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County looks to buy land
Douglas County is negotiating to acquire a piece of property on which to store water to reduce demand on groundwater aquifers.
By By: Sean Hadden
Douglas County is negotiating to acquire a piece of property on which to store water to reduce demand on groundwater aquifers.
The county now is putting together the money to buy an open space ranch somewhere off Colorado 67, said Douglas County Commissioner Jim Sullivan.
"We're optimistic that it's going to happen next year," he said. "It's very strategically located and everyone agrees that it would be an ideal site. It could also be used as a recreational site."
Sullivan said he could not be more specific about the location because negotiations with property owners are still ongoing.
The effort to obtain a reservoir site is the county preparing for the potential arrival of water from Denver Water reservoirs under a plan known as "conjunctive use."
This describes a plan in the works for sharing excess mountain snowpack runoff in years during which more snow falls than Denver Water's reservoirs can hold.
The plan was recently endorsed by Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar.
The executive summary of the South Metro Water Supply Study, released Dec. 11, lists conjunctive use as a partial solution to the dropping aquifer levels caused by rapid growth in Douglas County and the southern metro Denver region over the last several decades.
The need for a reservoir in Douglas County to store water exists because during times of high runoff, much of the water that might become available under a conjunctive use solution would be lost unless it could be stored, Sullivan said.
The 14 agencies that participated in the study are now working to create a single board that would have the power to hammer out a deal with Denver Water to bring mountain snowmelt to the southern metro area.
The Douglas County Water Resource Authority, the Colorado River Water Conservation District and Denver Water authorized the study.
And 11 municipalities, sanitation districts and metropolitan districts funded the study.
Much of the infrastructure, such as pipelines, are already in place to distribute water that might come from the mountains, said Pat Mulhern of Mulhern Management Engineering.
But some new pipelines and other facilities, such as storage facilities and treatment plants, would need to be built, he said.
The cost of building these would be paid by the districts that would receive the water, Sullivan said.
The next step toward making conjunctive use a reality is to get a resolution from the study participants' boards which says they want this solution to the groundwater depletion problem, Mulhern said.
After that, compensation deals must be worked out with Denver Water and the Colorado River Water Conservation District for using their facilities and possibly replacing water to keep Western Slope supplies steady, he said.
Many people believe such a course must be pursued because of the 20-foot to 40-foot annual drop in some aquifer levels.
The county now is putting together the money to buy an open space ranch somewhere off Colorado 67, said Douglas County Commissioner Jim Sullivan.
"We're optimistic that it's going to happen next year," he said. "It's very strategically located and everyone agrees that it would be an ideal site. It could also be used as a recreational site."
Sullivan said he could not be more specific about the location because negotiations with property owners are still ongoing.
The effort to obtain a reservoir site is the county preparing for the potential arrival of water from Denver Water reservoirs under a plan known as "conjunctive use."
This describes a plan in the works for sharing excess mountain snowpack runoff in years during which more snow falls than Denver Water's reservoirs can hold.
The plan was recently endorsed by Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar.
The executive summary of the South Metro Water Supply Study, released Dec. 11, lists conjunctive use as a partial solution to the dropping aquifer levels caused by rapid growth in Douglas County and the southern metro Denver region over the last several decades.
The need for a reservoir in Douglas County to store water exists because during times of high runoff, much of the water that might become available under a conjunctive use solution would be lost unless it could be stored, Sullivan said.
The 14 agencies that participated in the study are now working to create a single board that would have the power to hammer out a deal with Denver Water to bring mountain snowmelt to the southern metro area.
The Douglas County Water Resource Authority, the Colorado River Water Conservation District and Denver Water authorized the study.
And 11 municipalities, sanitation districts and metropolitan districts funded the study.
Much of the infrastructure, such as pipelines, are already in place to distribute water that might come from the mountains, said Pat Mulhern of Mulhern Management Engineering.
But some new pipelines and other facilities, such as storage facilities and treatment plants, would need to be built, he said.
The cost of building these would be paid by the districts that would receive the water, Sullivan said.
The next step toward making conjunctive use a reality is to get a resolution from the study participants' boards which says they want this solution to the groundwater depletion problem, Mulhern said.
After that, compensation deals must be worked out with Denver Water and the Colorado River Water Conservation District for using their facilities and possibly replacing water to keep Western Slope supplies steady, he said.
Many people believe such a course must be pursued because of the 20-foot to 40-foot annual drop in some aquifer levels.
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