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Water districts agree on conjunctive use
Eleven local water and sewer districts in Douglas and Arapahoe counties, along with Denver Water and the Colorado River Water Conservation District, have agreed to pursue a conjunctive use plan to reduce rapidly dropping aquifer levels.
By By:Sean Hadden
The plan would build infrastructure to bring water from Denver Water's mountain reservoir system, including Cheesman Lake and Dillon Reservoir, to south metro Denver in wet years, said Pat Mulhern of the Inverness Water and Sanitation District.
"Gaining the unanimous support of all of our partners is a statement of solidarity and a great achievement," Jim Sullivan, a Douglas County commissioner and chairman of the Douglas County Water Resource Authority, said in an April 27 press release. "We now can speak with one voice as we engage Denver Water, Summit County and the river district in serious discussions."
The authority is a county body that participated in the creation of the 2003 South Metro Water Supply Study.
"This is a very important step forward because the study outlines a promising path toward solving the south-metro area's water problems, and it involves an unprecedented level of cooperation among Denver Water, the Western Slope and many of the southern suburbs," John Hendrick, of the Centennial Water and Sanitation District, said in the release. "Now we can engage Denver Water, Summit County and the Colorado River Water Conservation District in meaningful discussions about the potential for implementation [of the conjunctive use plan]."
Mulhern and others involved in the water supply study have acknowledged that building this water-delivery system will take many years, if not decades.
Mulhern initiated the study and Hendrick was its board chairman.
In times of dryness or drought, such as the past four years, no water would be available from the water-sharing plan, Mulhern has said. During such times, south metro water consumers would continue to draw water from the Denver Basin aquifer system.
The Denver Basin is a system of four underground, water-laden sandstone formations ranging in depth from several hundred feet to more than 2,000 feet.
Under the plan, during wet years when there is more snowmelt than the reservoir system can hold, the excess would be made available to municipal water-delivery systems in south metro Denver, Mulhern said.
Colorado Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Ken Salazar endorsed the plan earlier this year, saying it will promote cooperation between entities that have fought bitterly over water for years.
For now, the majority of people living in Denver's southern suburbs will continue to draw the water they need from the basin's aquifers.
Participants in the plan and scientists from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science studying the basin agree the rapid growth of these areas over the past 20 years is depleting the practical use of these aquifers much faster than originally thought.
Depending on who one talks to, aquifer levels are dropping 20 to 40 feet each year.
Extracting the water by pumping will become progressively more expensive as these levels continue to fall, all parties involved agree.
Some have said that once levels drop to a point at which there is no longer enough natural pressure to force water close to the surface, pumping costs will become prohibitive.
Some people who live near the edge of the Denver Basin have criticized the plan, saying it only addresses future water problems faced by people with access to municipal water systems.
These people get their water from wells drilled into the basin and are experiencing even more drastic water level drops.
Because of the basin's bowl shape, water levels fall faster at its margins, aquifer experts say.
"Gaining the unanimous support of all of our partners is a statement of solidarity and a great achievement," Jim Sullivan, a Douglas County commissioner and chairman of the Douglas County Water Resource Authority, said in an April 27 press release. "We now can speak with one voice as we engage Denver Water, Summit County and the river district in serious discussions."
The authority is a county body that participated in the creation of the 2003 South Metro Water Supply Study.
"This is a very important step forward because the study outlines a promising path toward solving the south-metro area's water problems, and it involves an unprecedented level of cooperation among Denver Water, the Western Slope and many of the southern suburbs," John Hendrick, of the Centennial Water and Sanitation District, said in the release. "Now we can engage Denver Water, Summit County and the Colorado River Water Conservation District in meaningful discussions about the potential for implementation [of the conjunctive use plan]."
Mulhern and others involved in the water supply study have acknowledged that building this water-delivery system will take many years, if not decades.
Mulhern initiated the study and Hendrick was its board chairman.
In times of dryness or drought, such as the past four years, no water would be available from the water-sharing plan, Mulhern has said. During such times, south metro water consumers would continue to draw water from the Denver Basin aquifer system.
The Denver Basin is a system of four underground, water-laden sandstone formations ranging in depth from several hundred feet to more than 2,000 feet.
Under the plan, during wet years when there is more snowmelt than the reservoir system can hold, the excess would be made available to municipal water-delivery systems in south metro Denver, Mulhern said.
Colorado Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Ken Salazar endorsed the plan earlier this year, saying it will promote cooperation between entities that have fought bitterly over water for years.
For now, the majority of people living in Denver's southern suburbs will continue to draw the water they need from the basin's aquifers.
Participants in the plan and scientists from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science studying the basin agree the rapid growth of these areas over the past 20 years is depleting the practical use of these aquifers much faster than originally thought.
Depending on who one talks to, aquifer levels are dropping 20 to 40 feet each year.
Extracting the water by pumping will become progressively more expensive as these levels continue to fall, all parties involved agree.
Some have said that once levels drop to a point at which there is no longer enough natural pressure to force water close to the surface, pumping costs will become prohibitive.
Some people who live near the edge of the Denver Basin have criticized the plan, saying it only addresses future water problems faced by people with access to municipal water systems.
These people get their water from wells drilled into the basin and are experiencing even more drastic water level drops.
Because of the basin's bowl shape, water levels fall faster at its margins, aquifer experts say.
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