Colorado Water
The South Metro area's reliance on groundwater will exhaust the acquifer unless utilities change the way they are managing the resource, according to the Rocky Mountain News [November 8, 2004, "Groundwater system sure to fail, warns hydrologist"]. From the article, "The southern Denver metropolitan area needs to dramatically reduce its reliance on groundwater and double the percent of surface water it uses in order to meet the needs of 400,000 new residents expected by 2050, said a hydrologist Sunday at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting being held in Denver. Douglas and southern Arapahoe counties have about 200,000 residents. That number is expected to jump to 600,000 by 2050, said hydrologist Steven Boand, a newly elected member of the Douglas County Commission. Most residents of the area get their water from underground aquifers. But the level of water in those aquifers has dropped 300 feet since the mid-1980s in some places." Here's the coverage from the Denver Post [November 8, 2004, "Residents a drain on aquifers"].
Colorado is studying the feasability of creating a headwaters alliance to work on supply and water quality issues, according to the Rocky Mountain News [November 8, 2004, "Water coalition in making"]. From the article, "Colorado and two other Western states may follow the lead of Michigan and Maryland, joining forces to create a special Rocky Mountain headwaters alliance similar to multistate coalitions that safeguard the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay. The idea is to find new ways and new sources of money to protect Western rivers born high in the mountain ranges along the Continental Divide, said Jeff Crane, a hydrologist who leads a nonprofit watershed restoration effort in Colorado's Gunnison River Basin."
6:17:18 AM 
|
|
