BY FREDA MIKLIN
GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER
The role of water in the economic development of south metro Denver was the subject of the June 2023 partnership meeting of Denver South held at the Lone Tree Arts Center on June 1.
Lisa Darling, executive director of South Metro Water Supply Authority (SMWSA), told the large crowd of leaders in business and government that her organization is a partnership of 14 water providers in the south metro region of Denver who joined forces in 2004 “to shift the region away from reliance on a non-renewable underground water supply and toward supplies that replenish with every year’s snowmelt. Rather than doing so on their own, however, they knew that by coming together and partnering on projects and initiatives, they would be more effective and their customers would benefit from greater efficiencies and economies of scale.”
SMWSA serves 350,000 people who comprise 80% of the population of Douglas County and 10% of that of Arapahoe County. The number of people in SMWSA’s territory is projected to grow to 600,000 by 2050.
Darling explained that as metro Denver was growing rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s, the smaller water authorities in the south metro area (all except Denver Water and Aurora Water) relied on the Denver Basin Aquifer System, a non-renewable system, that is drought proof, unlike renewable water sources. It was being depleted “at an unprecedented rate–an average of 30 feet per year across the region.”
Concerns about depletion led to the 2003 South Metro Water Supply Study, funded by south metro entities, as well as Denver Water, the State of Colorado, and entities on the western slope. That study demonstrated that water was a statewide issue and led to the formation of SWMSA, whose goal was identified as working to, “shift away from nonrenewable sources of water.”
SMWSA rests on three pillars: 1) partnerships with local governments and other water providers; 2) investment in supply and storage projects; and 3) water conservation, including through reuse.
The organization has undertaken multiple regional water studies over the past two decades. By 2020, its members were using 78% renewable water (natural runoff from rivers and streams) sources. That number is expected to climb to 85% by 2065. Darling emphasized that it is important to continue to maintain the non-renewable Denver Basin Aquifir System as one source of water due to its drought-proof feature.
By focusing on conservation and efficiency, including changing large grass areas to turf where possible, per capita water demands across the SMWSA region were reduced by over 30% between 2000 and 2010. Sterling Ranch and Castle Rock are leaders in integrating efficiency and conservation into real estate development plans. Meridian and Inverness have a 100% reuse program with zero discharge. Reuse of all the water supplies that are legally available is a common practice.
An exciting program currently underway is WISE, Water Infrastructure and Supply Efficiency. It works by taking water used in households that goes down the drain, treating it, and putting it back into the South Platte River, where it can be recaptured and reused. WISE is a regional partnership that includes Denver Water, Aurora Water, ten SMWSA water utilities, Arapahoe and Douglas Counties.
With WISE, after water brought down from the rivers and streams in the mountains by Denver Water and Aurora Water is used by customers, it is moved to a wastewater treatment facility. From there, the treated water is placed back into the South Platte River where it flows downstream from Denver, heading north on the South Platte toward Brighton. There, the water is recaptured and filtered naturally at the Prairie Waters Complex owned by Aurora Water. Next, the water is turned around and pumped through a pipeline 34 miles to the Binney Water Treatment Plant near the Aurora Reservoir. It leaves there with drinking water quality and goes to homes and businesses in the WISE service area. This process is repeated indefinitely. “WISE provides a reliable and sustainable water supply for two million people,” according to SMWSA
James Eklund, nationally renowned water law expert and attorney with Sherman and Howard, explained that Colorado is the headwater state for 18 downstream states and, “We don’t have a water problem in Colorado; we have a water management problem.”
Pursuant to nine interstate compacts and other applicable legal agreements, two-thirds of the water that originates in Colorado must be sent to the downstream states to meet their water needs.
The most important body of water is the Colorado River. The Colorado River Basin is 243,000 square miles, serves 40 million people, and if one measured its GDP, would be the fifth largest economy in the world. It is a crucial component of U.S. national food security.
The largest reservoirs in the U.S. are Lake Mead and Lake Powell. They are used to manage the water in the system that includes the downstream states. Both, Eklund shared, are in poor condition, with Lake Mead currently at 30% of its average volume and Lake Powell at 23% of its usual level.
As the debate continues on how water will be allocated to other states, Colorado must plan and manage its water resources carefully because 90% of the state’s population is on the eastern slope while 80% of precipitation falls on the western slope. The plethora of individual water authorities around the state make it difficult to plan regionally (SMWSA is a notable exception) in most other areas of the state.
Another important issue is the lack of regulatory incentives in Colorado to homebuilders to utilize gray water where it is appropriate, e.g., in toilets where drinking quality water is used presently.
The most important area where water use could be much more efficient is agriculture. According to Eklund, there are multiple ways we could “adopt regenerative agricultural practices that save water, sequester carbon, and build healthy soils, as well as slow climate change and aridification” According to The Nature Conservancy, 80% of the water from the Colorado River is used for agriculture.
Eklund concluded by praising the work of organizations like Denver South and SMWSA that foster regional cooperation. He warned against allowing individual municipalities to adopt rules that consider only their constituents instead of what is best for the region, a common occurrence around many issues in a home rule state like Colorado.
Through their presentations, Darling and Eklund shed light on the importance of partnerships, projects, and conservation efforts, and highlighted the importance of regional collaboration in addressing water management.
fmiklin.villager@gmail.com