South Metro Eyes Ark Valley Water
By Chris Woodka, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.
Aug. 17–DENVER — The booming area south of Denver is looking at water supply options all over the state, including the Arkansas Valley, to fill a growing need, officials told a legislative panel studying water resources this week.
The Water Resources Review Committee briefly looked at the South Metro Water Supply Authority’s master plan, which looks at current projects as well as new sources that will be needed in the next 25 years and beyond.
“The master plan will serve as a road map to guide our collaborative efforts as we work to optimize use of our resources, explore partnerships to acquire water rights and consider investments in major water infrastructure facilities,” South Metro President Charles Krogh said. New sources of water are needed because wells in the Denver Basin, a self-contained aquifer that underlies the South Metro area, is losing head pressure as a result of development.
“We could spend $4 billion to drill more wells for a nonrenewable resource that’s going to run out anyway,” said Kell DiNatalie of Camp, Dresser & McKee, South Metro engineering consultants. The firm also is doing the technical work for the Colorado Water Conservation Board’s Statewide Water Supply Initiative, which identified gaps in future municipal water supplies.
Even with reuse and recapture of 100 percent of the water — water from wells in a non-tributary aquifer may be used to extinction — projections show 20,000 acre-feet of new water will be needed in 15 years, while nearly 50,000 acre-feet will be needed at build-out. CDM’s study shows that well production will continue to decrease to just over half of what it is today. By 2010, more than half of the area’s water will come from renewable supplies other than the Denver Basin.
The South Metro group represents 13 districts with a population of an estimated 250,000, including Centennial, Castle Rock, Parker and 10 other neighboring districts primarily in Douglas and Arapahoe counties.
DiNatalie said the area already is looking at 10 water projects to maximize the use of its existing water rights, including:
Parker’s Reuter-Hess Reservoir, a 16,000 acre-foot reservoir that will be expanded to 70,000 acre-feet at a cost of $80 million.
East Cherry Creek Valley’s Northern Pipeline, a $52 million project to transport 45,000 acre-feet per year.
A $27.3 million potable reuse plant that could provide up to 7.2 million gallons per day.
A possible 6,400 acre-foot annual diversion from Chatfield Reservoir.
However, the communities only will meet approximately three-quarters of their projected needs by 2020 without new water sources, the CDM study showed.
In the long term, the study looks at connectivity between systems and potentially adding infrastructure — a $1 billion plan calls for pumping water 80 miles with an increase in elevation of 2,000 feet — to meet water needs.
“We’ll need water resources approaching the size of the city of Aurora,” said Rod Kuharich, former CWCB executive director, who now is the South Metro executive director. “We’re looking at land-use decisions that were made 10 to 15 years ago and responding to those needs.”
When lawmakers asked about the expense of some of the options South Metro is looking at, Kuharich said the area is confident it can pay its own way through bond issues.
“The cost is significant,” Kuharich said, citing the region’s high per-capita income — Douglas County is among the top 20 counties in the United States. In addition to hefty tap fees, residents pay a $10 to $25 per month specifically for water development.
The master plan looks in detail at plans likely more than 20 years out to bring water from the Arkansas Valley, either through buying water rights or entering lease agreements.
Kuharich told lawmakers additional water from the South Platte is most likely, but the region cannot rule out looking at Western Slope options, a proposed pipeline from Flaming Gorge or the Arkansas Valley.
Pipelines coming from either the Avondale or La Junta areas, or both, are included in the CDM report.
A 36-inch diameter pipeline from Avondale would lift water nearly 3,200 feet in elevation to the South Platte divide 60 miles away at a cost of nearly $2 billion, including treatment. From La Junta, the lift is 3,600 feet over 100 miles, with costs of up to $2.3 billion, according to the master plan. The cost per acre-foot to develop water would be more than $40,000 per acre-foot, with annual maintenance costs of about $1,000 per acre-foot. The figures are far outside the range water providers now pay.
The report is also cautionary about the ability to develop water rights in the Arkansas Valley.
“Acquisition and delivery of Arkansas Basin water rights may also be subject to significant permitting challenges and political opposition,” the master plan states. “Various interests in the Arkansas Basin have vocally opposed the exportation of agricultural water out of the Arkansas Basin to the South Platte Basin.”
In a side-by-side comparison, the master plan recommends developing South Platte options first, because of water quality, pumping costs, political opposition and time to implement. But the Arkansas Valley looks like the second-best option in the mix, since three potential options on the Western Slope would have uncertain timelines and opposition. A Flaming Gorge pipeline plan being promoted by Aaron Million is dismissed by CDM as “infeasible” because of permit timelines, compact considerations and potential delays in what the report calls an “optimistic” schedule.
The engineering report specifically mentions the proposed Super Ditch, a rotational land fallowing, water lease management program proposed by the Lower Arkansas Water Conservancy District, as a potential source for leasing water. The Lower Ark district has never identified South Metro as a potential customer, however.
In fact, Lower Ark General Manager Jay Winner noted it was “good news” that Arkansas River options have been eliminated from potential supply sources in a preliminary alternatives study for the expansion of Reuter-Hess Reservoir because of “logistical constraints and timing.”
Lower Ark Chairman John Singletary has consistently claimed there is sufficient demand in the Arkansas Valley to be filled by Super Ditch.
The master plan does not specifically address a plan by Pure Cycle to move water from farms it owns on the Fort Lyon Canal to the metro area or identify which canal systems would be targeted for water rights purchases.
ON THE NET
South Metro Water Authority: http://www.southmetrowater.org
—–
To see more of The Pueblo Chieftain, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.chieftain.com.
Copyright (c) 2007, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
NASDAQ-SMALL:PCYO,