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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.
Comprehensive Study Shows Depth Of 'One-Two' Punch Douglas County is Facing on Water
Colorado communities, including Douglas County, are in an increasingly tough spot as growing population puts pressure on water supplies adversely impacted by climate issues that go well beyond periodic drought. What roadmap should leaders follow to truly address this major challenge?
A Colorado research center offers a comprehensive, bold analysis of Colorado’s water crisis.
A detailed, 95-page report from the highly respected, nonpartisan Common Sense Institute offers not only a stark diagnosis of the state’s growing water crisis – but a wide range of solutions. The report “Adapting Colorado’s Water Systems for a 21st Century Economy and Water Supply,” underscores that Colorado is “entering a new era of water supply uncertainty.”
The primary factors combining to spark this uncertainty are rapid population growth, declining Denver Basin aquifer and a changing climate.
CSI points out that Colorado can no longer simply look to the current climate challenges as a temporary period of drought. Rather, our state is in a more permanent change known as “aridification,” which will result in far less runoff.
As our population grows and with most current and incoming residents of Douglas County preferring to purchase homes, reliable water service is a major factor in the cost of housing. The report notes the cost of water “is expected to escalate and become a driving factor in the housing market, impacting rates of homeownership…”
The report also shows that housing affordability is a bedrock factor in maintaining economic competitiveness and attracting a skilled workforce.
There are numerous solutions, and the CSI report encourages bold, “out of the box” collaborative thinking among policymakers and elected officials. This includes a detailed and informative review of the current uses of trans-basin diversions, which many citizens may be surprised to see as a common method to source for the Front Range.
Transporting water from areas with water resources to communities experiencing tremendous growth and in desperate need of additional water is highlighted as a solution. In fact, trans-basin diversions transport 500,000 acre-feet per year out of the Colorado River.
Douglas County is exactly the type of community that faces this new era of water uncertainty: a growing population relying on a non-renewable water supply that is increasingly challenged by a drier climate.
This is a grip on our County that is tightening month-by-month. It is time to adopt – and invest in – an “all of the above” approach to expanding our water resources.
Recent Headlines
Nevada to upper Colorado River basin states: time to contribute to the shortfall
The Southern Nevada WaterAuthority, which manages that state's share of the Colorado River water, has suggested that the time has come for Colorado and its upper Colorado River basin neighbors to contribute some of its water to help with the situation at Lake Powell and Lake Mead.
In a Dec. 20 letter to Tanya Trujillo, assistant secretary for water and science at the U.S. Department of the Interior, the authority suggested the upper basin states - Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico - should be required to reduce water use by 500,000 acre-feet, with that water released to Lake Powell.
Can the West save the Colorado River before it’s too late? Here are 8 possible solutions
Conditions on the drying Colorado River are worsening faster than expected. States can’t agree on how to divide water cuts. Native American officials say they’re still largely shut out from the bargaining table and murmurs of a dystopian “water war” scenario now punctuate the conversations.
At risk are the country’s two largest reservoirs — lakes Powell and Mead — both of which are losing water. Levels could drop so low this year that Glen Canyon and Hoover dams would no longer be able to generate electricity for millions of people.
...Federal officials need the seven states in the Colorado River Basin to save at least 2 million acre-feet but water managers now acknowledge that number might need to be three times higher, enough to bury the entire state of Rhode Island under more than seven feet of water.
The Denver Post spoke to experts across the region about ideas, both substantive and farfetched, that could save enough water to keep the Colorado River Basin afloat. Nobody could say precisely how much water a given strategy might provide but each of them acknowledged that officials throughout the American West must think creatively and be prepared to use any and all available resources.
Did you know there are economic consequences if our state cannot meet the water gap? The following table summarizes the economic impacts by 2050 of not closing the projected supply gaps in the South Platte/Metro Basin in the 2017 Colorado State Water Plan.
Reduced Economic Output: $43 billion to $72 billion
Reduced Gross Regional Product: $25 billion to $41 billion
Reduced Employment: 273,000 to 442,000 jobs
Reduced Labor Compensation: $16 billion to $27 billion
Reduced State and Local Tax Revenues: $2.7 billion to $4.7 billion
Reduced Consumer Welfare: $0.7 billion to $1.3 billion
