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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.
Colorado Must Focus on State-Wide Highest and Best Use of Water
Creating a secure water future for all of Colorado requires a focus on farming and ranching throughout the state, since agriculture accounts for 90 percent of water usage. The need is acute with Colorado projected to have an enormous shortage of water, approximately 740,000 acre feet by 2050.
According to the revised Colorado Water Plan that gap in supply is “enough water to fill 370,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools each year.”
Water policy discussions tend to be disproportionately focused on the needs of growing municipalities, particularly along the Front Range. In fact, Douglas County is one of the fastest growing counties in the nation. But to get water policy right for decades to come, municipal usage – which is just 7 percent statewide – is just a drop in the bucket.
That’s why the Colorado Water Plan has a focus on what it calls a “One Water” ethic which means “matching the right water to the right use.” It also includes smart use of sustained conservation measures and integrated land use and water planning.
Colorado’s agriculture must transition to modern practices that are water and resource efficient. Too often, status quo voices in agricultural communities can convince local leaders to just hunker down, continue to do things the way they have always done, and put up signs that say “not one drop” of water for uses outside their closed circle.
We even see counties banding together to prevent local farmers and ranchers from changing outdated practices and maximizing the value of their private property rights with unreasonable regulations that choke innovation and progress.
Sadly, we are seeing the consequences of this approach, when the state finds itself spending millions of taxpayer dollars to retire water rights at prices well below what the private sector is willing to pay.
What is needed is a collaborative approach with a keen focus on helping Colorado’s agriculture sector invest in new technologies and innovative practices that can produce a meaningful reduction in water uses.
The greatest bang for your buck is for dollars to help agriculture become more efficient with this limited resource.
The question we then must ask ourselves is, do we want tax dollars to pay for this or let the free market bring its own money to help agriculture make this transition?
This is vitally important for a sustainable water future for Colorado.
Taking a comprehensive approach to Colorado water policy, rather than pitting regions against one another, is the only route to a prosperous future for all water users, whether in agriculture, industry or municipalities.
Recent Headlines
Confluence: Region’s cities consist of ‘haves,’ ‘have-nots’ when it comes to water
…Many new residents “ think that there’s one big water provider that serves all of the communities of Northern Colorado,” he said [Adam Jokerst, Rocky Mountain regional director for WestWater Research LLC]. “That couldn’t be further from the truth. If you go from the Wyoming border to the New Mexico border along the Front Range, there are 80 different water providers. North of Denver, it’s about 40. So we have 40 different players in the water sphere, all with different regulations, different cost of service, different requirements for developers. And it shows. It shows in the types of the building products that are on the market in each of these cities, and it shows in the cost of service and the water rates that people pay. And it shows in reliability.”
…Holwick [managing shareholder with the law firm of Lyons Gaddis], who represents water buyers and sellers, noted that water prices have soared in recent years, with the price of a share of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project exceeding $70,000, up from $10,000 in 2005. That price escalation represents one of the greatest challenges for water providers, Holwick said.
Holwick noted that the Consumer Price Index increased by about 2.5% per year from 2002 to 2022, with housing prices increasing even more, with some prices up 100% during that time frame.
“Water, however? Multiple and multiple times of that,” Holwick said.
The Colorado River Is Shrinking. See What’s Using All the Water.
Hint: It’s less about long showers and more about what’s for dinner.
…Thirty-seven percent of the water used in the Colorado River basin goes toward growing alfalfa and hay used largely to feed dairy cattle. That’s triple the water that residents in the region use to water lawns, take showers and wash clothes. Alfalfa is a thirsty crop, in part because of its lengthy growing season that allows for multiple harvests per year.
It’s an export, too. Researchers estimated in the 2020 study that 10 to 12 percent of the irrigated cattle-feed crops grown in the United States are exported, and about 10 percent of beef is exported.
Demands are Increasing. If no new water projects or strategies are implemented, modeling for the driest periods shows Colorado communities could need 230,000 - 740,000 acre-feet of additional water per year by 2050. The upper-end need is about enough water to fill 370,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools each year. Water will be needed across the state.
Did you know? 90 percent of our state’s water goes to agriculture whereas municipalities use 7 percent and other industry sectors consume 3 percent.
Looking regionally at the pushed-to-the-limit Colorado River basin, which provides water for nearly 40 million people acrossseven states in the southwest and Mexico, 79 percent of Colorado River water goes toward agriculture.
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.
