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Conserve water now: If residents find alternative sources right away, supplies will be better in the future, expert says
Douglas County and the entire south Denver metro area need to conserve Denver Basin groundwater and find alternative sources of water, a water expert said while visiting the county recently.
By By: Sean Hadden
Douglas County and the entire south Denver metro area need to conserve Denver Basin groundwater and find alternative sources of water, a water expert said while visiting the county recently.
There is a huge amount of water in the basin, but it is nonrenewable and well levels are dropping each year as the population of the south metro area continues to grow and demand increases, said Pat Mulhern, president of Management Research Engineering.
He manages both the Inverness and Cottonwood water and sanitation districts, and is the coordinator of the South Metro Water Supply Study, which will be released at the end of November, he said.
Levels of the Arapahoe aquifer are dropping 20-30 feet per year, Mulhern and other water experts say.
Water conservation is critical, but new sources of renewable water must be found, Mulhern said.
These are conclusions reached in the study, he said.
He said the best alternative to overtapping the basin's aquifers is to come up with a plan for conjunctive water use.
Conjunctive water use would be a partnership with Denver Water and its system of mountain water storage facilities such as Dillon Reservoir, he said.
Historically, there are dry years and wet years in Colorado, Mulhern told the Douglas County Natural Resources Conservation District board's annual meeting of county landowners on Oct. 22.
Denver Water smartly overbuilt its mountain water delivery system anticipating growth, Mulhern said.
During wet years, excess water is allowed to spill over dams and is lost to the watershed, he said.
Under a conjunctive use plan, that excess water would be diverted to Denver Water's Foothills Treatment Plant below Roxborough State Park, Mulhern said. Pipelines would have to be built to distribute the water from the plant to water districts.
During wet years, Douglas County residents in Highlands Ranch and Castle Rock would be able to use this water rather than drawing groundwater from the aquifers as they do now, Mulhern said. During dry years, aquifer water would have to be used.
The districts which have participated in the study are also considering reusing water as a way to conserve the aquifer, he said.
For every 1,000 gallons of water used by a household with a lawn to water, roughly 575 gallons are discharged back into the local watershed and lost.
But because water law dictates that people have the right to use the water they pump to depletion, they still have a right to use that 575 gallons, if it can be recaptured, he said.
Some water districts are doing this now and there is interest from other districts in the study area to start capturing water for reuse, he said.
There is a huge amount of water in the basin, but it is nonrenewable and well levels are dropping each year as the population of the south metro area continues to grow and demand increases, said Pat Mulhern, president of Management Research Engineering.
He manages both the Inverness and Cottonwood water and sanitation districts, and is the coordinator of the South Metro Water Supply Study, which will be released at the end of November, he said.
Levels of the Arapahoe aquifer are dropping 20-30 feet per year, Mulhern and other water experts say.
Water conservation is critical, but new sources of renewable water must be found, Mulhern said.
These are conclusions reached in the study, he said.
He said the best alternative to overtapping the basin's aquifers is to come up with a plan for conjunctive water use.
Conjunctive water use would be a partnership with Denver Water and its system of mountain water storage facilities such as Dillon Reservoir, he said.
Historically, there are dry years and wet years in Colorado, Mulhern told the Douglas County Natural Resources Conservation District board's annual meeting of county landowners on Oct. 22.
Denver Water smartly overbuilt its mountain water delivery system anticipating growth, Mulhern said.
During wet years, excess water is allowed to spill over dams and is lost to the watershed, he said.
Under a conjunctive use plan, that excess water would be diverted to Denver Water's Foothills Treatment Plant below Roxborough State Park, Mulhern said. Pipelines would have to be built to distribute the water from the plant to water districts.
During wet years, Douglas County residents in Highlands Ranch and Castle Rock would be able to use this water rather than drawing groundwater from the aquifers as they do now, Mulhern said. During dry years, aquifer water would have to be used.
The districts which have participated in the study are also considering reusing water as a way to conserve the aquifer, he said.
For every 1,000 gallons of water used by a household with a lawn to water, roughly 575 gallons are discharged back into the local watershed and lost.
But because water law dictates that people have the right to use the water they pump to depletion, they still have a right to use that 575 gallons, if it can be recaptured, he said.
Some water districts are doing this now and there is interest from other districts in the study area to start capturing water for reuse, he said.
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