Laserfiche WebLink
<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />Future Perspective of Secondary Water Supplv <br /> <br />Rural communities in Colorado, particularly in the High Plains, will likely experience <br />mounting demands on their potable water supply. Demands on potable supply are <br />furth~r increased by its use for both indoor (culinary) and outdoor (landscape and <br />recreational) purposes. <br /> <br />Many rural communities in eastern Colorado such as the City of Lamar are dependent <br />on well water, and are therefore obliged to plan for groundwater augmentation in the <br />future to restore aquifer depletions and to meet new state groundwater management <br />requirements. Water treatment and reuse will provide some relief to increased demand <br />for good quality potable well water, but likely at a significant cost. <br /> <br />In addition, planning for the use of potable supply for outdoor use will continue to involve <br />important tradeoffs. For instance, although the use of treated water for lawns, gardens <br />and municipal parks and recreation in High Plains communities continues to place a <br />burden on finite potable supply, this form of water use provides important amenities for <br />rural communities. Outdoor residential and recreational water use helps attract new <br />residents, many of whom are likely to be retirees. Retirees are now a rapidly growing <br />segment of the nation's population. Retirees are looking for housing and living costs <br />more commensurate with their retirement benefits, and some may well look to Lamar. <br /> <br />All of these constraints on potable supply will continue to occur in the context of an <br />uncertain rural community tax base, uncertainty about local demographic trends, and <br />uncertainty about the effective nature of local efforts, such as the recently formed Lower <br />Arkansas River Water Conservancy District that is designed to prevent future damaging <br />irrigation water transfers out of the area. <br /> <br />Meanwhile, political and economic pressure will continue to be exerted on surrounding <br />agricultural irrigation water users to move to more conservation-enhancing technologies <br />of canal transmission and on-farm application. Sprinkler systems, drip tape, and <br />associated changes in agricultural water use are often expensive. In short, there are no <br />easy solutions to future water needs for rural communities, either for potable well water <br />or stream fed irrigation water for farm use. Viable solutions may depend more on <br />improving cooperation between municipalities and agricultural water users. <br /> <br />In light of these trends, a sound strategy for a community still dependent on wells for <br />potable water supply may be to use groundwater for indoor use, while developing other <br />sources, such as canal company water from stock owned by the city to irrigate <br />landscapes. The City of Lamar is proceeding in this direction by proposing to develop a <br />pressurized secondary water system, based largely on water from canal company water <br />stock it currently owns in Fort Bent Canal and Lamar Canal. We believe this to be a <br />sound policy. <br /> <br />However, it is felt that other options are available for the management of the secondary <br />system, and we would hope that the City of Lamar would consider these. In fulfilling our <br />responsibility to explore all options and report them in this feasibility study, we offer the <br />following observations for consideration. <br /> <br />Aqua Engineering, Inc. <br />and Colorado State University <br />May 19, 2004 <br /> <br />Secondary Supply Feasibility Study <br />-8- <br />