25d ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 11/18/2007
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

-22-
While Denver officials count up water savings, they can't explain them. Water use is 25 to 30 percent
lower in the summer because of sprinkler cutbacks, Fisher said -landscape watering takes up 50 to 55
percent of the average household's overall use.
But winter use is also down 15 to 20 percent, a savings that can't be fully explained by rebate programs
like Denver's $2 million in givebacks for efficient washing machines.
This coming winter's forecast puts Colorado at the edge of the Northwest rain and snowstorms usually
attributed to La Nina. Oregon and Washington will benefit, and severely drought-stricken Idaho will see
relief, Svoboda said. In a La Nina year, Colorado's results depend on how storms track, to north or south.
While the central part of the state may fare well, the southwestern corner could dry out again.
The problem for Southern states, from the California coast across to Georgia, Svoboda said, is that warns
and dry conditions will persist under the La Nina pattern. Rapid population growth in those states now
puts them closer to the same kind of year-to-year danger traditionally seen in the Southwest.
WATER RECHARGE PROJECTS WORHING WELL: Managing aquifers is more than a pipe
dream in Colorado, and four success stories from around the state were shared this week at a conference
looking at state groundwater issues.
Stories of successful programs on Fountain Creek, the Rio Grande, the South Platte River and Denver
Basin Aquifer were shared at the Colorado Groundwater Management Policy Forum in Colorado Springs.
More than 250 people participated in the two-day conference that ended Friday.
The Widefield Aquifer, which runs along Fountain Creek, serves 40,000 people in communities south of
Colorado Springs. The aquifer also is used as a standby supply for Colorado Springs and to maintain
wetlands .
"After years of conflict over this resource, the water users agreed on a management program to pave the
way for optimal use of the aquifer, including large-scale aquifer recharge," consultant Gary Thompson
said.
Widefield, Stratmoor Hi11s and Security share the well field, taking advantage of inflows of 12,000 acre-
feet and storage capacity of 18,000 acre-feet, or about 5.86 billion gallons. Without recharge, the aquifer
participants have limited depletions up to 10,000 acre-feet per year.
Cooperation came only after fights dating back to the 1930s, Thompson said. At one point, there were 50
wells. Use expanded and tension grew as municipal use replaced agriculture.
Court cases in the 1960s attempted to deal with issues of well interference, draw-down of water tables,
expansion of water rights and timing of pumping, Thompson said.
Finally, in 1975, those affected agreed to cooperate using a computer model to chart hydrology, and later
a settlement was reached.
"The settlement did not include any provisions for replacement of depletions to Fountain Creek, even
though the Widefield Aquifer wells are very junior with respect to senior surface rights on Fountain
Creek," Thompson said.
The communities developed augmentation plans in the 1970s and 1980s, mainly using return flows from
Flood Protection • Water Project Planning and Finance • Stream and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection • Conservation Plarming