Monday. The sale is expected to close on March 31. The acquisition, if finalized, will be funded by the city’s Capital Improvement Program and Water Fund.
...Deputy Director for Water Resources Alex Davis said the city makes similar acquisitions roughly three to four times a year with the intent to eventually provide citizens with drinking water.
Aurora is a growing city, in a region that is growing, amid the growing pressures of climate change and aridification, Davis said. All of those factors pressure water supplies
Aurora approved Stage I drought restrictions in February, which take effect in May, the time most people start turning on sprinklers.
...Aurora's drought declarations are occurring at time when western states are scrambling to save the Colorado River system, which is beset by two decades of drought and over appropriation that have put the system upon which 40 million people rely in a precarious condition, threatening the region’s viability. In response to the crisis, major municipal and public water providers, including Aurora, have outlined and implemented actions to conserve water use, among them turf replacement programs.
Aurora approved Stage I drought restrictions in February, which take effect in May, the time most people start turning on sprinklers. The goal is to reduce water use in the city by 20%. Under the rules, residents should not water their lawns more than two days a week.
…A surcharge will also be added to water bills during the Stage I drought. The city's water department says if people abide by the two-day watering limit, their bills should not increase from what they would pay if they watered three days a week.
…“Frankly, I’d like to see Denver Water and some of the other water, municipal entities in the metro area implement similar restrictions,” he (Aurora Mayor Pro Tem Curtis Gardner) said.
Did you know? There has never been an independent, countywide audit of water providers in Douglas County to truly assess our region’s water supplies and storage. Quality of life in Douglas County and safe, clean water are directly connected.
As the Colorado Sun reported (3/29/22), “Some aquifers deep under Douglas County have lost 2 to 6 feet in depth of water. Local water providers have noticed their supply wells aren’t producing like they once did.”
“It’s like sucking water out of the bathtub with a straw,” said Rick McLoud, water resources manager for Centennial Water & Sanitation. “There’s only so much water in the bathtub and the sooner you suck it out with a straw, the sooner it will be gone.”
