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.
Douglas County Needs Both Water Security & Water Independence
American energy independence is a hot topic of conversation. Citizens across the political spectrum know that having to rely on foreign energy sources is risky if other nations can turn down – or turn off – the spigot.
Water is just as valuable a commodity as energy. Yet unlike with energy, there isn’t an “alternative” water industry.
Local communities, like Douglas County, either have an adequate longterm renewable supply, or they don’t.
As the county stands up its much needed Water Commission, a focus of the panel will clearly be a countywide review of the adequacy of water supplies, likely over a 300-year span.
But an important part of the county's water plan must also be an examination of where those supplies will come from – and if DougCo is at risk if the providers and other local entities it depends on have supply issues of their own.
This is a real and practical conversation.
An example of the challenge of water independence for our county is found in the Water Infrastructure Supply Efficiency (WISE) project, which provides water to eleven entities in Douglas County.
What’s key is that WISE, according to the Denver Water website, combines “unused capacities in Aurora Water’s Prairie Waters Project with unused water supplies from Denver and Aurora.”
When there is excess capacity, the DougCo entities can buy “the unused water to help reduce its reliance on nonrenewable groundwater.”
So far, there has been “unused capacity.” But given the significant strain Aurora is under with water use (to the point that it has severely curtailed the use of natural turf in new construction) – a question for the Water Commission is - what happens at some future date if there is far less “unused capacity” than those eleven Douglas entities need?
Why should Douglas County, one of the wealthiest and fastest growing counties in the nation, have to rely on neighboring governments for water security?
Every resident and business in the county deserves answers to those important questions.
Recent Headlines
Arvada water bills are going up 12% next year
Arvada residents can expect to spend about $132 more on their water and sewer bills in 2024 compared to this year, the city said this week.
The City of Arvada said its water and sewer rates were increasing by 12% in 2024 and stormwater rates will increase by 5%, according to a news release.
"Annual adjustments to utility rates and fees support our ability to provide high quality service to the community," Arvada Utilities Director Sharon Israel said in a news release announcing the increases. "This year’s increases will support repair and replacement of aging parts of our water, sewer and stormwater systems."
Add water to the list of bills going up next year.
Driving the news: Denver's Board of Water Commissioners adopted new rates for 2024 during their Oct. 11 meeting, affecting some 1.5 million people who receive water collected, cleaned and delivered by Denver Water.
Details: Rates will increase by an average of $1.60 to $2.30 each month over the course of the year if customers use the same amount of water in 2024 as they did in 2023, according to a release from Denver Water. This rate is for a typical single-family residential household.
Tap water is cheap, but old pipes and a shrinking Colorado River could change that
Municipal water departments in the Colorado River basin are entering a time of change. Their infrastructure is aging and needs replacement, and they’re starting to invest in new systems that will help cities adapt to a future with a smaller water supply. But, that means big spending and costs that will get passed along to the millions of people who use that water in sinks, showers and sprinklers.
“There's literally nothing else you can have 1,000 gallons of delivered to your house at two in the morning for a few bucks,” said Mark Marlowe, water director in Castle Rock, Colorado.
Marlowe and other water experts across the arid West agree, the amount you pay for tap water should probably go up, and likely will over the next few decades — in large part due to aging infrastructure.
Did you know? Between 2010 and 2020, the town of Castle Rock's population grew by nearly 52%, according to U.S. census data. At the same time, the aquifer – a pool of water that has gathered in underground bedrock – that supplies the majority of its water is drying up, pushing the city to lean harder on other water sources, like a nearby creek. Castle Rock is legally allowed to use most of its water over and over, so the city has installed new systems to do that safely.
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.
