U.S. Water News Online
DENVER -- Fast-growing communities between Denver and Colorado Springs would be able to form a huge water district under a plan being considered by state lawmakers.
The district would help the communities raise the million of dollars needed to tap water from other parts of the state.
Residents in unincorporated portions of Douglas, Arapahoe, Jefferson and northern El Paso counties now largely depend on groundwater supplies. Uniting under the proposed Front Range Water Conservation District would allow them to raise and borrow money to build dams, reservoirs and pipelines.
The bill, introduced by Sen. Jim Dyer, R-Littleton, would also allow areas that are supplying water to the district to become members as well. Usually water districts are limited to areas that share borders.
House Majority Leader Keith King, R-Colorado Springs, said that provision would allow the water users of the Front Range to make sure that their suppliers still had enough water to support their economies.
``They may find a better way to use their water and have it all paid for by the Front Range people,'' said King, who is sponsoring the bill in the House.
The bill is intended to allow the new district to use recycled water to supplement the water that it would still get from groundwater aquifers. One possibility includes using the aquifers to hold that water.
Lawmakers from the water-rich Western Slope are reviewing the 66-page plan (Senate Bill 232) closely.
Although a Western Slope community could join the district, Rep. Matt Smith, R-Grand Junction, said he worries because mitigation isn't required under the bill.
``It has the same cast of characters that was behind Referendum A, so I'm suspicious,'' Smith said of the bill.
Referendum A, soundly defeated by voters last year, would have authorized up to $2 billion in bonds to build, repair or expand reservoirs. Critics called it a blank check for water developers because the projects were not specified.
Lawmakers still haven't been able to come up with a solution to the state's water needs this session.
Front Range Republicans and Democrats teamed up to defeat a bill that would have required that water basins giving up water to be given economic or environmental compensation -- often referred to as ``mitigation.''
Mitigation might include ensuring enough river flows to sustain fish and supply downstream uses during a drought, or getting help attracting new businesses to replace farms that lose irrigation water.
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