Colorado has a serious water problem. With an exploding population, primarily along the Front Range, and declining water resources as aquifers are overpumped and surface water levels are troubled because of a serious drought, Colorado needs to take action to wisely use its water resources.
Most of Colorado’s water problems can be traced back to geography. Approximately 85-90 percent of the precipitation Colorado receives annually falls west of the Continental Divide, while about 85-90 percent of the state’s population lives east of it. Coupled with the fact that most of Colorado’s big agricultural counties also lie to the east, it is not hard to see the issue here, due to the amount of irrigation needed to maintain crop growth in a dry environment.
This problem has long been recognized, and as a result, 28 transbasin diversions have been built. There were two major waves of construction, one in the 1930s for agricultural purposes and another in the 1960s and 1970s mainly for municipal purposes.
These huge tunnels carry water from west of the Continental Divide, where water is more plentiful, underneath the mountains to the Arkansas and South Platte river basins in the east, where it can be used by the growing population along the Front Range. Approximately one-third of Denver’s water comes from west of the Continental Divide.
There are some important facts regarding Colorado water consumption that should be understood.
Daily Colorado water usage is about 14 million gallons, or about 3 gallons per person. Fully 91 percent of all water used in the state is used for irrigation, much of it on the arid Eastern Plains.
For Colorado households, 54 percent of domestic water use is used for landscaping (on a side note, most Front Range households have Kentucky bluegrass for their lawns, which requires about 45 inches of rain per year, while Denver’s annual precipitation is only about 15 inches per year).
But Colorado is not a state strained for water by any means. Annual snowfall in the mountains is more than enough for all residents and farmers in the state. This is a nice thought, but most of the water in Colorado’s rivers is contractually bound to other states downstream and cannot be used by Colorado communities if the drought we’re currently in worsens and resources are further strained.
Last week, a new project to pump water from aquifers under Douglas County to provide water to serve more than 100,000 people on the Front Range was moving forward. Project developers from Sun Resources, Inc. are negotiating contracts to sell this water to Douglas and El Paso counties, several of the fastest-growing areas in the state in terms of population.
But county and project officials warn that the project is simply a short-term solution to a long-term problem. Groundwater levels are dropping by up to 30 feet per year in some places, and it is unsustainable to simply keep pumping.
The good news is that Coloradans realize water is an important issue. A statewide poll conducted in late January by Public Opinion Strategies and Keating Research revealed that 70 percent of Coloradans are “extremely worried” about drought, while only 66 percent are “extremely worried” about jobs.
So what can be done?
Considering that 91 percent of Colorado’s water is used for irrigation, that is definitely the place to start.
Installing efficient drip irrigation systems as opposed to the relatively inefficient surface or spray irrigation systems generally used now will save much water in the future.
But drip irrigation systems are costly to install, and progress will be slow.
In the meantime, however, Colorado can mandate that farmers only water their crops at night, when far more water actually reaches the roots of the crops and far less is lost to evaporation.
On a household level, the basic approaches of not leaving the water running if it is not being used, taking shorter showers and checking to make sure there is no water being lost due to leaks are definitely a step in the right direction.
To really make strides, however, replacing lawn that is meant to be grown a thousand miles to the east with local flora that doesn’t require landscaping is the best way to have a meaningful impact.
As Coloradans, we have a duty to preserve the integrity of the state’s water resources for the future.
With a little bit of sacrifice, we can do just that and ensure that future generations of Coloradans can enjoy the same lifestyles we do today.
Although Colorado has tried to address persistent drought with transbasin diversions and recent legislation updating agricultural irrigation, additional efforts must be used to reduce wasteful household and agricultural watering that has led to gross overuse of this resource.
