Colorado Water Dec 2003

• Year: 2003
• Title: Colorado Water
• CWCB Section: Administration
• Author: Water Center of Colorado State University
• Description: December 2003 Issue
• Publications - Doc Type: Newsletter

it THE FUTURE OF MUNICIPAL WATER USE
by Peter Binney
City of Aurora Water Utilities
Iam going to talk about water supply uncertainty from the
municipal perspective. I want to try to put in context a lot of
the rhetoric and hyperbole that you hear about when cities are
planning their future water development programs. What does
the future hold for municipal water suppliers along the Front
Range? It all depends — it depends on where you are located in
the basin, it depends on what your water supplies include.
We have very diverse municipal water systems in the South
Platte basin: at one end of the spectrum, we have mature
regional water systems such as the Denver Water system
which has been established for over 100 years; and we have the
Colorado Big Thompson system. It happens that both of these
systems were developed before the environmental awareness of
the 1960s and the 1970s and include significant infrastructure
and reliable water rights portfolios. At the other end of the
spectrum you have metro districts and water and sanitation dis-
tricts, and this is where a lot of urban development is occurring
here in Colorado. These districts are primarily governmental
entities that were set up to provide access to local water sup-
plies, many of which are using the water resources in the Den-
ver Basin Aquifer. These entities have a major issue coming up
in the near future about how to continue to meet water demand
as the productivity of aquifer supplies are reduced because of
changing aquifer conditions.
Then you have the less developed integrated regional water
systems like Aurora. Aurora has been developing its water
system since the early 1950s when Denver Water pulled us
off their system. Significant investments in infrastructure and
water supply acquisition are needed to meet the demands of
these growing communities. These various water systems will
have different strategies as they compete for water to meet their
customers' needs for the future.
You have heard about the Three States Agreement. Not only
do we have increasing population and competition from the
water system users. We also have new users coming in to com-
pete for a fixed water supply. That can come from additional
demands for environmental benefits but also from an increas-
ing desire for instream recreational diversions. A lot of what
we're going to have to deal with is affected by how the State of
Colorado administers its water.
Population and water demand projections over the next 50
Years illustrate some of the burdens we will have to deal with in
the South Platte. We can solve our problems this year and next
Year; we will come out of this drought. But as you go further
out, to 2030, 2040, 2050, you will see that some very signifi-
cant changes will have to occur in the basin.
Figure 1. Front Range and Colorado Population Growth.
We have to answer the core question, as we are responding to
this drought -- Why do we continue to have population growth?
Why do we continue to build if we can't meet the water supply
needs of our current customers?
Many of you have seen the snake diagram of annual river flows.
We see here in the South Platte, from the water resources man-
agement standpoint, probably the last place you would want
to put a population center in Colorado, but that is where urban
growth is centered. We ended up with all of our people in per-
haps one of the driest parts of the state. So, we have a classic
supply and demand problem.
Trans -basin diversions -- A lot of what we hear as municipali-
ties is the need for legislated basin -of -origin protection -- this
begs the question about the rights of cities to bring water into
the Front Range. That fact is certainly provided for in the
State's water rights administration codes. Figure 2 is a rep-
resentation of all the current diversions along the Continental
Divide that deliver water into the South Platte River basin
These trans -basin diversions, constructed and operated over the
last 100 years, have significantly modified the hydrology of the
South Platte River basin. I fully expect these diversions will
continue to operate and be expanded in the future.
Another thing we hear about is the absolute sanctity of agricul-
tural water uses and how they should be preserved and pro-
tected against transfers to municipal uses. Given the provisions
of the State's water rights administration codes and the property
rights aspects of water rights, it should be expected that trans-
fers of agricultural rights will continue to be a viable alternative
for meeting future water needs in the cities. One of the biggest
areas of urbanization being supported by conversion of agricul-
tural rights happens to be in the Colorado -Big Thomson system.
The Rocky Ford system is a canal system where Aurora has
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