Drought & Water Management - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

I. The Current Drought and the Future of Water Management in Colorado A. Background and Brief Overview For at least the last three years, Colorado has been in the grip of a serious drought. This year, as conditions became extreme, the state's residents have felt its full effect and demanded that public officials and water managers respond. Notwithstanding demand management measures, the most common response has been a call for more dams. Though this reaction may hold some appeal, its efficiency, effectiveness and fairness deserve close examination. In this report, after describing the state of the Colorado water economy and the value of water in various uses, we: 1) identify the principles for assessing future management strategies and projects; 2) review the hydrologic and economic impacts of the drought; 3) appraise the drought response of water managers; and 4) outline the structural and non - structural options for meeting future demands. B. Water in Colorado Colorado has a surprising abundance of water for a great variety of purposes, despite relatively low and unevenly distributed rainfall and a perception of water scarcity. This abundance is often obscured, however, by the inefficient way in which water is used. Many, if not most, water management utilities are making significant strides toward improving both their efficiency and system reliability. Nonetheless, while individual users, whether in cities or in rural areas, may be efficient from their point of view, at higher levels, like watersheds, the potential for improved efficiencies still exists. Viewing water as scarce often propels people to embrace strong opinions on what they see as a clear relationship between water availability and regional economic growth. Most accept the paradigm of the garden — more water means more growth. Government institutions, political leaders, agricultural and business interests, and ordinary citizens all seem to believe deeply in this concept. Investments in water supply systems, whether for irrigation or municipal and industrial purposes, are justified on the basis of their assumed positive impact on economic growth. Even those who challenge the benefits of growth usually do so while conceding that the water - growth relationship is immutable. To be sure, in an urban setting water serves a utilitarian purpose and in agriculture it is essential. In cities it goes hand -in -hand with other services and amenities citizens expect; in rural areas it is used in abundance for irrigation. Few would contest the assertion that the availability of natural resources has a role in facilitating regional economic growth. Time and again, empirical economic studies reach a surprising, but irrefutable conclusion: investments in water supply systems, particularly if locally financed, do not have a noticeable impact on a region's growth. These counter - intuitive results suggest that the process of planning and financing water resources development, particularly in cases where a major share of the project funding will be generated locally, must be rethought. If water is of limited or insignificant value in stimulating growth, public