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A panel on the critical water shortage along the Front Range unveiled its report Thursday at a press conference on the DU campus.
Both Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and former Chancellor Emeritus Daniel L. Ritchie spoke at the press conference, which was held against the backdrop of DU’s most prominent water feature, the sparkling fountains and pools west of the Mary Reed building in the Humanities Garden.
Mayor Hickenlooper, who last year asked Ritchie to research water issues, praised the work of the panel, which consists of 24 representatives from Colorado industries. The panel issued a nine-point program to end competition among municipalities for Colorado’s water and encourage cooperation by business and agricultural segments.
This summer, the Denver Water Department said the demand for water will triple in the next 20 years. If not addressed, water supplies throughout Colorado will be in jeopardy. Ritchie and co-chair Ralph Peterson, the president and CEO of CH2M HILL created the Water Futures Panel and collaboratively developed a blueprint for water management and conservation. The panel became an affiliate of the Strategic Issues Program, started by DU; which selects, researches and constructs an expert panel on an issue of statewide importance each year.
The panel’s recommendations presented at the press conference were as follows:
-Embrace fairness, trust, respect, and openness is water supply planning
-Encouraging water conservation
-Encouraging partnerships between urban and agricultural water users eradicating non-native Phreatophytes (high-water consuming plants)
-Streamlining water court
-Encouraging statewide perspective on water storage and infrastructure projects
-Facilitating cooperation between river basins
-Planning for potential climate change and droughts
-Maintaining healthy rivers and instream flows
“Until everyone is concerned about water conservation, there is little we can actually do,” said Hickenlooper in opening remarks.
To see that the recommendations will be carried out, the panel plans to “send several copies of the report to constituents of each of the 24 panel members,” said Hickenlooper.
On the DU campus, despite its rapid growth in size of the student population, energy use continues to decrease each year.
“It is both political and cultural,” said Chancellor Robert Coombe, who attended the event. “We are lucky enough to have a community that supports water conservation,”
The full Panel report will posted on the DU Web site and is available at www.du.edu/waterfutures.
