Gunnison Basin Water: No Panacea for the Front Range

• File Number: 8230.2G
• Description: Related Reports
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 4
• Author: The Land and Water Fund of the Rockies
• Title: Gunnison Basin Water: No Panacea for the Front Range
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

Meeting Water Demand Without Gunnison Water
a more advanced water conservation program than most other providers in the larger
metro area. If other area providers were included, the efficiency of water use in the
metro area, as measured by per capita consuxnption, would show even more room for
improvement.
190
200 163
142 127 130 149
150 112
100 I
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2001 Single Family Residential Daily Per Capita Water Use. "'
As the above graph makes clear, Denver residents use considerably more water
per-capita than residents in several other southwestern cities.''° In 2001, Denver's
single-family residential (SFR) use was 163 gallons per capita per day (gpcd). By
comparison, in the same year El Paso had a SFR use of 127 gpcd. Tucson had an even
lower SFR use figure: 112 gpcd. We focus on the residential sector, and SFR use in
particular because it represents a large percentage of urban water demand and cities
have more consistent accounting data available for this sector than for others.
Importantly, cities that have lower per capita use than Denver have even hot-
ter average temperatures and sometimes receive half as much precipitation as
Colorado's Front Range. Yet they still have achieved excellent water efficiency as a
result of aggressive price structures, rebates and incentives, and landscape regula-
tions. The gap between Denver's performance and cities that have pioneered better
water efficiency means Denver has many options left to explore.
Following the lead of these cutting-edge cities, it is entirely reasonable to
believe that the Denver area could reap conservation savings of a minimum of anoth-
er 100,000-150,000 AFA over the next several decades through several avenues.
b. Outdoor Conservation Savings
In the Denver metro area outdoor uses comprise about 549/o of urban water
uses.159 Most of this water goes to irrigate bluegrass and other water-loving turf.'s° A
portion of this water can be conserved through more wide-spread use of urban
Xeriscape'`''.
Xeriscaping offers a much lower water-using alternative to bluegrass lawns.
Xeriscape incorporates seven principles to promote quality landscapes, water conser-
Gunnison Basin Water • 37 •