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This morning I was struck by a story out of Northern Colorado. It seems that the town of Wiggins depends mightily on shallow wells in the alluvial aquifer for their drinking water. As with many towns on the eastern plains the shallow aquifers -- already blessed with some natural pollutants including radionuclides -- nitrates from agriculture are effecting water quality. Add on growth as a bedroom community for larger cities and you have a great deal of pressure to add new supplies to the mix.
The costs to expand service are high and going higher. A couple of the options that Wiggins has looked at would add more than $70 to the monthly water bill for rate payers. Wow. Residents on fixed incomes are very worried.
Colorado Springs shocked their rate payers a recently telling them that costs for repairs to older parts of their system would be in the range of $161 million. That's on top of the $1 billion or so that their proposed new pipeline -- the Southern Delivery System -- is going to cost. Those costs could rise if Pueblo County succeeds in getting the Springs to choose more expensive options for the pipeline. In clearer terms Colorado Springs expects water rates to increase 126% by 2015.
New businesses in Pagosa Springs are wilting under the new tap fees introduced by Pagosa Water and Sanitation. The high fees are needed to finance the proposed Dry Gulch Reservoir according to the town.
In Douglas County and northern El Paso County, tap fees are high and are going higher, as the Denver Basin Aquifer system dries up. The estimates of 500 years of water from the last century have given way to the reality of a rapidly declining water supply. Costs, mostly due to the energy needed to pump the water, are increasing. Some wells at the edge of the aquifer system have already turned into 'dusters' and people are drilling deeper if they can. Parker, Castle Rock, Highlands Ranch and other municipalities are scrambling for sustainable surface water supplies, driving up costs to rate payers as water utilities build storage and buy water rights.
"Ok, we know all that," you might say, "what's your point?"
Allrighty then, today we'll talk about conservation. There are many strategies to conserve water so I'll spare you the details. What is most important is an attitude change. Since Denver residents still get a great deal on water per 1,000 cubic feet most people use the calculus of cost to weigh their decisions on landscape, domestic use, irrigation and other consumptive uses. Water inefficient landscapes don't cost "that much," to maintain. The leaky faucet doesn't even raise the bill a few dollars a month. Careless irrigation doesn't add that much. On and on.
Denver Water started a conservation program last summer with the theme, "Use only what you need." I'd modify that to include, "Constantly re-evaluate what you need." If you conserve water it can be used by others or left in the streams to help out the trout, cottonwoods, willows and other members of the riparian habitat; or dilute the concentration of endocrine disruptors going downstream from wastewater treatment plants. You'll help lessen the need for new storage and new infrastructure helping to accommodate the 3 million new Coloradans that are on their way.
Think about low water requirements in your landscape. Rip out some bluegrass and put in a vegetable garden. The risk of getting Salmonellosis from home grown tomatoes is pretty low. Go back to hand-watering, late in the evening, from an easy chair, with a nice cup of tea. A nice mental health break at the end of the day.
Over a billion people do not have access to clean water. We're lucky to live in a rich nation with generally great water quality. We can help keep it that way by making little changes in our consumption attitude.
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