{"id":64574,"date":"2019-11-01T19:45:57","date_gmt":"2019-11-02T01:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/front-range-needs-to-stop-taking-western-slopes-water-politicians-say\/"},"modified":"2019-11-02T01:45:57","modified_gmt":"2019-11-02T01:45:57","slug":"front-range-needs-to-stop-taking-western-slopes-water-politicians-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/front-range-needs-to-stop-taking-western-slopes-water-politicians-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Front Range needs to stop taking Western Slope\u2019s water, politicians say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Water
Water officials say Colorado could see a 500,000 acre-foot shortfall of water in coming years.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The availability of water faces an uncertain future in Colorado, but people along the Front Range \u2013 where most of the state\u2019s residents live \u2013 should not be looking to the Western Slope \u2013 where most of the water is \u2013 to meet increasing demands, U.S. House Rep. Scott Tipton said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot expect the Western Slope \u2026 to carry the water (demands) for the Front Range,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd to supply every growing urban mass on the Front Range is something we need to make sure we\u2019re protected from.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tipton\"
Tipton<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Tipton, R-Colo., was speaking Friday at the Southwestern Water Conservation District\u2019s 37th annual Water Seminar at the DoubleTree Hotel in Durango.<\/p>\n

In light of scientific studies that show less available water in future years in the West, and expectations that Colorado\u2019s population increase will not slow down, water managers across the state have been trying to plan for coming shortfalls in available water.<\/p>\n

Tipton offered two suggestions: use better conservation methods to reduce water use and build more dams.<\/p>\n

\u201cLake Powell is always referred to as a bank, and I get it,\u201d Tipton said. \u201cBut I also want a bank we can draw out of.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Colorado, about 80% of people live on the Front Range, while 80% of the precipitation falls on the Western Slope. Every year, about 500,000 acre-feet of water is diverted from the Western Slope to the Front Range.<\/p>\n

For reference, residents in the entire Southwest Colorado basin, which includes the Animas, Dolores, San Juan and San Miguel rivers, use about 500,000 acre-feet a year.<\/p>\n

And with Colorado\u2019s population expected to grow from 5.6 million people in 2017 to 8.7 million by 2050, politicians who spoke Friday said it is important for Western Slope communities to protect their water rights.<\/p>\n

John Currier, chief engineer for the Colorado River Water Conservation District, said Colorado could face up to a 500,000 acre-foot shortfall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not treading new ground here,\u201d Currier said of the fact drought is common in the arid West. \u201cThe only thing new is the angst with climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado State House Rep. Marc Catlin, a Republican from Montrose said, Front Range communities need to start conserving water, in part, by being smarter about things like landscaping.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to engage our urban cousins,\u201d Catlin said. \u201cThat person on the 17th floor apartment \u2013 their experience with water is at the tap. They don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catlin said the burden \u2013 and cost \u2013 should not fall on Western Slope communities to deal with the water demands of population booms on the Front Range.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Don Coram, also a Republican from Montrose, said it is time the state start implementing the Colorado Water Plan that was developed in 2015 to deal with these issues.<\/p>\n

The problem, Coram said, is there has been a lack of funding to get projects rolling. An estimate shows it would take roughly $40 billion to fully implement the water plan. The state has budgeted about $10 million this year.<\/p>\n

A ballot item this November, Proposition DD, could add about $15 million a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way we\u2019re going to survive with water in Colorado is by building a bucket to hold it in,\u201d Coram said. \u201cAnd that takes money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tipton said don\u2019t expect any relief in the way of funding from Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater is critical and something we have been focused on, in terms of issues impacting the western U.S.,\u201d he said. \u201cBut one of the real challenges we see in Washington is, unfortunately, we\u2019ve been in a static mode of continuing resolutions, and the problem is, nothing changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

increase as more people move to Denver area<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":64575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29,4008,934,23,295],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-64574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-state-rep-marc-catlin","tag-state-sen-don-coram","tag-u-s-rep-scott-tipton","tag-water"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64574"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=64574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}