While there\u2019s no \u201csingle silver bullet\u201d to solving the challenges facing the Colorado River Basin, Gov. John Hickenlooper said Tuesday that conservation will help ensure adequate water supply in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur discipline around how much water we use is going to be the foundation of everything we do,\u201d he said April 10, as a guest speaker at Colorado College\u2019s annual State of the Rockies Project Conference.<\/p>\n
For the past year, a team of Colorado College faculty and students have been examining issues pertaining to the Colorado River Basin, which starts in Wyoming and flows across seven southwestern states into Mexico, where the delta is now imperiled from numerous dams and diversions. Persistent drought, higher temperatures and other factors also have contributed to a decreasing water supply, at a time when demand is increasing from multiple interests.<\/p>\n
Hickenlooper congratulated the students on the project and its findings, which five students outlined before the governor took the podium.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should be proud of the work those students have done \u2013 it\u2019s very impressive,\u201d he told Professor Walt Hecox, faculty director for the State of the Rockies Project, now in its ninth year.<\/p>\n
The action steps students recommend in the 2012 State of the Rockies Report Card, which was released at the April 9-10 conference:<\/p>\n
Hickenlooper said he\u2019s been a conservation advocate since he first took public office as Mayor of Denver in 2003.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to convince people by them using less water and keeping more water on the West Slope that they had a direct benefit — the better it is for people living in Denver and Colorado Springs and Fort Collins and Pueblo,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just skiing and white-water rafting. It\u2019s farming and ranching and home values. A home on the Front Range (of Colorado) is worth more than Kansas City or Indianapolis.<\/p>\n
He challenged students to bring \u201cyouthful exuberance, creativity, optimism and technology\u201d into the picture to help address water supply and competing water rights interests for agriculture, drinking water, the environment and recreational activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of it is our own self-motivation or discipline (to conserve water). How do we make it joyful and give people a kick out of it? I think that\u2019s where youth come in — young people always have a fresher way, a funnier way, a more interesting way of looking at almost everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hickenlooper favors taking a cue from how other countries are testing new innovations to save water. Israel, for instance, he said, is using drip irrigation for almost all of its crops and is toying with using brackish water on certain crops.<\/p>\n
\u201cConservation is the core of what we\u2019re talking about. We need to make sure we don\u2019t take any more water than is necessary from the West Slope,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In response to a student asking about preserving and replenishing underground water reserves, Hickenlooper said some cities, including Denver, are doing that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Colorado, there\u2019s great recognition that groundwater is precious. The key is to integrate the different water systems, with water providers talking to each other to do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Molly Mugglestone, project coordinator for Protect the Flows, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the Colorado River, followed the Governor\u2019s address. Her advocacy group already is working on most of the CC students\u2019 recommendations for preserving the Colorado River, she said.<\/p>\n
The organization represents a coalition of nearly 400 businesses that depend on the river for their livelihood, from rafting companies to ski areas to fly fishing shops to outdoor retailers. About 800,000 jobs rely on the river, Mugglestone said, representing a multi-billion dollar recreation industry.<\/p>\n
The group will release an economic impact study in May, which will demonstrate the economic value of recreational activity supported by a healthy Colorado River, she said, and is advocating on federal and local levels for recreational needs to be considered in water management decisions.<\/p>\n
The organization\u2019s website is www.protectflows.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n