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| 8/8/2009 6:00:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | State
faces
thirsty
future
Cities target agricultural water supply
Joe Hanel
Journal Denver Bureau
DENVER Ð Ten million people will live in Colorado by 2050, putting strains on the water supply that can only be met by taking water from agriculture and building new pipelines from the Western Slope to the Front Range, according to new government reports.
Reports from the Interbasin Compact Committee predict a doubling of the statewide population, with most of the growth happening on the Front Range. But the population of Southwest Colorado will grow at least that fast, to between 202,000 and 260,000, up from about 100,000 today.
All those new Coloradans will need water, and the reports predict a shortfall for cities and industry of 320,000 to 1.4 million acre-feet by 2050. The oil shale industry, if it exists, could take half a million acre-feet. An acre-foot is enough for one or two suburban families for a year.
The numbers point to ominous conclusions for Colorado's farm economy, predicting a continuing shift of water away from agriculture and toward cities.
"These reports further demonstrate why it is so important that Colorado address water planning with renewed urgency," said Harris Sherman, chairman of the Interbasin Compact Commission. "We have no time to waste."
But Western Slope water experts aren't in a hurry to talk about sending mountain water to the Front Range.
One of the IBCC's reports released last week considers six major projects to import more water to Front Range cities. Two siphon water from Front Range farming areas, while the other four would be pumpbacks from the Western Slope. They include a 400-mile pipeline from Wyoming's Flaming Gorge Reservoir and the much-maligned "Big Straw" from the Colorado River on the border with Utah.
Eric Kuhn, director of the Colorado River Water Conservation District, called the potential big projects "a recipe for disaster."
But he thinks they face large obstacles before they are built.
"Bigger projects are bigger targets. They're billions and billions of dollars. I think everybody assumes somebody else is going to pay," Kuhn said.
Indeed, the Northern Colorado Water Conservation District has floated a plan to pump Yampa River water to the north Front Range, but it couldn't build the pipeline without help from the state government, said Northern spokesman Brian Werner.
Right now, cities in Northern's service area get their new water from buying out the water rights of farmers, which can devastate rural economies.
"The bottom line is more people are going to be living in urban areas. And if we don't provide some options, the next option is to buy and dry," Werner said.
Kuhn thinks the Front Range hasn't been serious enough about conservation. Southern California has doubled its population without any new water, Kuhn said.
"They use and re-use and re-use water," he said.
Werner, however, said a new water source will be needed to save Front Range agriculture.
"It's not just conservation. There are people out there who think we can conserve our way to future supply. We just can't," Werner said.
So far, the reports are just drafts that IBCC members will discuss over the coming months. IBCC members are also waiting for the first part of a study on how much water Colorado can legally claim from the Colorado River Basin. The results should be in by December or January, said Eric Hecox, who coordinates the IBCC for the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
The IBCC and affiliated roundtables in each major river basin were formed in 2005 as a way to find consensus on Colorado's future water needs. However, members don't expect a grand bargain to be struck in the near future.
Hecox said committee members have begun discussing appropriate land use and population densities of Colorado cities, but water experts have no power to put a stop to growth entirely.
"We don't have a lot of control over whether the state grows. It's more how we grow," Hecox said.
Reach Joe Hanel at jhanel@cortezjournal.com.
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