Water Program News
"Cash for Grass" Can Minimize Need for New Diversions to Front Range
WRA's Drew Beckwith was featured on Denver TV news station CBS4 during a report about the imperiled Fraser River, discussing whether additional diversions from it were necessary. Denver Water, Colorado's largest water utility, has plans to increase their already considerable diversions from this waterway that already has problems with stream health and low flows.
In the news report, Beckwith points out, "Denver's customer base has said over and over that they want to find ways to live with less, rather than going for more water." A detailed study done in 2005 made a convincing case that Denver could generate huge water savings if it implemented a Cash for Grass-type water conservation program.
While Denver Water still wishes to press ahead with plans for more diversions from west of the Continental Divide along with building additional storage, Beckwith claims that if just 20 percent of Denver Water customers replanted only half their yards, the amount of water saved would equal the new diversion on the Fraser River requested for Denver's Moffat Firming project.
See the full video report here.
"Protecting the Lifeline of the West" Report Connects Fate of Western Water to Climate Policy
A new report shines a brighter spotlight on what western water managers already know: climate change threatens western water supplies, and energy and water planning are on a collision course. The report, “Protecting the Lifeline of the West: How Climate and Clean Energy Policies Can Safeguard Water” urges federal legislators to act now to preserve western water resources in the face of increasing demand and diminishing supplies. Click here to read the full report. An executive summary is also available.
WRA Applauds selection of Jim Lochhead as Denver Water's New Leader
Denver Water, the largest water utility in the state of Colorado, reached across the Continental Divide to chose the new head of their organization. In selecting Jim Lochhead as their new leader, Denver Water brought a sense of balance to an agency that is one of the largest diverters of water out of the Colorado River Basin. Read WRA Water Program Director Bart Miller's statement on the appointment.
AVEDA honors WRA with Earth Month Partnership - Again
In the 1960s, a senator from Wisconsin traveled around the United States on “conservation tours” in hopes of bringing attention to environmental issues. What Senator Gaylord Nelson found on his travels was that “the people were concerned, but the politicians were not.”
Inspired by the anti-war demonstrations of the late 60s, Senator Nelson believed that aligning people’s environmental concerns with the power of public demonstration would finally put environmental issues on the national agenda. He announced that, in the spring of 1970, there would be a one-day national grassroots demonstration expressing the public’s environmental concerns. It succeeded beyond the Senator’s wildest dreams: 20 million demonstrators across the United States gathered on behalf of the environment on April 22, 1970 for the first Earth Day. By Earth Day’s 20th anniversary in 1990, over 200 million people in over 141 countries were promoting the importance of environmental issues on the global agenda.
Among the growing crowd were new-found Earth Day supporters at the Aveda Corporation. For Aveda, what began as a day of support for environmental consciousness in 1990 has now turned into a month-long international effort to raise awareness, educate customers, and contribute funds to promote a healthy environment. Aveda has grown into a global corporation that is dedicated to an ethical approach to business, which includes a steadfast commitment to addressing environmental issues.
For 2010, the Aveda Corporation’s Earth Month campaign focuses on access to clean water, and Western Resource Advocates is proud to be named as one Aveda’s international Earth Month partners for the forth year in a row! Throughout April, more than 150 salons across the Interior West will hold charity events to benefit our water program, which focuses on meeting human water needs while also protecting the West’s rivers, streams, and aquifers. Finding this balance is especially challenging and important in the arid Southwest, where population is rapidly increasing.
Local Aveda Salons and Spas will engage in multiple walks for water, cut-a-thons, Earth Day parties, gift basket raffles, and silent auctions to raise funds for Western Resource Advocates. Aveda's grassroots support not only brings in funding, but also recognition for WRA and its mission. WRA thanks Aveda and all its partner salons and spas for their work during Earth Month!
"It's the Same Water" Education Program Connects Public with Their Water's Sources
Many residents of the West have no idea where their water comes from. Some areas rely upon local water supplies, while many others use water that travels hundreds of miles, often from other river basins, to get to their faucets. Water links us all together.
Several western Colorado groups have joined together to educate residents of Colorado’s Front Range to understand where part of their water supply originates. The “It’s The Same Water” program is using billboards along I-70 to let people travelling to the mountains that the snow they will play on or the waters they will fish may eventually be coming out of their spigots in Denver, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs.
For a decade, Western Resource Advocates has been fostering awareness and promoting water conservation--with water utilities, legislatures, and state agencies-- as a means of protecting western rivers, preserving water quality, and supporting local communities. We commend our partners for their educational outreach.
WRA to Army Corps of Engineers: Million Pipeline Water Unaffordable
In a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, WRA points out that water pipeline proponent Aaron Million failed to demonstrate a need for his project because parties interested in the water Million hopes to sell won't be able to afford it. At costs estimated to exceed $2,200 per acre-foot annually, farmers and ranchers would balk at the cost and most cities would find it unaffordable. Million was able to provide letters to the Corps from organizations desiring new sources of water, but the letters held off on making a commitment until costs and terms are understood.
The proposed project would ship water 500-600 miles from southwestern Wyoming to Colorado's Front Range, requiring 16 pump stations to lift water uphill 3,000 feet. Million hopes to provide 250,000 acre-feet of water, more than Denver provides to its 1.4 million customers and what may amount to most, if not all, of Colorado's remaining entitlement to Colorado River Basin water.
Read the Letter to Corps here.
Read the press release here.
Two Water Supply Studies can do More to Get it Right
WRA is working hard to improve two on-going State studies that attempt to quantify Colorado’s future water demands and craft strategies to meet future needs. We submitted in-depth comments that critique the State's analysis. As a result, these plans should do a better job of protecting Colorado's rivers, water-based recreation, and quality of life.
Our comments on the future demands report spell out key revisions to improve its accuracy and usefulness for future water planning. Specifically, we suggest: (1) integrating conservation into water demand projections, (2) applying consistent water use values (and methodologies), (3) using more up-to-date population projections, and (4) correcting other data errors.
Our comments on the water supply strategies report, joined by partner organizations Trout Unlimited and Colorado Environmental Coalition, illustrate that the report does not yet provide a balanced analysis of the water conservation, agricultural transfer, and transbasin diversion strategies. The report focuses mainly on the financial and engineering aspects of large, new water supply pipelines--proposals that would be expensive, controversial, and environmentally damaging. The report ignores smaller-scale Front Range incremental strategies, like shared infrastructure/system integration, water reuse and aquifer storage.
New Study Suggests Much Drier Colorado River Basin
A nearly 500-page draft Colorado River Water Availability Study suggests that climate change will have a far-reaching impact on western slope river flows, and casts serious doubt over the assumed availability of additional west slope water to meet Front Range demands. This study is one of several funded by the Colorado Water Conservation Board that aim to quantify Colorado’s future water needs, determine the availability of future supplies, and craft solutions that meet future demands. A presentation done last December by the researchers conducting the study touches on the salient points addressed in greater detail in the report.
In general, the report describes how increased temperatures and decreased summer precipitation caused by climate change will lead to earlier runoff from rivers and a significant reduction in river flows. A warmer future will increase agricultural irrigation needs and decrease flows available for new appropriation. The study forecasts that the available supply of the Gunnison River at Grand Junction could decrease by more than 400,000 AF/yr. Notably, the existing analysis does not take into account the impact conditional water rights would have on water availability if they are put to use, like those owned by the oil shale companies (see WRA's Water on the Rocks report), and does not include currently planned projects likeDenver Water’s Moffat Expansion or Northern’s Windy Gap Firming Project.
WRA sees these initial results pointing to the necessity of incorporating climate change impacts into all future water planning processes. River health, and other uses for water such as recreation, are going to suffer under climate change, making water conservation efforts by Colorado cities an even more essential task in the face of declining raw water supplies. Clearly, the State needs to act cautiously toward any plans for additional diversions of water out of the Colorado River Basin, including current proposals like the Windy Gap Firming Project and Moffat system, because additional large-scale development of Colorado River water complicates how we will meet our legal obligations to downstream states.
NPR Consults with WRA on Story About Water Conservation
National Public Radio contacted WRA's Drew Beckwith when they wanted expertise on conservation-oriented water rate structures. Check out Drew's comments on this Weekend Edition story. Drew's one of the many experts on WRA's staff contacted by reporters for their knowledge on issues affecting the West.
Water rate structures play an essential role in communicating the value of water to customers, and increasing block rate structuresmost effectively communicate this value. Through an increasing block rate design, the unit price for water increases as the volume consumed increases, with prices being set for each “block” of water use. Customers who use low or average volumes of water are charged a modest unit price and rewarded for conservation; those using significantly higher volumes pay higher unit prices. This type of pricing structure leads to the long-term efficient use of our scarce water supplies.
WRA has demonstrated effective leadership in promoting conservation-oriented rate structures,releasing our first of three papers on Western water rates in 2004. We continue to advocate for effective water pricing across the Interior West by participating in utility rate studies and partnering with local community organizations.