“Water is our lifeblood” is a near-universal saying in the West, reminding us to use our finite supply of resources responsibly and to protect our waterways and other natural treasures. In Summit County and other headwaters areas that provide water to the Front Range as well as to the entire Colorado River basin, a recently established program promises to protect and improve our forest health and watersheds.
Since August 2010, the Forest-to-Faucet partnership between Denver Water and the Rocky Mountain Region of the U.S. Forest Service has worked to protect Denver’s water supply by restoring Colorado’s forests. Denver, like other big cities across the West — including Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Diego — gets a large portion of its water from the Colorado River. The headwaters of the river are in Colorado’s forests, which naturally filter out pollutants. Yet those same forests have been ravaged by bark beetles over the last few years, making them vulnerable to fire. Forest fires are not only incredibly dangerous for our homes and businesses, but also for the reservoirs, pipes and other infrastructure that deliver our drinking water.
To protect Denver’s water supply, the Forest-to-Faucet partnership is restoring 38,000 acres of federal forest land upstream of Denver Water’s reservoirs and other water delivery infrastructure — especially areas devastated by bark beetle infestation. Six thousand acres are being thinned and restored in this first year alone, reducing the risk of out-of-control wildfires and removing sediment, brush and other debris that clog treatment plants and reservoirs.
Harris Sherman, U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment, was instrumental in creating the innovative Forest Service-Denver Water public-private partnership, and has called this sharing of resources, “a model for forest managers and water providers throughout the country.”
But there is much more work to be done to make sure we have a sustainable water supply. Conducting forest management to benefit water providers and infrastructure is only half of the equation. We also need to invest in protecting the health of the Colorado River and the ecological integrity of the rivers and streams that feed into it. Rivers provide benefits such as clean drinking water, recreational opportunities, and business growth to our communities — but only if they are healthy.
The Colorado River is stretched to the near-limit in almost every part of its 246,000-square-mile, seven-state reach. Denver Water’s 1.3 million customers rely on the Colorado for half of their water supply, and across the basin, some 30 million people depend on it for drinking water, energy, food, recreation and tourism. Yet continued population growth, 11 consecutive years of drought, and other threats are risking this resource.
There is no easy solution, but with all stakeholders working together we can identify innovative new collaborations like Forest-to-Faucet to protect, conserve and stretch the Colorado River’s limited water supply.
Denver Water and 33 Western Slope groups recently announced the Colorado River Cooperative Agreement, which could be a model for basin-wide cooperation. And the U.S. Interior Department and the basin states, including Colorado, are studying the effects of climate change on water supplies and developing long-term strategies.
With creative collaboration and continued leadership from water managers, and state and federal officials, we can protect this Mother of Rivers.
Dan Gibbs is a Summit County commissioner and former Colorado state senator.
