Colorado’s Water Plan was released in its final form Thursday after more than a decade in the making. In the last phase of revisions, the plan gained its most concrete content: measurable goals for the many – and often competing – uses for which Colorado’s limited water is essential.
This gives the plan the teeth it needs to guide the state in addressing the growing gap between water supply and demand well into the future, and does so by engaging the expertise and commitment of Colorado’s local water communities. To the extent that it is embraced and implemented, Colorado’s Water Plan is poised to be a foundational guide for the state’s growth, resource use, environment and culture for generations.
The plan’s potential lies in its recognition that meeting the demand for water – anticipated to outpace supply by 560,000 acre feet by 2050 – requires compromise, creativity and investment from all water stakeholders. Agricultural interests, to which most of the state’s water is committed, will be asked and encouraged to explore conservation strategies that save water – including crop rotation and irrigation innovation – as well as alternatives to permanently selling agricultural water rights for municipal and industrial use. This buy-and-dry phenomenon has prompted much concern for Colorado’s water future, and the plan aims to combat the trend with water leasing and other options that will ultimately save 50,000 acre feet of water by 2050.
That savings is, more than its net water gain, indicative of the plan’s intent to shift the state’s water culture from one of conflict to one of cooperation. Such a mindset will be essential to accomplishing the plan’s goal of reducing demand – through conservation, primarily – by 400,000 acre feet in just municipal and industrial use by 2050. That conservation goal will be balanced by a 400,000 acre-foot increase in storage. This is a sensible approach that will draw on the storage possibilities identified in plans crafted by each of the state’s eight river basins – documents that informed the statewide water plan.
Colorado’s Water Plan emphasizes and encourages the importance of incorporating water issues into local planning efforts. Currently, just 12 percent of Coloradans live in cities or counties with comprehensive land-use plans that address water. The water plan aims to increase that to 75 percent by 2025, primarily by providing training and resources for local planning departments to use in assessing water supply and demand issues in their communities.
State Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, sponsored a bill to that end that passed the Legislature last spring, though some municipalities pushed back against the legislation. Roberts and the water plan are right to tie land use to water planning. It is a critical underpinning to effectively addressing impending supply gaps.
There are many challenges to implementing Colorado’s Water Plan fully, but perhaps most significant is the funding component. Meeting all the goals the plan establishes is estimated to require $20 billion – much of which is already available through fees paid to water providers and existing state funding. Nevertheless, the plan anticipates needing $3 billion by 2050 – to the tune of $100 million a year beginning in 2020. Finding that money will not be easy – it rarely is in Colorado, regardless of the line item. Coloradans must prepare to invest in this essential effort to meet the state’s water needs, both of which are clearly articulated in Colorado’s Water Plan.
