Colorado Water Dec 2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Water Conservation -- Part of how municipalities can meet their needs will be water conservation — we will change the ethic of water use in municipalities to be more representative of a semiarid area. When people talk about water conservation, what does that mean? You'll see increased programs for using reclamation of sew- age and expansion of nonpotable water systems. Eventually, you will see the first planned, indirect potable water systems. The technology is there now, but we have not engaged in the policy debate over the use of treated effluent for drinking water purposes. But I would expect it to move into consideration as we consider the alternatives of additional trans -basin diversions and transfers of wa- ter from agricultural q as a barometer, and that was the primary deter- minant on how much additional water demand we had coming onto our system. We implemented a tiered price -rate structure, so as of July 6 we an- ticipated that 20 percent of our water would be sold at double the rate, and 20 percent at triple the rate. We had people in the City of Aurora paying over $3000 per acre -ft. per year for the right to water their lawns. Actually, less water was sold at the higher block rates as overall water demand was sold. The difference between the two lines represents water conservation. The effect of rate structures and outdoor water conservation resulted in about a 35 percent decrease in water delivered to our customers from the levels delivered in 2000 and 2001. It is very stressful on a community, but it can be done for short periods of time. Water conservation certainly does work along the Front Range. How will additional water supplies be developed? -- The basic premise here is that our population will grow; therefore, our need for additional urban water sources will also continue to grow. We will see hydrologic additions coming from out of the basin by way of additional trans -basin diversions. Some, and I emphasize some, existing agricultural rights will be transferred either permanently or as interruptible supplies to city water systems, and I think one of the things that you will hear from Aurora is strong advocacy for city -farm relationships that will allow more prudent use of water by both groups. uses. For those of you on municipal water sup- ply systems, you are going to pay more for it. This year, our customers will pay $3,300 per acre -ft. per year for the right to water their lawns. This glaring differ- ence between values of water used for dif- ferent purposes will drive some of the hard decisions that will have to be made as municipalities develop their future water sources. I thought I would try and find some interesting metaphors to wrap up this presentation, because there has to be some way to simplify this highly complex public - policy question we are wrestling with. I would characterize our current approaches as a bunch of starlings flying around without any rhyme or reason. There is a randomness and chaos to the pattern. In contrast, I would paint the picture of a flock of geese flying in formation. No one has been able to explain to me how these birds are able to cooperate in such harmony, and when the signal is given to change their pattern or direction, the entire flock works in sync. Nature has a way of maintaining a harmony and order, and if we could ever find a way for our water policy to work with that kind of synchronicity, we would take a lot of the uncertainty out of water planning in the South Platte River basin.