The River Blog

There is nothing more important for Colorado’s future than water. Given that, few things are more critical than the current effort to create a statewide Colorado Water Plan. In 2013, Governor Hickenlooper instructed the Colorado Water Conservation Board to conduct a two-year long planning process to develop a codified approach for how to manage our limited water resources. That process is underway now, and it is the last best opportunity for you to make your voice heard about how our rivers will be managed for the next century. The Colorado Water Conservation Board believes that Colorado will need significantly more water by the year 2050. Much of this water has to come from a source that has not yet been identified. A need without a solution is a recipe for crisis.

The Upper Colorado River near Pump House | Ken Neubecker

Some are pushing for a new diversion from the Colorado River – this represents outdated thinking, and is no longer a viable option. While 80% of our water falls on the western side of the Continental Divide, and 80% of the population lies to the east, there is little left to drain from the Colorado River that isn’t already spoken for. Some headwater streams already see as much as 60% of their water pumped to the east side of the divide, and the proposed expansion of existing projects could take even more, let alone what any new project may suck from the river. This solution is simply not sustainable. Any new diversion from the Colorado River system, whether from the Green River in Wyoming, the Yampa or the Colorado can no longer be a reliable source of water for the growing Front Range. There simply isn’t enough water left without further crippling both the West Slope and Colorado’s ability to meet downstream obligations we agreed to back in 1922, in the Colorado River Compact.

Here are the facts:

• There isn’t any water left to take that could be considered “reliable”. We have already crossed the line of taking more water, basin wide, from the Colorado River than is supplied by its native flow.
• The West Slope has its own “gap” of water needs with no identified source of supply. West Slope agriculture, for instance, is already short by 100,000 acre feet per year. Any new diversions could worsen the situation and contribute to the loss of more West Slope farms.
• Lake Powell and Lake Mead, our Colorado River Compact “storage banks”, are less than half full, and have been for more than a decade. If Lake Powell were to reach a level where hydroelectric power can no longer be generated, electric rates throughout Colorado could quadruple. If Lake Mead were to drop much lower the water supply for the two million people of Las Vegas could be cut off, something the Bureau of Reclamation simply cannot allow.
• Water supplies for endangered species of the Colorado near Grand Junction could be compromised.
• There are additional proposed diversion projects in the planning stages, which could divert an additional 150,000 acre-feet from the Colorado River headwaters to the Front Range. These diversions would further degrade the already heavily impacted, and in some cases collapsing, river environment of the Colorado headwaters.
• New diversions could also cause substantial negative impact to the West Slope’s $9 billion dollar recreation economy, causing serious consequences for Colorado jobs and economic opportunity.

A small farm on the banks of the Upper Colorado River | Ken Neubecker

One of the key water values cited by the Governor in his executive order to create the Colorado Water Plan was “a strong environment that includes healthy watersheds, rivers and streams, and wildlife.” This declared value would be lost if we continue to drain our rivers beyond the breaking point as we have in the Colorado River headwaters. It has been said that when the water “crisis” hits, no one will care about the environment. In many ways the “crisis” is already here, even if we can’t see it. Colorado’s population is projected to double by 2060. Reaching into the old bag of tricks for new supplies of water from the West Slope will no longer work. As the hardest working river in the west, the Colorado River is no longer available. We need to move from the historic tensions and animosities of the past to what CWCB Director James Ecklund called a “creative tension”, a more cooperative “tension” that guides us in finding new ways to provide water for farms, communities and rivers.

The recreation economy of the Colorado River contributes $9 Billion to Colorado’s bottom line | Sinjin Eberle

We know what the path forward needs to look like. Our recent report detailed five steps for protecting river health, ensuring greater economic vitality, and securing water resources for millions of Americans, as well as putting water back into the Colorado River:

1. Municipal conservation, saving 1 million acre-feet
2. Municipal reuse, saving 1.2 million acre-feet
3. Agricultural efficiency and water banking, saving 1 million acre-feet
4. Clean, water-efficient energy supplies, saving 160 thousand acre-feet
5. Innovative water opportunities, generating up to 1 million acre-feet

We should embrace this new approach – one that satisfies a thirsty population, sustains our vibrant agricultural traditions, and maintains healthy rivers for everyone to enjoy and thrive. Colorado isn’t Ohio, and 150 years of trying to change that hasn’t worked. The sooner we, and the Colorado Water Plan, recognize this, the better.