We are booming,” says Jorge Figueroa, water policy analyst for Western Resource Advocates. In population, that is. But there’s a problem, he says: “You can’t have growth if you don’t have water.”
According to a 2014 report by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, the population of Colorado is expected to see an additional 2.5 million people by 2040. For the drought-plagued West, population growth presents a challenge, but some water advocates argue that the gap between the water available and the water that will be demanded by future growth can be closed with increased preparation efforts, including conservation.
Throughout much of the West, even a subtle mention of “drought” can spark looks of fear and talks of impending doom. While drought is certainly a cause of concern for the growing West, it is also something for which we can prepare and which we’ve survived before. For as far back as scientists know, drought has been a part of the makeup of the West.
“The West has been experiencing drought on and off for as long as we have information about rainfall,” says Sally Thompson, University of California at Berkeley professor and hydrologist. This, as it turns out, is a long time. Through a detailed study of the oldest living trees in California, scientists have analyzed drought records that date back almost 5,000 years. Supplementing this study are thousands of additional precipitation data sets collected with modern meteorology equipment.
“Every data source we have suggests that droughts are a natural part of the climate of the Western USA,” Thompson says.
Water advocates are working to adapt the way we use water to better prepare for inevitable future droughts.
“Drought is also going to compel us to make those changes even if we are not willing to,” Figueroa says.
In Colorado, the timing to implement change couldn’t be more perfect. The state is developing its first state water plan, which became available online on Dec. 10. According to the Colorado Water Plan website, the plan hopes to “provide a path forward for providing Coloradans with the water we need while supporting healthy watersheds and the environment, robust recreation and tourism economies, vibrant and sustainable cities, and viable and productive agriculture.”
Achieving this goal will require addressing the ever-present disparity in the West between water supply and water demand.
“There is going to be a gap between projections of [water] demand and projections of supply,” says Joseph Kasprzyk, University of Colorado Boulder professor and water resources specialist.
During times of drought, obviously, that gap can grow even larger. In California, some water users are facing the consequences of a serious drought and few options for recourse. According to a 2014 report from the California Department of Water Resources on the current extreme drought in California, water allocations to State Water Project users have been decreased to zero. This includes cutting off water to approximately 750,000 acres of irrigable farmland. One of the most productive agricultural regions in the world has been left in the dust to fend for itself.
Is it possible, however, that the West can adapt to avoid having to make these sorts of harsh water allocation decisions? Figueroa remains optimistic.
“If you do smart water infrastructure projects, if you do [agriculture]-urban cooperation … if you maximize reuse and conservation, you would not only fill the gap for the Front Range but you would have water in excess,” he says. “Conservation is the fastest, cheapest way that you can help cities deal with drought and with climate change.”
River conservation activists have raised concerns about the consideration of any new infrastructure projects in Colorado, which could include dams, reservoirs, diversions and pipelines. The draft of Colorado’s Water Plan makes mention of several of those, including the Northern Integrated Supply Project, Windy Gap Firming Project and Moffat Project, as well as mention of another possible major trans-mountain diversion.
“We have serious concerns about the process and product of this Draft Colorado Water Plan,” Gary Wockner, director of the river protection groups Save The Poudre and Save The Colorado, said in a press release. Colorado’s rivers are already severely depleted and oversubscribed, and this Draft Plan would make them all worse. Governor Hickenlooper needs to change course and focus on collaborative solutions that do not pit stakeholders against each other and would not launch multi-decade court battles and water wars over dam and river destruction projects.”
He advocates for investments in water conservation, efficiency, reuse and recycling in addition to growth management and water-sharing agreements with farmers.
Household conservation can include such methods as installing low-flow showerheads and toilets, replacing lawns with native vegetation and being increasingly conscious about everyday water use. In the search for water, every small saving makes a difference.
Extending beyond the household to the grand regional scale, the West can focus its attention to its thriving agricultural industry. According to a 2010 report by the Statewide Water Supply Initiative, 86 percent of Colorado’s water goes to agriculture.
“One part of it is making irrigation more efficient, but then there’s the whole other question from a systems perspective of what crops are we growing and what crops should we be growing,” Kasprzyk says.
Small improvements in irrigation efficiency integrated with smart crop management can have substantial impacts on regional water conservation.
As the population grows and cities begin to expand, new opportunities arise to facilitate water cooperation between the agricultural and urban sectors. Cooperative agreements encourage sharing unused water instead of wasting it. A 2012 Filling the Gap report released by Western Resource Advocates in collaboration with Trout Unlimited and the Colorado Environmental Coalition states that “voluntary and compensated ag/urban cooperative water sharing arrangements can provide 129,000 acre-feet of new supply for the Front Range annually by 2050 without permanently drying irrigated acreage.”
Water reuse presents another method to prevent wasting usable water. The same report projects that through maximizing opportunities for water reuse the “Front Range will have approximately 246,000 acre-feet of reuse water available annually in 2050.”
What is necessary to make these changes come to fruition?
“A good beginning would be funding,” Figueroa says.
Preparing for growth through adaptive water management will require a commitment from a diverse group of contributors, Kaspryzk says, adding, “This is an integrated problem that requires a lot of people to collaborate to find solutions.”
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