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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.
Front Range Communities Buying Water “Insurance Policies”
Insurance policies are good things – for your home, your car, your life – and for water.
One of the major concerns across the West, including along the Front Range, is to prudently plan as the threat of drought never ceases.
This week, another neighboring community experiencing substantial population growth announced it is augmenting its water resources as a safeguard for when it may need additional future water.
Aurora Water made news recently by purchasing 4,800 acres of irrigated farmland in the Arkansas Valley – and the associated water rights – for $80 million.
According to a CBS Colorado story, the city has contracted with a private company to operate the land as an alfalfa farm when the city isn't using its water – and the city can access the water just three times in ten years.
Aurora officials made it clear that it felt the purchase was necessary to responsibly meet anticipated future growth.
Unlike some who want to avoid reality and keep a white-knuckled hold on the status quo, Aurora is showing how the continued reliance on the Denver aquifer is not sustainable.
It’s a forward-looking “all of the above” approach, welcoming ideas that a few years back may have seemed audacious and unnecessary.
In so many policy areas, Douglas County has shown that it is a leader in bold and innovative ideas that do not settle for the tired mantra of “we always did it that way.”
Public health, transportation, mental health – and now immigration policy – are examples of outside the box thinking.
It’s time to take note of the initiative that other Front Range communities are seizing and add water policy to the county’s portfolio of innovations.
Recent Headlines
City of Aurora buys Otero County farm and water rights
Colorado's third largest city isn't getting any smaller, and with more people comes an even higher demand for water. For decades Aurora 's leaders have come up with creative ways to access water in other parts of the state. One of those places is the Arkansas River Valley, about 150 miles away.
…"This transaction allows Aurora to access water that it needs, in order to meet the growing demands of our population," says Alexandra Davis, Assistant General manager of Water Supply and Demand for Aurora Water.
The city has purchased 4,806 acres of farmland irrigated by the Catlin Canal, along with its associated water rights for $80 million dollars and the city has contracted with a private company to operate the land as an alfalfa farm when the city isn't using its water.
Water and power collide in proposed $100 million Colorado River deal
…Beneath a noisy highway overpass, Moyer looked at the hydropower plant through a chain-link fence. Her group [the Colorado River District], a taxpayer-funded agency founded to keep water flowing to the cities and farms of western Colorado, has agreed to pay$98.5 million on rights to the water that flows through the Shoshone facility.
…Almost all of the $98.5 million for the river district’s acquisition of Shoshone’s water will come from public funds.
About $49 million is set to come from the federal government. The river district plans to request a chunk of money from a $4 billion pool given to the Interior Department in 2022 for Colorado River projects. The extraordinary infusion of federal money has so far been used to fund incentive programs designed to pay water users — mostly farmers and ranchers — in exchange for reduced water use.
This spring, Richter {hydrologist and water sustainability expert} and his team published an update of sorts, this time focusing entirely on the Colorado River.
…Findings included:
Irrigated agriculture is by far the dominant consumer of Colorado River water, accounting for 52% of overall consumption (which includes reservoir evaporation and riparian and wetland evapotranspiration) and 74% of direct human consumption.
Cattle-feed crops (alfalfa and other hay) consume more Colorado River water than any other crop category, accounting for 32% of all water from the basin; 46% of direct water consumption; and 62% of all agricultural water consumed.
Cattle-feed crops consume 90% of all the agricultural irrigation water in the Upper Basin — three times more than is consumed by municipal, commercial and industrial uses combined.
