As Southwest Colorado faces persistent drought, growing demand for water and an expected population boom, water planners say they still lack a clear picture of where many residents get their domestic water and how vulnerable those supplies are.
To fill that gap, the Southwest Colorado Water Conservation District submitted a grant proposal Tuesday to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation seeking funding to map and assess domestic water systems across the region.
Domestic water – defined by its use in either a municipal, household, or commercial capacity regardless of the provider, system type, or source – remains poorly mapped in Southwest Colorado, according to the draft grant proposal.
While information exists on private wells, metropolitan districts and homeowner associations, those data sets are scattered across agencies and are not compiled in one place, in a usable format, said Andrew Straub-Heidke, the conversation district’s general manager.
Much of the population within the San Juan and Dolores river basins are rural water users who rely on wells, smaller water systems or water hauling. As prolonged drought and declining streamflows continue to strain water supplies across the Colorado River Basin, understanding where those systems exist and how vulnerable they are has become increasingly important for long-term planning, the draft proposal said.
Need is expected to grow.
The Southwest water basin is expected to experience the highest rate of population growth in the state, according to the 2022 Southwest Basin Implementation Plan. Future municipal and industrial water demand increases in all planning scenarios and gaps between domestic water supply and demand are expected to rise anywhere from 6% to 36%.
“I think there's definitely some importance (in) determining just where vulnerabilities lie within the basin,” Straub-Heidke said.
Many users in the district rely on wells and there is, from a spatial standpoint, a gap in understanding of well production and any vulnerabilities groundwater wells may have, Straub-Heidke said. It is possible to that two wells within the same one mile radius could be producing vastly different quantities of water.
Two wells less than a mile apart can produce dramatically different amounts of water, making it difficult to understand groundwater reliability without more detailed mapping, he said.
The proposed project would create the first comprehensive regional picture of domestic water systems in Southwest Colorado, identifying where residents rely on private wells, small water systems and hauled water, where vulnerabilities exist and where future growth may outpace reliable water supplies.
The planned product is a public-facing, interactive GIS tool that represents the geographic and spatial qualities of local water supplies, Straub-Heidke said.
“I think this is just going to be a really helpful tool for counties, for city planning, for developers to use, and it'll be a good planning tool for future projects as well,” he said.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
