Some utilities that draw water from the Colorado River said they will start conserving more in light of the region鈥檚 shrinking supply. A group of seven water authorities that serve cities in Colorado, Nevada, and California outlined their plans to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Wednesday.
Cities in the Colorado River basin often tout their ability to reduce per capita water use, as many have been forced to stretch a finite quantity of water across rapidly growing populations. However, conservation in cities is unlikely to make a substantial change to the region鈥檚 supply-demand imbalance, because the agricultural sector still uses nearly 80% of the river鈥檚 supply.
鈥淩ecognizing that a clean, reliable water supply is critical to our communities,鈥� the letter reads, 鈥淲e can and must do more to reduce water consumption and increase reuse and recycling within our service areas. We pledge to be part of the solution.鈥�
The letter鈥檚 co-signers are Aurora Water, Colorado Springs Utilities, Denver Water, Pueblo Water, the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
The memo set broad goals for conservation, such as increasing efficiency of appliances, adding conservation-oriented rate structures for water users, and transforming outdoor landscapes. The letter says its signers will cut back on the quantity of 鈥渘on-functional turf grass by 30% through replacement with drought- and climate-resilient landscaping.鈥� Cities, to varying degrees, have seen the removal of purely ornamental lawns as a way to make big cuts to their water use.
did not include many specific details of how cities would carry out such plans, such as a timeline for its implementation, or the amount and source of funding for conservation work.
鈥淣otably there really aren't any numbers here,鈥� said John Berggren, a water policy analyst at Western Resource Advocates. The group receives funding from the Walton Family Foundation, which also funds a portion of 萝莉少女鈥檚 Colorado River coverage. 鈥淭here's really no acre-foot goal. There's no dates by when they want to do all this. What the follow through and the next steps look like, I think, will dictate how impactful this MOU is.鈥�
Jim Lochhead, CEO of Denver Water, said that standing up a program to increase water efficiency is 鈥渆xpensive and complex,鈥� and his department would be hashing out plans over the next several months before a rollout in 2023.
Municipal use accounts for only a portion of the Colorado River鈥檚 total water use, with the vast majority consumed by agriculture. City water managers tend to be candid about that fact, but make little mention of it in their letter to Reclamation.
"If Denver or Colorado Springs conserved more would that really help the system? The answer is no, it would make no difference," Lochhead earlier this summer.Despite that, water departments in both of those cities signed on Wednesday鈥檚 commitment to conserving more water.
鈥淚t frankly is not a lot of water in the greater scheme of things,鈥� Lochhead told 萝莉少女. 鈥淏ut it's an effort by municipal utilities to step up and do what we can. The major chunks of water that are going to have to come in the Colorado River basin are in the Lower Basin, in California and Arizona, in particular from agricultural uses. But that having been said, we also need to redouble our efforts at using water most efficiently and in urban areas as well.鈥�
Berggren, the water policy analyst, said much more conservation is needed across the basin, but even this commitment from cities is a step in the right direction.
鈥淓veryone has to contribute no matter how big or how small,鈥� Berggren said. 鈥淢unicipalities are small compared to agriculture users, but that doesn't mean they're insignificant.鈥�
Berggren said all kinds of users need to chip in to meet basin-wide water conservation goals outlined in June by Reclamation, an effort to prop up plummeting water levels in the nation鈥檚 largest reservoirs.
The cities鈥� conservation commitment comes amid a tumultuous summer for the Colorado River basin鈥檚 water users. The watershed is reeling from 23 years of drier than normal conditions.Warming temperatures and overallocation are pushing the river to a tipping point, and the region鈥檚 most influential water managers balked at a major opportunity to conserve water. Touton called on states that use water from the river to conserve that unprecedented amount, and those states failed to draw up plans to do so before a federal deadline.
Conservation negotiations have stalled amid . and the federal government has not seriously attempted to intervene and force water saving. The cities鈥� agreement is a relatively rare example of collaboration between agencies in the upper Colorado River basin and the lower Colorado River basin, standing in contrast to a contentious tone that defined the failure to meet federal demands for conservation.
鈥淭here's an appetite to get things done,鈥� Berggren said. 鈥淭here's an appetite to try and prevent the system from crashing. When the interstate plans, especially in the lower basin, kind of failed earlier, didn't come to fruition this month, I think enough people throughout the basin were disappointed and they were ready to take action.鈥�
This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by 萝莉少女 and supported by the Walton Family Foundation.
