Exec Summary_11-15-04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Executive Summary ~~7r~~ Statewide Water Supply Initiafive The Statewide Water Supply Initiative J~ ~~~ ~I~f+dx~G~LZ J~~~l22eGl~ Q~ ~utune 2Uatez ~~~ed~ a.~d sa~tio~~ Preface Water in Colorado has always been both a source of life and an agent of change. Its path has carved our topography and shaped our culture. Aside from the air we breathe and land we inhabit, no natural resource is more precious. Nothing in the future will have a greater impact on our ability to sustain our way of life and preserve our environment for future generations than water. From urban communities along the Front Range, to farming communities in the Lower Arkansas Valley, to the peach orchards and sweet corn fields of the Grand Valley, and the majestic outdoor settings of the Yampa and Gunnison Valleys, water has supported our livelihoods, enabled our quality of life, and sustained our communities and our environment. In Colorado, the need for wise management of water and the equitable rights to its beneficial use led to the creation of a legal framework of water rights that is a model for the arid states of this nation. Known as the Prior Appropriation Doctrine, this system has served Colorado citizens for over a century of growth and prosperity. It will continue to provide the foundation for water administration and allocation for centuries to come. But new forces and relentless change compel us to more completely understand and efficiently use our water resources, and complement our tradition with both new approaches and contemporary tools. The variability of supply and periodic scourge of drought, the growth in population and increase in urbanization, the threat to wildlife and loss of habitat, the desire of tourists from around the world to spend their free time in Colorado, the economic opportunities and sought-after quality of life offered by Colorado - and the many other changes in our lifestyles, our interests, our aspirations, and our means are reshaping Colorado as dramatically as our rivers have changed the landscape, and is doing so far more rapidly. A previous generation of leaders who saw the need to divert and store water for beneficial use built projects like the great series of irrigation canals constructed in the late 1800s that tapped the resources of the Rio Grande to meet the irrigation and supply needs of the San Luis Valley; and the Cheesman Dam, built in 1905 to address Denver's water storage needs; and the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, built in the 1940s and 1950s to bring water across the Continental Divide for beneficial use to northeastern Colorado. We owe much to these visionaries and their commitment to meet the future needs, the very needs we are currently meeting with the water supplies from these projects. And yet, the Colorado of our forefathers is very different from the Colorado we live in today. On becoming a state, Colorado had a population of 26,000. Today, it is home to over 4 million people. At the turn of the last century, just over 20,000 people lived in Delta, Garfield, and Mesa counties. By the year 2000, that number had increased more than 900 percent to a total of nearly 190,000. In 1876, farming and mining were our primary ways of life. Today, these important industries are joined by technology, tourism, recreation, transportation, financial services, and many other sectors that comprise our diverse economy. Just as our state has changed, so too has our use of water. Historically, we used our water primarily for mining, agriculture, and industry, and later for municipal purposes as our population grew. Today, recreational activities such as skiing, fishing, and other water-based recreation are an important part of the economy in many communities - communities that experienced significant hardship during the historic low flows of 2002. Environmental needs, such as fish and wildlife habitat, were viewed differently when much of our water infrastructure was built (and our legal framework was developing). Interstate compacts place significant additional requirements on water supplies originating in Colorado, requiring deliveries to downstream states, but also help meet environmental needs within the state. The biggest change, however, has come from the population growth itself, which has forced water providers to ~~ a4~E~t t ~>~~.5~?'I i~ 9 0 coi c~ii ~~.n; , ~_ ~ ~,~,~~~t~~~~s~~~~~ ~,~ NATUIZAI. ~~~o~~~z~:~s S:\REPORT\WORD PROCESSING\REPORT\EXEC SUMMARY 11-10-04.DOC