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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.
Temporary Water Fixes or Long-Term Solutions?
Do Colorado communities want temporary fixes for water challenges or long-term solutions?
The current focus in Douglas County is short-term, season-to-season.
More and more government entities – from the federal government to the state of Colorado to local water districts – are simply paying farmers and ranchers a stipend to fallow their lands (temporary ‘buy and dry’) as a stop-gap solution to water shortages.
A recent media report said California farmers who use Colorado River water are being paid a federal stipend of about $300 per acre-foot to temporarily shut down water usage
No one is saying this is a long-term fix.
And solutions, among others, place all the burden on taxpayers or water ratepayers to foot the bill.
For decades, more creative thinkers have looked to public-private partnerships (P3s) to address major public needs by harnessing private sector innovation and capital.
From wildlife conservation to acquisition of open space to renewable energy projects, these partnerships have proven to be fiscally smart and highly efficient.
P3s represent a viable path forward for water security.
Increasingly, farmers and ranchers whose water rights date back, in some cases, 150 years or more, are looking for comprehensive ways to gain lasting value for their private property.
And, it’s not piecemeal payments of a few hundred dollars per acre foot.
Partnerships between forward thinking public sector leaders with innovators in the private sector can build upon efforts that entities such as Aurora and Colorado Springs are making to acquire water in places such as La Junta and Otero County.
P3s in Colorado and throughout the West will be a key part of an “all of the above” water security strategy.
And, where the right stakeholders have a seat at the table for long term solutions.
Recent Headlines
A Plan to Replenish the Colorado River Could Mean Dry Alfalfa Fields. and Many Farmers Are for It
A plan to help shore up the depleted Colorado River by cutting off water to alfalfa fields in California's crop-rich Imperial Valley is finding support from the farmers who grow it.
The Imperial Irrigation District — the biggest user of water from the 1,450-mile (2,334-kilometer) river — has offered to pay farmers to shut off irrigation to forage crops including alfalfa for up to 60 days during the peak of the sweltering summer. While farmers often balk at the idea of letting fields lie fallow, at least 80% of properties eligible for the new program have been signed up to participate, said Tina Shields, the district's water department manager.
..The idea to pay the farmers to halt irrigation arose last year as part of an agreement among Arizona, Nevada and California to aid the dwindling Colorado River, which provides water to 40 million people in seven U.S. states, parts of Mexico and more than two dozen Native American tribes — and saw water levels decline during a punishing drought.
Under the plan, the federal government agreed to spend $1.2 billion for users to temporarily scale back their water use. The goal was to conserve an additional 3 million acre-feet of water through 2026 — with more than half of those cuts coming from California — when current guidelines for how the river is shared expire.
WATCH: Tipping Point: Colorado River Reckoning- A PBS News Special
Forty million people depend on the Colorado River for water, but that vital resource is in peril. The river’s storage system has shrunk to an estimated 41 percent capacity as of June 2024.
Babbitt blasts Biden admin for ‘sitting on the bench’ in Colorado River talks
Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt is warning that negotiations over how to share a drought-stricken Colorado River among Western states are moving too slowly — creating a potential melee over dwindling supplies — and blaming the Biden administration for failing to aggressively intervene.
