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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.
Parker Water Board Hides From Citizen Scrutiny
Being open to public scrutiny, transparency and accountability is the backbone of good government.
A new tool that many public bodies have adopted – especially since the pandemic – is to livestream meetings, making it convenient for constituents to participate in real-time and get the facts and provide comments.
But not the Parker Water & Sanitation Board.
If your home or business is one of the more than 21,000 Parker Water accounts – or if you are just an interested citizen – good-luck accessing the board meetings remotely.
If you have a concern, or simply want to be more informed about the water provider you support with your hard-earned dollars, Parker Water wants you to participate the old fashioned way.
Dig up the date and time of the meeting. Get in your car. Drive down to the (new luxury ratepayer funded) headquarters and find a seat.
How many people are really going to do that?
Parker Water, known for wanting to keep scrutiny – particularly of its spending practices – to a minimum, is clearly counting on suppressing ratepayer participation.
But it is hard to blame Parker Water for wanting to operate in the shadows.
Any entity that builds itself a $51 million headquarters – plus $1 million in new furniture – would want to avoid questions from its constituents.
It also helps isolate them from citizen inquiries about expensive land acquisitions and a proposed water plan with a price tag seems to rise by the month.
The resistance to transparency is at odds with most other public entities in Douglas County. For example, most of the county’s boards and commissions – including the Douglas County Water Commission – provide online access to meetings as they happen.
Perhaps one day Parker Water will find a way to adopt mainstream technology, hook up a Zoom call, and become the kind of transparent, accountable entity its ratepayers need and deserve.
Recent Headlines
Colorado Supreme Court “slow sip” ruling could affect city water supplies from Greeley to Castle Rock
The decision on nonrenewable groundwater well permits is expected before the end of the year
Nearly 40 years ago, after watching aquifers below Douglas County plunge amid fast growth and heavy use, Colorado lawmakers adopted a “sip slowly” management process that required communities such as Parker and Castle Rock to pump out fixed amounts of nonrenewable groundwater each year in an effort to make the resource last at least 100 years.
Fast forward to 2020. That year, the state directed well owners to sip even more slowly, explicitly stating how much water their permits entitled them to, and requiring them to stop pumping at the end of that 100-year period if they have fully used the water to which they were entitled when the original well permits were issued.
But Parker and Castle Rock objected, suing the state over the new permitting language.
...Aurora and Greeley joined the case, siding with the state. A special water court ruled against Parker and Castle Rock, which together appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court. The high court is expected to issue a ruling in the case before the end of the year, according to spokeswoman Suzanne Karrer.
…When it became clear in the 1980s and 1990s that the aquifers were in decline, Douglas County communities began reducing the amount of water they were taking out of the aquifers, adding surface supplies from the South Platte River and Cherry Creek, and building multimillion dollar water recycling plants so they can reuse the water they already own.
New I-25 Crystal Valley interchange to open in Colorado's Douglas County in 2027
In Douglas County, development is underway on the highly anticipated Crystal Valley Interchange project. Construction started back in March, but the idea has been in the works since the 1980s.
…On the west side of I-25, a Costco is expected to open in 2026. Thousands of homes in the "Dawson Trails" development will follow.
Colorado’s congressional delegation urges feds to support historic Colorado River water deal
Six members of Colorado’s congressional delegation, including Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, have come out in support of a $99 million effort to secure historic Colorado River water rights, a move that would provide environmental benefits and protect Western Slope users from any potential future sale.
…The letter comes roughly one year after news of a draft purchase agreement between Xcel and the Glenwood Springs-based Colorado River District became public.
And it arrives just weeks after Northern Water, one of the largest Front Range users of Colorado River water, raised concerns about the project. Northern and other large utilities, including Denver Water and Pueblo Water, rely on the Colorado River for large portions of their water supplies, which are piped from the Western Slope to local reservoirs. Those supplies could be affected if the flows in the river change as a result of the purchase and operation of the power plant.
To protect its water future in the long-run, Greeley is planning a major new aquifer storage facility on the Wyoming border known as the Terry Ranch. The city wants to ensure water it stores underground isn’t inadvertently tapped by other users whose pumping could siphon off the city’s supplies.
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.
