Tradeoffs abound in the national quest for energy independence and cleaner ways to generate power.
Green-thinking cities including Loveland that own the Platte River Power Authority electric utility are pressing for conversion of its generating plants from dirty coal to clean-burning natural gas.
PRPA policy represents but a tiny portion of the forces driving production of natural gas, a $9 billion Colorado industry that has been pushed ahead by improvements in a technology called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”
The technology, more akin to mining than drilling, requires water — and lots of it.
As gas producers expand their operations into the western fringe of the Wattenberg field in Larimer and Boulder counties, their demands for water reach into municipalities up and down the Front Range, Loveland among them.
“We’re not selling as much as other providers, because we’re further away from most of the activity,” said Loveland water resources engineer Greg Dewey. “But it has become a significant source of income for us.”
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