ICY Colorado Takes On Looming Water Shortages

Officials Seek to Alter System That Pits the Eastern Part of the State Against the West

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DENVER—Officials in Colorado want to change how water is divvied up among its swelling population by altering a system that relies on piping water from west of the Rocky Mountains to thirsty cities in the east.

The state’s first water plan, a draft of which was approved Wednesday by the Colorado Water Conservation Board, acknowledges that current usage patterns are unsustainable. The plan seeks to ease rifts between Colorado’s water-rich, less populated Western Slope and the dryer, faster-growing Front Range by calling for more conservation and water storage, and fewer large-scale water projects.

Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper called for the study last year, given that a near doubling of the state population by 2050 could leave a shortage of 163 billion gallons of water annually and dry up huge swaths of farmland. It is bound to highlight friction between rural, urban and mountain town factions that have been battling over water here for more than a century.

The plan is intended to serve as guidance for local water officials, and it would be up to the Legislature to implement any of it as law.

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Wednesday’s vote by the water conservation board, which helps shape water policy for the state, sends the proposal to Mr. Hickenlooper for his review.

“We have to be more agile as a state if we are going to react to the changes that are right in front of us,” said James Eklund, director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board. “That is going to require trade-offs, and people are not going to be able to necessarily use the water they want to use all the time.”

Local officials at Wednesday’s meeting pleaded with board members to ensure the plan wouldn’t ultimately endorse diverting water away from mountain communities in the state. “The Western Slope in Colorado has no more water to give,” said Mike Samson, a Garfield County commissioner.

Colorado has long relied on the “prior appropriation” system, which grants water rights to the first person to take water from a river or aquifer no matter where they live.

Known as the Colorado Doctrine, the system has served as the template for much of the West, where water is scarce and cities must transport it from elsewhere. (East Coast states, where water is more plentiful, typically use the so-called riparian system, which gives rights to landowners whose property borders water sources.)

But unlike most other Western states, a water plan was never developed in Colorado, where water rights are viewed as private property.

Colorado’s plan notes that the western side of the Continental Divide holds 70% of Colorado’s surface water and just 11% of its population. The eastern side consumes 70% of the water.

Over the years, cities such as Denver have built tunnels, pumps and reservoirs to ship and store water from the Rockies. Western Slope communities often opposed those actions but could do little about them legally. Currently, 24 major tunnels or ditches carry water through mountains to serve the Front Range and eastern plains.

Many Colorado communities also purchase water rights from farmers, using the water the farmers transported from the Western Slope for municipal use instead, leaving agricultural land dry. The state plan notes that nearly one million acres of irrigated farmland could become parched in that manner, given projected population growth.

Some Western Slope officials worry the plan doesn’t do enough to dissuade more water-diversion projects, which they fear could damage local economies and ecosystems. Rachel Richards, a Pitkin County commissioner and former Aspen mayor, noted that nearly 40% of the flow from her county’s two rivers is already diverted.

With stream flows often depleted, she said, there is a concern that even with the plan, rural counties dependent on tourism and recreation will still bear the brunt of growth. “Folks don’t turn on the faucet and think, ‘Well, which river did this come from?’ especially if they came to Colorado from a water-rich state,” she said. “The question has become: ‘Are we willing to take the public recreation out of our rivers so that future population of Colorado can have East Coast backyards?’ ”

Jim Lochhead, chief executive and manager of Denver Water, which serves a quarter of the state’s population, said water-diversion projects do affect state rivers. But he noted that in recent years, the utility has entered into agreements with Western Slope counties to help mitigate those impacts.

Denver Water has paid millions of dollars to help the areas it draws water from, funding water treatment plants, water quality projects and other environmental measures. While praising the plan’s intent, Mr. Lochhead said regulations need to be eased so utilities can store more water. He said more collaboration between urban and rural areas was needed because of state growth.

“There is still a reflection of territorial protection and parochialism that is evident in the plan,” Mr. Lochhead said. “We need to figure out a way to bridge the gaps between the diverse river basins in Colorado and the diverse economic sectors of Colorado.”
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