You are receiving this newsletter because you are a recognized Douglas County community leader and stakeholder.
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.
Residents and Businesses Need & Deserve Candid Answers
While some water providers (public entities funded by your water bills) in Douglas County and elsewhere in Colorado – continue to tell us that all is well & there is no need for deeper scrutiny, local and national water news continues to be more and more concerning.
The federal government this week announced two separate plans for significant water supply reductions for users of the Colorado River. This river system provides water for 40 million Americans and 5.5 million acres of agriculture – including 40 percent of Colorado’s water supply.
This is the first time in history that such a reduction has been proposed.
While these reductions will focus on states such as California, Nevada and Arizona - it’s important to note that Parker, Castle Rock, Castle Pines, Centennial, Dominion get a healthy portion of water from the Colorado River via Denver and Aurora.
Other jurisdictions are embracing reality, taking significant forward-thinking steps. Colorado Springs, for example, wisely enacted an ordinance that requires a verification of water supplies before the city can annex additional land, and place new burdens on the existing water system.
This is why a straightforward, transparent, verifiable county-wide assessment of water supplies and projected future needs is so urgently needed in Douglas County.
Water providers, who operate the most essential public service, should welcome the opportunity to put all the facts out for a candid and thoughtful review.
If, in fact – as residents and businesses are continually assured – Douglas County’s several water providers have water supplies in excess of 100 years, as required for disclosure in all real estate transactions in Colorado, then this should be a welcome exercise.
Anything less than this should prompt the county leaders and taxpayers to take meaningful and smart proactive steps.
It is not clear why some water providers, and their apologists, continually resist common-sense questions about water security.
“Don’t worry; be happy,” is not a satisfactory or soothing answer given the severity of the West’s growing water crisis.
Recent Headlines
Biden Administration Proposes Evenly Cutting Water Allotments From Colorado River
As the river shrinks, the Biden administration is getting ready to impose, for the first time, reductions in water supplies to states.
WASHINGTON — After months of fruitless negotiations between the states that depend on the shrinking Colorado River, the Biden administration on Tuesday proposed to put aside legal precedent and save what’s left of the river by evenly cutting water allotments, reducing the water delivered to California, Arizona and Nevada by as much as one-quarter.
The size of those reductions and the prospect of the federal government unilaterally imposing them on states have never occurred in American history.
What might Colorado River cuts mean for states and their water supplies?
...Tuesday’s analysis from the Interior Department considers two ways to force cuts in the water supply for Arizona, Nevada and California.
The Biden administration floated two ideas this week to reduce water usage from the dwindling Colorado River, which supplies 40 million people.
The 1,450-mile (2,334-kilometer) river is a lifeline for seven U.S. states, dozens of Native American tribes, and two states in Mexico. It irrigates nearly 5.5 million acres (about 2.2 million hectares) of farmland in the U.S. and Mexico and generates hydroelectric power used across the West.
…Would doing nothing risk disaster?
Yes.
Doing nothing raises the risk that Lake Powell and Lake Mead drop so low that hydropower from their dams is threatened. Power production has already been affected with low lake levels. Voluntary water conservation can help. Precipitation, runoff from the Rocky Mountains and temperature also play a role.
