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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.
What Does Parker Water Have Against Transparency?
The foundation of effective, long-range water policy is transparency.
Whether you’re a homeowner, business owner, an elected official or the manager of a water district – you need to know current supplies, current and future needs – and what additional water supplies are needed in the years to come. That’s water policy 101.
This is the rationale for Douglas County’s first-ever county-wide water assessment. Mirroring similar studies in counties in Colorado and throughout the arid West, this approach will be an invaluable asset for policy planning. It has received broad-based support from many stakeholders throughout the county.
Except from the Parker Water & Sanitation District.
For reasons that are not clear, the district’s top management and Board President Merlin Klotz have been aggressively attacking all who support the newly formed water commission. Merlin Klotz, even created an amateurish website attempting to be a “one stop shop” for baseless, and often outright false, assertions and conspiracy theories – including glossing over the questionable viability of his pet water project.
What’s wrong with transparency? Nobody builds roads without traffic studies. Commercial construction projects require numerous transparent reviews before a shovelful of dirt is ever turned.
Yet on the most important public asset – water – the Commission studying the County’s water future receives continual incoming fire from Parker Water.
Transparency is decidedly not in Parker Water’s DNA.
The district recently passed a budget and raised rates offering little opportunity for public scrutiny or comment.
It also rushed through a major, expensive land acquisition with little scrutiny. Parker Water also disenfranchised whole neighborhoods in its recent board elections and complained vehemently that it was not important enough to correct. In fact, the number of eligible residents who were not allowed to vote is actually greater than the margin by which Merlin Klotz, the now Board President who is against transparency, won his re-election to the board.
It is customary in public construction that change orders for the contractor are submitted and are publicly available. Apparently not for this district’s new $52 million luxury headquarters (a price tag that according to CoBiz magazine, works out to more than $2,600 per ratepayer). The district went on a $1+ million shopping spree for new furniture and refused to repurpose any of the existing furniture to keep costs down.
Want to know the total compensation package for Parker Water’s top executive? Good-luck finding this information. It is believed to be over $300,000, which would make him the highest paid public employee in Douglas County.
Given the record of lack of transparency around its liberal spending practices, one must wonder what a transparent review of Parker’s water assets will uncover. We will know soon enough as the Commission continues its fact-finding efforts.
Recent Headlines
Climate report projects continued warming and declining streamflows for Colorado
Warming could lead to decreased water supplies and more shortages
Scientists predict with high confidence that Colorado’s future spring runoff will come earlier; soil moisture will be lower; heat waves, droughts and wildfires will be more frequent and intense; and a thirstier atmosphere will continue to rob rivers of their flows — changes that are all driven by higher temperatures caused by humans burning fossil fuels.
These findings are according to the third Climate Change in Colorado Assessment report, produced by scientists at the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University and released Monday, Jan. 8. Commissioned by the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the report’s findings have implications for the state’s water managers. Borrowing a phrase from climate scientist Brad Udall, climate change is water change — which has become a common maxim for those water managers.
…Planning for less water
CWCB officials hope water managers across the state will use the report to help plan for a future with less water. Many entities have already shifted to developing programs that support climate adaptation and resilience.
“I think we can say with confidence that it is more likely that we will have water shortages in the future,” said Emily Adid, CWCB senior climate adaptation specialist. “I think this report is evidence of that and can help local planners and people on the ground plan for those reductions in streamflow.”
Denver Water is one of those water providers that will use the report’s findings in its planning. The utility, which is the oldest and largest in the state, provides water to 1.5 million people and helped to fund the report. Denver Water has been preparing for a future with a less-reliable water supply through conservation and efficiency measures, reservoir expansion projects and wildfire mitigation.
Climate change is a threat to Colorado’s snowpack. What does that mean for the water in your tap?
The state’s snowpack, a key water source to millions of people across the Western U.S., could be declining — if experts are reading the signs of climate change correctly
Yearly snow storms form an enormous frozen reservoir in Colorado, but climate change is threatening its future.
…“The variation year-to-year is pretty extreme. Just because in 2023 we had a substantial snowpack doesn’t mean we’re not on this long-term decline,” said Jeff Deems, co-founder of Airborne Snow Observatories. “There’s a lot more below-average years these days than above-average.”
Did you know? The top priority for Douglas County Commissioners is to partner with the county's water providers and secure a dependable, sustainable, & independent water supply for the current generation and generations to come.
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.
