DENVER — Gov. John Hickenlooper promised a “speedy review of this plan” Thursday morning after receiving Colorado’s first ever comprehensive state-wide water plan.
In remarks during a press conference at Historic Colorado, Hickenlooper emphasized the spirit of cooperation among Colorado’s disparate water interests in formulating the plan. He said that no longer will Colorado’s water needs be met at the expense of agriculture.
“This is how Colorado works: together, in partnership, to tackle head-on our toughest challenges,” Hickenlooper said. “Today we turn a new page on Colorado’s long and adversarial history on water. Colorado’s Water Plan shows us how we can move forward together to ensure we continue to enjoy sufficient supplies for our vibrant cities, productive farms and incomparable environment.”
After the formal presentation, Diane Hoppe, chairwoman of the CWCB board of directors, told the Journal-Advocate that the plan is “a good way to look at our future.”
“This is a way forward,” Hoppe said. “This is how we deal with a growing population, and stretching our limited water resources.”
Joe Frank, general manager of the Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District, said he’s happy with the emphasis the plan places on off-channel water storage.
“The only way to capture all of the water that we’re losing is to dam the river, and that’s just not going to happen,” Frank said. “But water storage doesn’t have to be above ground, either. Underground storage, recharge and augmentation are also important.”
Augmentation is when water is pumped out of the river’s aquifer during low-demand times of the year and released back during high-demand times.
Don Ament, former Colorado Agriculture Commissioner who has represented Colorado in water negotiations with Nebraska, Wyoming, and the Department of the Interior in developing a recovery plan for the South Platte River, said he likes the plan because it dovetails with his group’s work.
“This is a big piece of the puzzle for what my group is doing,” Ament said after the news conference. “There is a lot of excitement (in the water community) about this, and I think it provides some good momentum to carry forward with developing our water resources. This is a real good thing.”
The plan is the result of almost three years of work by the Colorado Water Conservation Board in response to a directive by Hickenlooper in May 2013 and builds on a decade of work by the Interbasin Compact Committee (IBCC) and nine basin roundtables. The South Platte River basin has two roundtables, one for the Denver metro area and one for the lower, more agricultural reaches of the river.
The basin roundtables and the IBCC were established in 2005, with the goal of bringing all eight of Colorado’s river basins together with domestic, agricultural, and manufacturing users to share information and find common ground.
The presentation was made during the second day of the CWCB’s two-day meeting.
