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.
Will Water Independence Be a Priority for Douglas County?
There is a fast brewing fight between states and communities in the West over a limited, diminishing resource that we all need to flourish and survive. As attention focuses on the water crisis in the West – Douglas County and its elected officials must make water independence a priority.
Douglas County residents rely on a patchwork system of water supply, ranging from the depleting, non-renewable Denver aquifer to water providers from outside of Douglas County. These non-Douglas County water providers have diverging policies, priorities and interests from those of Douglas County and its residents. Many water providers within Douglas County also source significant amounts of water from other metro districts, like Denver and Aurora.
The water shortage will put increasing pressure on these entities to focus on its own residents and users, rather than on the communities they export to. Pressure will mount on non-Douglas County water providers to conserve and retain their water for themselves.
This means a cut back of the water available to Douglas County residents and/or significant increase in cost. Experts are already focusing on the potential impact, if Aurora, whose water challenges are becoming more difficult by the day, pulls out of the WISE cooperative project that provides a large amount of water to Douglas County.
Couple that with the fact that Douglas County, like many Front Range communities, are overly dependent on the non-renewable Denver Aquifer. The county has already been strongly encouraged to find new, renewable sources of water to ease the demand on the Denver Aquifer.
Douglas County Does Not have Water Independence
County leaders have shown a commitment to ensuring independence on many complex issues. When the heavy-handed regional health department imposed mandatory COVID policies that were the wrong fit for the people and the economy of Douglas County, our leaders took the difficult but necessary step to create our own independent health department.
Finding a fiscally conservative solution to provide high-quality, renewable water in sufficient amounts to ensure true water security for our county’s future must be a top priority now. What Douglas County needs is a dependable source of renewable, clean water that isn’t contaminated with high levels of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) that Douglas County and its water providers own and control.
Douglas County – depending on non-Douglas County water providers to share their water they may need at home – is not smart public policy. If independence is important enough in public health policy, shouldn’t our vital water needs deserve an equal commitment?
Recent Headlines
PFAS water contamination ubiquitous, but treatment plants gaining ground
...A peer-reviewed study conducted by scientists at the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit activist organization, published in October 2020, estimated that more than 200 million Americans could have excess PFAS in their drinking water.
Colorado is one of several states that’s come under scrutiny in recent years for high concentrations of the chemicals.
A report released in June identified more than 200 state water providers that tested in 2020 above what the EPA defines as potentially hazardous PFAS levels and recommended they notify consumers. Researchers anticipate that other water sources in the state are tainted, as well, but have yet to be tested.
Some governors are turning voluntary land conservation into a culture war item
The Inflation Reduction Act includes $20 billion to boost voluntary land conservation in farm country. And it is coming at a time when some Republican politicians are attacking the Biden administration after it announced a goal to conserve 30% of the country's land and water by the year 2030. Nebraska Public Media's Elizabeth Rembert reports on the rhetoric around land conservation.
Federal government's 'underwhelming' plan for the Colorado River falls short of goal
For 62 days, the seven states of the Colorado River faced a mandate to come up with a plan to conserve 2 to 4 million acre-feet of water by 2023.
Failing to do so, Commissioner Camille Touton of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation warned, would mean the federal government exercising its authority to come up with a plan on its own to "protect the system."
...Negotiations among the seven states, including reportedly in Denver last week, failed to produce a plan.
Did You Know? Denver Water collects about 50% of its drinking water from tributaries of the Colorado River on the west side of the Continental Divide. More so, about 25% of Aurora's water comes from the Colorado River Watershed. The Colorado River crisis will impact Colorado's drinking water. And, let's not forget - Douglas County currently relies on water from Denver and Aurora.
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.
