Filling the Gap Report

Commonsense Solutions for Meeting Front Range Water Needs

Western Resource Advocates, Trout Unlimited, and the Colorado Environmental Coalition recognize the importance of preparing for our water future. However, we are concerned that many traditional water supply strategies have resulted in adverse impacts to rivers and streams and their associated environmental, recreational, and economic values. Rather than continuing old patterns, 21st century water development must account for instream flow needs, minimize the adverse environmental impacts of water supply strategies, and even improve stream flows or other environmental conditions on streams that are already depleted. These new challenges require new ways of thinking and new tools.

In Filling the Gap: Commonsense Solutions for Meeting Front Range Water Needs, we offer a realistic and balanced water supply portfolio that meets the projected needs in the South Platte Basin's Front Range communities while protecting Colorado's waterways, economy, and quality of life. Employing widely accepted data, this report explores four water supply strategies—acceptable planned projects, water conservation, reuse, and voluntary water sharing with the agriculture sector. Importantly, our portfolio more than meets future needs without the large, costly, and environmentally damaging transbasin diversions that have been a hallmark of traditional water supply planning.

Proposed Water Management Portfolio

Our balanced portfolio of water supply strategies more than fills the projected needs of Front Range communities.

Graph: Our portfolio of water supply strategies

To further explore our proposed water management portfolio, download the full report, executive summary or review these excerpts:

Water and the Environment (222 KB .pdf)
Growing Municipal Water Needs (238KB .pdf)
Acceptable Planned Projects Strategy (258KB .pdf)
Conservation Strategy (322 KB .pdf)
Reuse Strategy (243KB .pdf)
Ag/Urban Cooperation Strategy (322 KB .pdf)

“We will not successfully solve 21st Century water management challenges in Colorado using 19th and 20th Century institutions and approaches. This is especially true in our State where heightened competition for over-allocated water resources by individual users or sectors is increasingly unproductive — there is not enough water! The use of multi-objective portfolio approaches is considered to be one of the most constructive options we have available if we are to protect and enhance environmental values while providing adequate and reliable water services to municipalities, industries and farms.”

—Peter Binney,
Director of Sustainable Infrastructure, Merrick & Company; former Director of Aurora Water

Our Recommendations

Planning for Colorado’s water future is at a critical juncture. We believe Colorado can chart an innovative path forward, one that differs from the traditional approach of building large dams and pipelines to meet the Front Range’s growing water needs.

Based on rigorous data analysis, this report offers several key recommendations that water planners and policy makers should consider carefully in forging Colorado’s water future:

Close the projected Front Range “gap” with balanced strategies that are more cost-effective and environmentally friendly than transbasin diversion projects.
Protect Colorado’s rivers, streams, and lakes as an integral part of any future water development strategy. Non-consumptive uses of water—for fishing, whitewater recreation, and other uses—are worth billions of dollars annually to our state economy and are critical to the quality of life in this state.
Pursue only those Identified Projects and Processes that can be constructed and operated according to the “smart” principles delineated in this report.
Implement more aggressive water conservation strategies. Conservation is often the cheapest, fastest, and smartest way to gain “new” water supply, and many Front Range utilities have significant opportunities to boost their existing water conservation efforts.
Listen to Front Range homeowners, who consistently express a willingness to adopt enhanced conservation measures in order to protect rivers and other mountain resources.
Maximize the role of water reuse in meeting the future needs of Colorado’s residents, and work to improve public perception and acceptance of reuse projects.
Cooperate with agriculture on voluntary water sharing agreements that benefit both municipalities and the agricultural community without permanently drying irrigated acres. Alternatives to “buy and dry” transfers present the best opportunities for our future.

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