The latest news for you from Douglas County Future Fund
Important News Impacting our Community
Critical Issues Impacting
Douglas County
July 11 | Issue 1
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.
New Alarm Bells on the Water Crisis Facing our State and in DougCo
Preserving Douglas County’s quality of life and protecting our growing local economy are tall orders in these challenging times. One of the most pressing challenges we face today is the availability of water.
The concerns go well beyond periodic “dry spells” that cause authorities to require conservation, such as reducing lawn watering to every other day. Douglas County, the state of Colorado and the arid Western U.S. are in a period of significant and lingering drought that is putting sever pressure on water resources.
Experts have known this for years and now the reckoning has arrived. Jim Lochhead, CEO of Denver Water was quoted in the Denver Business Journal (7/1/22) that the Colorado River, for example, lacks enough to support the needs of the growing West.
“This has been a 20-year train that we’ve known is coming, and now it’s about to hit us,” he said. “It’s something that all of us in the West need to be worried about.”
Colorado’s recently revised water plan warns of a potential shortage of up to 740,000-acre feet statewide within two decades, nearly double the state’s current usage of 400,00 acre feet.
Other states are looking for solutions – at Colorado’s expense. Nebraska is looking to divert water from the South Platunder a century-old compact. This move is just the first of many, experts predict.
Douglas County is not immune. Our county, and other areas in the Denver metro region are over-dependent on the non-renewable Denver aquifer. Our county has been encouraged to find other more reliable – preferable renewable – sources of quality water.
The good news is that our county has been proactive in tackling growing challenges. Crafting innovative transportation solutions to meet future needs is an example. Boldly shaping our response to COVID-19 that fit the needs and concerns of Douglas County – not Denver – is another.
Water is next. The speeding train of Douglas County’s water crisis is heading for us. Will our leaders again meet a looming crisis with a fiscally conservative, innovative solution?
Recent Headlines
Dry Conditions Impact Water Supplies in Highlands Ranch
Centennial Water is warning Highlands Ranch residents to cut down on water use as dry conditions continue and storage levels dip nearly 30% below the June average.
In a recent press release, Centennial Water officials said the communities of Highlands Ranch, Solstice and northern Douglas County have already been under a drought watch since April 25.
Colorado, Nebraska jostle over water rights amid drought
As climate change-fueled megadrought edges eastward, Nebraska’s Republican-controlled Legislature this year voted to move forward with a plan that stunned Colorado leaders.
The Cornhusker State wants to divert water in Colorado by invoking an obscure, 99-year-old compact between the states that allows Nebraska to seize Colorado land along the South Platte River to build a canal.
Colorado to release draft of new water plan, calling it a blueprint for the state’s future
The new version of the Colorado Water Plan eyes collaborative ways to address water shortages projected to 2050
The Colorado Water Plan updates a document released in 2015. The plan was first drafted at the request of then-Gov. John Hickenlooper after a particularly warm year in 2012. Since then, climate change and other factors have only increased the risk facing Colorado’s water supply. The threat of wildfires exists year-round, the impacts of a two-decade drought have deepened and the state’s population continues to grow.
The 239-page document notes that the state could experience municipal and industrial water shortages of between 230,000 and 740,000 acre-feet by 2050. Current combined annual municipal and industrial water use is 496,000 acre-feet, according to the plan. (An acre-foot is the amount it takes to cover an acre in a foot of water, or about 325,000 gallons.)
