Water for Growth: Colorado’s Chance to Act

The current issue of National Geographic features a compelling story on the double-barreled threat facing western states: rapid population growth and climate change.  “The American West was won by water management,” proclaims the article.  “What happens when there’s no water left to manage?”

This question vexes more than water managers.  Local communities and land planners  considering proposed housing and commercial developments may no longer assume that water will flow reliably (or cheaply) to meet all projected demands.  It may seem absurd to approve development without reliable water supplies, but that is exactly what has happened in many communities—leaving homeowners and other taxpayer holding the bill when extravagant measures become necessary to gain access to water. 

Just as homeowners demand (and building codes require) safe wiring and solid foundations for their dwellings, they also deserve to know that their drinking water taps will deliver clean, reliable water for decades to come. 

Colorado’s H.B. 1141 takes an important first step in ensuring such reliable water supplies for new development.  The bill, scheduled for its first hearing today, creates a new tool for local governments to determine whether development projects of more than 50 units can demonstrate that the proposed water supply is “sufficient and sustainable” to meet the project’s water supply demands.  The bill gives local governments the authority to deny developments without adequate water supplies, but the local governments retain discretion to decide whether to authorize development. 

This legislation is an important step in linking water resources with the fast pace of growth in Colorado.  Planning for growth is important in all of our communities in the West, and planning for water as part of that growth needs to be included in future development.

This bill could be strengthened to provide a better handle for water-conscious land use decisions.  H.B. 1141 does not, for example, assign any time horizon to the supply requirement, but simply looks at the possible peak daily, monthly and yearly demands at projected build-out levels of development.  Other states and local governments have required such “assured supplies” for 100 to 300 years.

The bill’s exemption for developments with 50 or fewer units leaves a large regulatory gap, excluding many planned communities that demand an increasing share of water for landscaping and domestic needs.  If Colorado is serious about linking water and growth, then every development approval should be based on assurance of adequate and sustainable water.

Most importantly, the bill’s definition of a “sufficient and sustainable” water supply lacks allowance for the inherent variability of western water sources, as well as looming shortages attributable to climate change.  As currently drafted, the legislation demands no analysis of the potential uncertainty of the proposed physical sources of the water supply, and gives only passing mention to the possibility of conservation measures and dry-year water demand management to address changing conditions.  H.B. 1141 could incorporate an analysis of water supply vulnerability, requiring a high standard of reliability given the dynamic conditions of western water supplies.

Despite these areas for improvement, H.B. 1141 is a great step forward in planning for Colorado’s future.  Representative Kathleen Curry deserves praise for bringing this important issue before the Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee in the Colorado General Assembly.  Western development has long relied on the promise of abundant and cheap water—a myth that is already shattered in many communities and is sure to be exposed as false in many more in the decades to come.

With H.B. 1141, Colorado can be a leader among the Rocky Mountain states by requiring a hard look at the water supplies for development, an important step toward living sustainably in the spectacular—and fundamentally dry—western landscape.