Cooling Colorado’s water wars

The devastating 2002 drought brought Colorado’s water supply problem to the surface. Studies indicate that Coloradans will need an additional 630,000 acre-feet (205 billion gallons) per year of new water by 2030 to meet a projected 53 percent increase in municipal and industrial demands.

Approximately 2.8 million more people are expected to call Colorado home by 2030, and most of them, almost 2.4 million, will live along the Front Range. But the greatest percentage increases are expected in Western Slope and mountain communities, where municipal demands will nearly double from present day levels. The shortage is exacerbated by the fact that almost 90 percent of Coloradans live along the Front Range, from Pueblo to Fort Collins, but approximately 80 percent of the state’s water is found in rivers and streams on the Western Slope.

Although the problems were clear, the solutions were not. Colorado’s concerns about its water supply had many voices. An agricultural water supplier saw municipalities depleting the supply for ranchers and farmers who needed it to irrigate crops and care for livestock, while other agricultural users wanted to be able to continue to sell their water rights to municipal users. Municipal and business leaders feared diminishing water supplies and depletions of non-renewable aquifers would adversely affect their local economies. Rafting companies, fishing guides and ski areas saw drought conditions hitting their bottom lines. At the same time, conservation groups and local governments struggled to protect streams and river flows to safeguard natural habitats and species.

Assessing the situation

Colorado state legislators sought an initiative to meet the state’s future water needs. The legislature asked the state Department of Natural Resources’ Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) to perform an 18-month study — the Statewide Water Supply Initiative (SWSI) — to determine how it would maintain an adequate water supply for its residents and the environment.

Finding ways to accommodate the state’s diverse interests, however, was a challenge. SWSI’s approach was to conduct technical roundtables that included representatives from multiple interests within each of Colorado’s eight major river basins. They included local governments, water providers, agricultural users, recreational interests, the environmental community and the business sector. The roundtables’ composition helped ensure that the full range of local priorities and expertise was reflected in the study’s findings and solutions.

Meeting four times in each basin from September 2003 through October 2004, the roundtable members exchanged ideas, reviewed water supply and demand data, identified and summarized planning initiatives, and helped guide the development of water supply and demand objectives and strategies. Each basin identified projects or strategies that are being planned or considered to meet its future water needs. SWSI’s water management objectives and performance measures were used to gauge the ability of the solutions to meet the diverse range of interests of water providers and users. They ranged from meeting municipal, industrial and agricultural demands to enhancing recreational opportunities.

One basin’s experience

The Arkansas River Basin, Colorado’s largest basin, provides a good example of the water supply issues that stakeholders confronted statewide: balancing the needs of increased population growth with agricultural and recreational use. The Arkansas basin covers 19 counties, including the Colorado Springs and Pueblo urban areas. Between 1990 and 2000, the population in the region increased by 27 percent and now accounts for nearly 20 percent of the state’s residents.

Consistent with overall state water use, 85 percent of the Arkansas basin’s water is used to irrigate agricultural land, with about 1.7 million acre-feet diverted annually for irrigation out of a total 2 million acre-feet used. The basin also is popular for fishing and river rafting, which are both economically important to the area, particularly in the mountainous headwaters of the basin. Furthermore, 173,000 acre-feet of additional water storage will be needed to support growth in the Arkansas basin through 2040, according to a recent Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District study.

With so many competing demands for water, along with explosive population growth and stringent environmental requirements, SWSI incorporated the perspectives of all roundtable members. That was done by creating a list of statewide water management objectives and using them to evaluate future water supply options. The final set of water management objectives included sustainably meeting municipal, industrial and agricultural demands; optimizing existing and future water supplies; enhancing recreational opportunities; protecting cultural values; and complying with all applicable laws, regulations and water rights.

After the objectives were decided, roundtable members could move away from individual agendas and toward meeting a broad range of needs. “The focus of the meetings was to build a consensus to address specific issues within the river basin,” says Gary Barber, consultant for El Paso County Water Authority. Decisions were not based on majority rule, but, according to Barber, “on discussions seeking common ground between diverse interests. It helped us move away from a focus on what each group wanted to win and move toward what we, as a state, didn’t want to lose.”

Once the roundtable developed water supply options for the Arkansas basin — such as building new storage, enlarging existing storage, rotating agricultural transfers and expanding water conservation — the SWSI team identified each roundtable member’s preferred options and led discussions about the benefits and issues of each water supply option.

As a result, the decisions were based on shared, not individual, needs. Participants understood each others’ interests and sought ways to meet multiple objectives with solutions — such as a new or expanded reservoir that included storage for both municipal use and downstream flow enhancement. They also discussed rotating agricultural transfers that would allow agricultural water to be leased to municipalities on a temporary, rotational basis, which can preserve existing agriculture while providing cities with water in times of drought.

The roundtable members also established relationships that ideally will continue after the initial phase of SWSI concludes this month. “The roundtables were a very good way to bring together diverse stakeholders who ought to be working together but hadn’t been,” says David Nickum, executive director of Boulder-based Colorado Trout Unlimited. “I am encouraged that conservation options associated with municipal and industrial uses will be given serious consideration, and hope that the conversations begun between the roundtable participants will help those diverse interests continue to work together.”

Moving forward

In Colorado, the responsibility for water supply planning and development rests with the local and regional water providers. Throughout the state, local water providers have identified ways to meet the majority of the state’s increased demand. Strategies for the Arkansas basin include enlarging existing storage reservoirs, acquiring agricultural water rights and transferring them to municipal and industrial use, and enhancing water conservation and reuse programs. Current and planned water projects and management options are expected to supply approximately 80 percent of the additional 630,000 acre-feet of water needed by 2030.

In spite of the progress, SWSI found that there are no firm plans for the remaining 20 percent, or 126,000 acre-feet per year, of municipal and industrial water needed by 2030. That problem is spread across many of Colorado’s eight basins but is greatest in the Arkansas and South Platte basins, whose populations are the fastest growing along the Front Range.

The 20 percent gap is partially attributable to the lack of a local government water provider that has the responsibility for providing water supplies to the new growth areas. Other areas have identified potential solutions for meeting future water needs, but the ability to implement the solutions is uncertain because of permitting or financial constraints.

The CWCB plans more basin roundtables to address the problems, and will discuss inter-basin and future water management issues through 2005. The state also will be evaluating approaches to prioritizing stream reaches for flow enhancement; identifying ways for those who will benefit from flow-enhancements to participate financially; assessing interstate and intra-state compacts governing the use of available water supplies; and assessing the state’s role in addressing water management issues.

SWSI is the most far-reaching effort ever undertaken to understand Colorado’s water supply and demand. Understanding the trade-offs between water development and management, and making wise decisions is essential. SWSI has asked Coloradans to shift away from individual, parochial needs and agendas toward recognizing that the water issues facing each basin affect the entire state. By taking both a basin and a statewide approach to managing water resources, SWSI has given the CWCB the comprehensive perspective needed to provide all Coloradans with safe, sufficient, long-term water supplies.

Rod Kuharich is director, and Rick Brown is project manager at the Colorado Water Conservation Board. Kelly DiNatale is a principal, Susan Morea is vice president, and John Rehring is an associate in the Denver office of Cambridge, Mass.-based CDM.