Denver Water customers are still doing a great job conserving water, according to the Rocky Mountain News [June 9, 2005, "Survey: Water use drops 24%"]. From the article, "The majority of Denver Water's customers believe the drought, despite the wet spring and healthy levels in reservoirs, is not over; 53 percent have slashed the amount of water they apply to their lawns; 25 percent now take shorter showers; 66 percent would not go back to their old water-guzzling ways, even if the giant utility said they could; 72 percent believe Denver should do more to conserve so other communities will have enough water; 71 percent say all new homes should have smaller lawns."
Meanwhile the Rocky Mountain News reports that water experts are predicting water shortages in the Colorado River basin [June 9, 2005, "Water shortage predicted"]. From the article, "Water shortages on the drought-plagued Colorado River are almost inevitable by 2011, a fact that could force warring Western states to put aside their differences and find new ways to manage the river's dwindling resources...The five-year drought has drained the river's two major storage banks - Lake Powell and Lake Mead - to dangerously low levels. This year, thanks to abundant winter snows, levels in both storage ponds will rise, but not enough to offset the pain of the lengthy drought and a population boom that shows no signs of ending."
In other water news Bear Creek has been added to the EPA's list of endangered waterways, according to the Rocky Mountain News [June 9, 2005, "Bear Creek 'impaired'"]. They write, "A popular creek running through much of western Jefferson County is the latest addition to Colorado's list of troubled waters. The Environmental Protection Agency, overruling state health officials, last week designated an 11-mile stretch of Bear Creek as an 'impaired' waterway because of conditions harmful to the creek's fishery...The EPA's ruling is significant because it marks the first time in Colorado that a stream's temperature has been considered a form of pollution. High temperatures can stress and eventually kill cold-water fish."
Category: Colorado Water
7:17:00 AM 
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