When we are thirsty, we turn on our taps. When we want to nourish our garden, we turn on the spigot. When we need clean clothes, we start the washing machine. These simple tasks in our daily lives often take for granted the availability of a very important commodity: water. For more than 100 years, we’ve brought you this essential daily element, and we are planning to do so for many more years.
The process of bringing water to Colorado Springs is complicated by our unique climate and geographic setting. Colorado Springs is not located near a major body of water like a river or lake, and we live in a dry, semi-arid climate. As a result, we have had to rely on a complex system of diversions, tunnels, reservoirs, pump stations, and pipelines to convey water to our community from remote watersheds up to 100 miles away, along Colorado’s Continental Divide. In other words, it’s intricate.
Colorado’s snowpack is the source for much of the West’s water. While about 80% of Colorado’s population resides on the east side of the Continental Divide, about 80% of Colorado’s water falls on the west side of the Divide. Because Colorado is one of only two states where essentially all rivers flow out of the state (extra credit if you can guess the other), a certain amount of water originating in the headwaters of the Arkansas, Colorado, Rio Grande, and Platte Rivers must also be passed downstream through a series of agreements known as Interstate Compacts. Drought, of course, affects this and is a large part of why there’s been a lot of discussion lately around the availability of water in Colorado.
The topic of water scarcity is on many people’s minds: farmers and ranchers, water planners and municipalities, state water authorities and more recently private investor groups. Colorado – as well as much of the West – has experienced varying levels of drought over the past 20 years. Yes, we’ve been fortunate to have a few wet years in there, but not enough to pull us out of a sustained period that has generally been hotter and drier than what we’re used to. Climate specialists are telling us that a “new normal” may be developing and many predict more frequent and severe droughts in the future.
We’re paying close attention to all this and planning responsibly for the Colorado Springs community. Our long-range plan includes projects that will diversify our water supply sources, which in turn will help us reduce the risks presented through climate variability. We’ve already implemented some of those projects, including programs that foster a conservation ethic among our customers. The implementation of Water Wise Rules in our city is a good example of that. Through adherence to these outdoor watering guidelines, we exceeded our water savings goal for the year for that program. We supported these efforts by providing education, irrigation tips and resources to help our customers succeed with the new rules.
It’s also important for us to work collaboratively across the state in the interest of all Coloradans. We are engaged in key discussions that are occurring on a local, state, and national level to help influence decisions around water that could impact all of us. Through our participation in workgroups like the Front Range Water Council and Basin Roundtables, we can better understand each other’s water needs and pool our collective knowledge to better plan for and understand future water supply risks and uncertainties, such as drought.
Last fall we participated in a pilot project directed by the State’s Engineer Office in which a release of water made from our Homestake Reservoir was tracked from its high mountain starting point down the Colorado River to the Utah border. The goal of this pilot project was to provide valuable data that could help inform future actions that could be taken by the state and its water users to deliver water past the state line, if necessary, to ensure that Colorado is meeting its obligations to downstream users under the Colorado River Compacts. Taking proactive steps like this allows us to gather valuable information to help us better plan for and respond to a wide range of water supply futures. In turn, we can be more adaptable, flexible, and collaborative in how we manage this valuable resource.
We have many opportunities for innovation and collaboration around the challenges presented in the water world. The Pikes Peak region is expected to grow substantially over the next few decades, and we stand ready to provide for that growth by balancing the ways in which we acquire, use and reuse water in safe, sustainable, and creative ways.