Colorado lawmakers tackle water supply gap

“Educational and affirmative and contradictory all at the same time”

More than 300 water professionals met in Westminster, Colo. last week to continue statewide discussion about the state’s projected water supply gap in 2050. According to Frank Kugel, Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District (UGRWD) board general manager, that’s 200 more attendees than Statewide Roundtable Summit organizers expected.

“There was good representation among the nine roundtables across the state, and the Gunnison Basin Roundtable in particular was well represented,” Kugel said.
Ten Gunnison Basin Roundtable members attended the summit, just one indication of many that momentum is building around water issues—particularly since the Statewide Water Supply Initiative of 2010 suggested that every waterbasin in Colorado will face water shortages by 2050. In December 2010, the Interbasin Compact Committee (IBCC) suggested a framework for addressing these shortages, and it was this report that informed the summit discussion. Attendees were divided among 29 tables and asked to consider specific aspects of the report: alternatives to agricultural transfer, new water supply projects, identified projects and processes (IPPs), conservation, non-consumptive uses like recreation, and the big one—fitting it all together.
According to UGRWD board member Steve Glazer, discussion highlighted the complexity of the issues at hand.
“It was an interesting dynamic in that there were a lot of water professionals that are on the roundtables… and there were volunteers. There was a noticeable [difference in] knowledge as a result. It was educational, and it was affirmative and contradictory all at the same time,” Glazer said. “Some of the less informed people need a lot of education because they’re not as aware of the intricacies and details.”
Increasing awareness of those intricacies was arguably the reason for the meeting, as UGRWCD’s Kugel experienced.
“It was an exceptional opportunity to learn what other basins are facing, and at the same time, educate them on what we’re facing. To let them know we’re not overwhelmed with extra water [on the Western Slope],” Kugel said.
But while there is little disagreement to the purpose and momentum behind the meeting, what happens next seems less clear.
“In some circles, especially on the Front Range, people want to see new water projects built,” Kugel continued, “but there are many of us on the Western Slope who believe that we need to address other approaches before we go to new water supply projects.”
Some studies, like a report released last week by Water Resource Advocates, suggest that conservation could fill much of the water supply gap. But as Steve Glazer points out, conservation is no easy topic either.
“The study suggests that with active conservation we can meet the gap or almost all of it, so new water supply projects may not be needed. But of course, water providers don’t want to eliminate new water supply projects,” Glazer said.
Whether the focus becomes conservation, new water projects, or a mix of approaches like the IBCC recommends, the stage is set for action. Governor Hickenlooper, who gave the opening address at the summit, has mandated concrete action on water issues within the next 18 months. And the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) has been working for the last year and a half to develop water policies to protect instate and interstate water supplies.
According to UGRWCD general council John McClow, the Gunnison Waterbasin representative to the CWCB, determining what “concrete action” means will ultimately be up to the CWCB. Where the IBCC was created to facilitate interbasin communication, the CWCB has been the statutory authority to shape water policy.
“The [IBCC report] has circulated now, and each of the roundtables will critique and give feedback. All of that input, together with the communication at this summit, will become version two of the framework,” McClow said. “Through this input process, we’ll get broad based grassroots input—information from the bottom up. And with that information, CWCB will be able to come up with a set of policies to govern the way forward.”
As part of this process, the Gunnsion Waterbasin Roundtable will continue to weigh in on the IBCC framework for solving water issues. Board members started this week, when summit participants presented a synopsis of the event at the Gunnsion Waterbasin Roundtable meeting in Montrose on March 7. And while the group agreed the summit was a worthwhile event, they will continue to hash out details, like the merit of state support for identified projects and processes and the importance of county control.
In the meantime, roundtable members seem cautiously optimistic. One thing, at least, seems clear—even with concrete action mandated in 18 months, the conversation is far from over.
“What’s the movie, The NeverEnding Story? This is a never ending story because it’s a fluid and dynamic story. The drought of 2002-2003 was a wakeup call. It sobered a lot of people who thought we had an unlimited resource,” Glazer said. “In order for anything to be successful here, we’ve got to educate the public. All the public knows is they turn the water faucet on and water comes out.”