Transcript Negotiating our Water Future in Colorado & the Colorado River Basin Colorado Basin Roundtable in cooperation with the Water 2012.org Celebrate WATER FLUENCY.

Negotiating our Water Future
in Colorado & the Colorado River Basin
Colorado Basin
Roundtable
in cooperation with the
Water 2012.org
Celebrate
WATER FLUENCY
Overview
 Colorado Water Overview (Water 2012 Speakers Bureau – statewide education effort)
 Water supply challenges
 In Colorado
 Basin-wide
 Constraints on water use
 The Colorado Basin’s predicament
 Statewide water planning/ seeking solutions:
•Key Players
•Basin Roundtable role
•Trade-offs
•How you can participate
Celebrate…because water is important
for all that we do
Celebrate…because Colorado is
a headwaters state
Snow falls in the mountains
Builds as snowpack
And drains in the spring and summer.
Nourishing 19 states and Mexico
© Western History/Genealogy Dept.,
Denver Public Library.
Celebrate… because water has shaped
Colorado’s history
Since the beginnings of settlement, mining and agriculture
Then what’s the
problem?
Population is
increasing but there’s
no “new” water
Municipal &
Industrial
9%
Environment
Agriculture
86%
Recreation
Many uses
compete for a
scarce and limited
water supply
8
Colorado’s “Gap”
Colorado River Basin Gap – it’s already here:
This year – we dodged a bullet:
Constraints on water use:
Solutions must recognize existing laws and agreements
 Colorado Water Law
 Colorado River Basin Compact
Basics of Colorado Water Law:
 First in time, first in right
 Water rights are property rights.
1922 Compact:
Upper Basin states must “not cause the flow of the
River at Lee Ferry to be depleted below an aggregate of
75,000,000 acre feet in any 10 consecutive years.”
Colorado Basin’s Predicament
• The 80/20 problem
• Stresses
• Water Planning/ Seeking Solutions
- 80% of Colorado’s population is on the Front Range.
- 80% of Colorado’s precipitation falls on the Western Slope.
Result: Transmountain Diversions
Figures from report “Water and its Relationship to the Economies of the Headwaters Counties,”
commissioned by the Northwest Colorado Council of governments.
Full report available at:
http://www.nwccog.org/index.php/programs/water-qualityquantity-committee/
Stresses
Headwaters: Low, Flat Flows
 Flows reduced by transmountain diversions.
 Ecosystem impacts: degraded habitat for fish, riparian vegetation
 Economic impacts: impediment to growth, tourism
Middle section: Flows depend on Shoshone Call
 Water quality concerns: natural gas drilling, saline springs
 Rapid population growth
Lower section: Flows depend on Cameo, Shoshone
 Salts and selenium leach into river when water percolates through soils.
 Less high-mountain water makes river saltier.
CO Water Planning - Key Players
Interest Groups
 Water utilities
 Farmers
 Industry
 Environmental Advocates
 Recreation Advocates
 Local governments
Institutions
 CO Water Conservation
Board (CWCB): State
studies & funding
 Basin Roundtables:
Stakeholder groups
established by the legislature
for “bottom-up” planning
 Inter-basin Compact
Committee (IBCC):
Roundtable of Roundtables
IBCC called for the “4-legged stool”
Already planned projects
(Windy Gap firming, Moffat Collection System, others) plus:
Conservation
Ag to Urban
Transfers
New Projects
(Colorado Basin
development)
Roundtables developed preferred portfolios of these elements to fill the gap &
contribute to a statewide water plan scheduled for completion in 2015.
Colorado Basin Roundtable:
Seeking Solutions
 Assessing Needs
 Consumptive needs: “the gap” inside the basin is manageable
 Water & energy study: appears to be enough water in the Yampa/White Basin
to support oil shale development
 Non-consumptive: mapping attributes+ flow evaluation tool
 Funding Projects




Reservoir enlargements
Watershed planning
Studies
Projects to address environmental and recreational needs
 Planning and Negotiating
 Analyzing the Gap
 Weighing Trade-offs
 Negotiating with other Basin Roundtables
Trade-off issues:
 Agricultural losses east of the divide generally go up as
Colorado River Water development goes down.
 Agriculture on the Western Slope is highly inter-dependent
with agriculture on the eastern plains.
 Many are worried about risk:
 To eastern plains agriculture if we “underdevelop” the
Colorado.
 Of a “compact curtailment” if we overdevelop it.
 Disagreement over how much can be saved via conservation:
more regulation may be required for bigger savings.
How You Can Participate:
 Monitor developments via e-newsletter; sign up at
to subscribe.
 Attend Colorado Basin Roundtable meetings: 4th Monday each
month, 1-4pm, Glenwood Springs Community Center
 Talk to your Basin Roundtable Representatives. Find the list at:
www.coloradomesa.edu/watercenter
http://www.coloradomesa.edu/WaterCenter/documents/ColoBRTlist.pdf
www.ColoradoMesa.Edu/WaterCenter
Water2012.org