What is the water situation in Colorado? (Denver, Colorado Springs: buying a home, buying)

[Coloradoan]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Most metro Front Range cities rely on streamflows from snowmelt for their water in one way or another (a lot of Douglas County being an exception). The City of Denver itself has been diverting water from the Western Slope for the better part of a century. For years, one of the most politically powerful organizations in Colorado was the Denver Water Board.

Now, the Front Range cities' appetitie for water has led to the "drying up" of unbelievable amounts of wetlands, farms and ranches over the years--and their hunger to dry up more areas seems unabated. A great example of this is South Park (the place, not the cartoon). South Park is a high alpine valley southwest of Denver. It is in the South Platte River drainage. When I was a kid in the early 60's, South Park had thousands of acres of subirrigated pastures. In summer, the cattle raised there would be up to their bellies in green grass. Virtually all of South Park was a lush, irrigated mountain wetland. Waterfowl abounded. During the 60's and 70's, Denver and Colorado Springs acquired most all of the water rights from South Park landowners and systematically began diverting that water to the Front Range for municipal use. Now, South Park is essentially dry, except for a small state wildlife area that is maintained as an irrigated wetland for waterfowl purposes. Look at that wetland today--and imagine it covering the whole of South Park. That's the way it was. Go a hundred or so miles north to Middle Park--in ways very similar to South Park. There are still some lovely irrigated ranches and wetlands there. Guess what? Denver already owns most of the water rights. When they expand their ability to divert and deliver that water to Denver, that beautiful area will also dry up. The sad thing is that all of the "newbies" moving into the cookie-cutter subdivisions don't even know what they are doing to the ecology, heritage, and agricultural economy of the state when they irrigate their lawn. They haven't been around long enough to see what has been destroyed. I have. Bitter? You bet.

As to why conservation is not more important (though even the water providers are starting to realize its inevitability), one needs to look to a couple of things. First, when most of the Front Range got its first long influx of "transplants" many decades ago, most of them were from the Midwest and East. They were used to green lawns, water-loving trees, and the like. So, that's what was planted and--at that time--there was enough water to support it. Second, the water providers themselves thirsted (excuse the pun) for power. The more water they controlled, the more power they wielded. So, they had little incentive to encourage conservation. Heck, until just a few years ago, Denver water wasn't even metered! Of course, many current transplants still hail from areas that are water-plentiful, and they still want green lawns, etc. So, the wasteful ways continue.

Here in the Rocky Mountain West, nature will allow to keep up this stupidity for only so long. As the saying goes, "Mother Nature bats last." She WILL eventually show us who's boss.

Jazzlover -

I appreciate your sharing your vast knowledge with us concerning the water situation in the west. Do you know what the situation is with the Oglala/High Plains aquifer? I understand there are dire predictions that this aquifer could potential be dry within the next 30 years! From what I have read the aquifer supplies 27% of the irrigation and drinking water to the states of Colo., Neb., S. Dak., Wy., and even Texas. This should be a major concern for everyone if this is indeed true.

[jazzlover]

The Ogallala aquifer is sort of a good news/bad news thing. I will say right up front that it is where I currently get my water, so I have a "dog in this fight," so to speak. First, the Ogallala aquifer extends northward from the Panhandle of Texas through the far eastern part of Colorado, western Kansas, southeastern Wyoming, and most of Nebraska. The Ogallala aquifer is indeed depleting. That's the bad news. The good news is that it is a gigantic aquifer, so it still has some life in it.

The southern end of the aquifer is the area that is depleting most rapidly. Many farms that were irrigated (using center pivots) out of the Ogallala in the Texas Panhandle and southwestern Kansas are now returning to dryland farming or grazing land. There still is some water there--it's just too deep (and thus too expensive) to economically pump. The drop in water table has also occurred in some locations in eastern Colorado and southwestern Nebraska, but is not as widespread in those places.

Relatively little of Colorado's population relies on the Ogallala for domestic water, but a lot of eastern Colorado farms rely on it for center pivot irrigation.

All of this is not to say that people should not be concerned about the Ogalalla--it is, in fact, being "mined" and not replenished. It is a longer term concern for it than, say, the Denver Basin aquifer. The Denver Basin is getting in serious trouble right now, and a LOT of people in Colorado (Dougals County, particularly) rely on it for domestic water.

[deegers]

hey everyone,
I heard mention of collecting rain water by barrels as a water source. Is it true "they" aren't allowing this method??? What are the specs on this issue? Do we have to get a permit for this?

[KarenG]

Does anyone know the water situation in Woodland Park?

[formercalifornian]

Originally Posted by deegers

hey everyone,
I heard mention of collecting rain water by barrels as a water source. Is it true "they" aren't allowing this method??? What are the specs on this issue? Do we have to get a permit for this?

I googled "Colorado rain barrels" and found a few good sites that discuss frequently asked questions about water usage laws. There were a few surprises for me, including a prohibition on the re-use of gray water (e.g., irrigating plants or flushing the toilet with used bath water), which I thought was okay. Obviously, if we can't used bath water to flush the toilet, rain barrels are out of the question. In fact, one could argue that it's not even legal to wash more than one child in the same bath water. Am I the only one who thinks these laws are totally unenforceable?

[Pathwalker]

Are these recent laws? I honestly don't understand the prohibition against using bath water to flush a toilet. At least fresh water isn't being used to wash away waste. To me it's more wasteful to flush the toilet with clean water than it is to use dirty water to wash away something that's even dirtier.

[hello-world]

not to mention that what's been considered the "average flow" of the colorado river - as estimated in the water rights compact for the Colorado River, the primary river basin of the southwest, for example - has recently been deemed to be potentially as much as a 50% overestimate relative to longer term averages. while people call dry spells over the past decade "drought" in the southwest with that conventional wisdom in mind, it may actually be closer to a historical norm!

people want everything - to live in the high desert and southwest, and for life to carry on it's merry way towards material shangri-la (you, yourselves, are 70%+ water, people). places like LA, phoenix and denver are cartoon like caricatures of that, with the incredible amount of consumption involved in the sprawl of these places out of what's otherwise deeply inhospitable country. jazzlover's input is excellent, here - colorado sounds a little like the owens valley boondoggle (and umpteen others...maybe in a slightly less nefarious way) of CA last century. if you're really interested in this stuff and wouldn't mind learning from some previous poor judgement, take a look at "Cadillac Desert" by Reisner some time. totally fun and readable account of the shady politics and ecological fallout of populating the west and especially southwest that has revolved around...water rights. with this and other natural resource issues (oil/war/economy/climate connections come to mind), do you wonder if or when all the irrigated lawns, SUV-driven ski trips, and general senses of entitlement might have to be...reconsidered?

[fpbear]

Is there any region on the front range stretching from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs that has plentiful water, or is it all desert on this side of the moutains? How far west is the cutoff point where the snowfall and afternoon rain storms provide an unlimited native water supply?

[randalmartin]

We haven't even approached our ability to conserve water appropriately. The problem is people move to Colorado and expect to live just as they did in a rain drenched area. There would be plenty of water if people Xerioscaped/Rockscaped, used re-circulation systems (for ondemand hot water) and many other conservation measures. Most people move to Colorado for it's beauty and climate. Expect to give back a little by taking less than is really necessary.

Have said all of this, Agricultural water use is by FAR the biggest waste of water. The current approach in this country is a shotgun approach. Just blast a bunch of water on the full acreage to grow things. The technology exists (Israel does a great job at this) to use much much less water to achieve the same crop yields. This country needs to invest in irrigation technology and then I think you could see a dramatic decrease in the amount of water consumed.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by fpbear

Is there any region on the front range stretching from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs that has plentiful water, or is it all desert on this side of the moutains? How far west is the cutoff point where the snowfall and afternoon rain storms provide an unlimited native water supply?

I don't know for sure, but I suspect somewhere around Omaha, Nebraska, which is 550 miles east of Denver. Most of the farms in Nebraska are irrigated (unless they are "dryland' farming).