Colorado diverts approximately 15.3 million acre-feet (a.f) of water annually for uses around the state, but consumes an average of only 5.3 million a.f. Total annual municipal water diversion is only 970,000 a.f. Sixty-one percent of the diverted water (8.4 million a.f.) leaves the state!

The South Platte River (be thankful the Arapaho name didn't stick"?uNiinéniiniicíihéhe'), a tributary of the Platte River, flows northeast through Denver, meeting up with Cherry Creek at Confluence Park, just west of Lower Downtown (LoDo). Within Denver, the river is on the U.S. EPA's list of
impaired water bodies. The South Platte is the principal source of water
for eastern Colorado.
Photo: Steve Kelly

Groundwater plays a major role in Colorado's water supply. The state has seven principal aquifers. Nineteen of Colorado's 64 counties, and approximately 20 percent of the state's population, rely heavily on groundwater. Colorado receives 17 inches of precipitation, on average each year. The extremes are San Luis Valley (7 inches) and Wolf Creek Pass (60) inches. The mountains generally receive more precipitation than the eastern plains, and winters are typically wetter than summers
Map: Colorado Water Plan www.cowaterplan@state.co.us

The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) released a draft of the "Colorado's Water Plan" in November 2014. The 358-page report https://tinyurl.com/p9j9x3p, which was ordered in May 2013 by Gov. John Hickenlooper, charts the water solutions to the state's water needs now and in the future. The state has grown from 1 million people in 1930, to over 5 million today. The gap between supply and demand is "real and looming," says the report.

CWCB's responsibilities include stream, watershed and lake protection (65 percent of river and stream miles and 28 percent of lake and reservoir acreages evaluated statewide attain water quality standards), water conservation, flood mitigation, stream restoration, drought planning, water supply planning and water project financing. CWCB will work with Gov. Hickenlooper to complete the plan no later than Dec. 10, 2015.

Some Colorado communities during the 2002 and 2003 droughts were only weeks away from running out of water. Drought was the impetus behind the CWCB's Statewide Water Supply Initiative (SWSI), which provides ongoing analyses of the state's water resources, and provides technical data and information to guide water decisions. Note: 2013 was also a drought year.

In 2005, the Colorado General Assembly passed House Bill 1177 (signed by Gov. Bill Owens) to depoliticize water issues, creating the Interbasin Compact Committee (IBCC), and nine basin roundtables groups. The 27 members of the IBCC represent every basin and water perspective in the state. In 2014, each basin group drafted a basin implementation plan (BIP).

The water plan draft says that proposed water projects will likely be insufficient to address projected 2050 municipal water shortfalls. Another challenge is irrigated agriculture is being lost by the purchase and permanent transfer of agricultural water rights. An increasing number of fish species in Colorado are at risk of becoming endangered due to habitat loss.

The state's snowpack is its greatest storage facility. Nearly half of the state's 1,953 reservoirs are located on the western slope in the Colorado River Basin and its tributaries. Colorado's total storage capacity is approximately 7.5million acre-feet.

Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah are also pursuing winter cloud seeding efforts, with New Mexico helping fund Colorado's "weather modification program" in southwest Colorado to increase runoff and flow in the Colorado River.

Following public input and evaluation that will occur during 2015, legislative recommendations will be addressed in the final water plan for the 2016 legislative session.