Denver's Real Estate Impact
Being a State with one of the highest density of rivers, Colorado, especially Denver is no stranger to the impact of clean
water. With a city that is growing by 67 people per day, it is more important than ever to conserve as much water as
possible in our buildings.
History of The Problem
Although Colorado seems to have an abundance of water, primarily originating from snowmelt, by no means is it unlimited. Residential homes are a large contributor, because just a small leak in plumbing or on a faucet can waste much more than you would think. According to Denver Water, If a leaky pipe leaks just 1 cup per minute, it can waste almost 33,000 gallons of water in a year. Additionally, if your faucet leaks just 30 drips in a minute, that can waste 1,041 in a year. We treat water like its unlimited, but in reality it is extremely scarce. Colorado's water also supplies water to California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada. Regardless of how much we use, they get what is not used by us.
Discussion of The Problem
Agriculture has been, and still is, the number one user of water in Colorado. However, according to Colorado State University, Denver as well as many other cities are increasing their demand for water for urban uses, energy requirements, and recreation. These have been slowed due to the difficulty in permitting new water storage projects. Needing more water to support the growing infrastructure, municipalities are attempting to gain senior agricultural water rights from farmers.
The Colorado State Demography Office predicts only increasing demand. They propose that Colorado will have 6 million residents by 2020 and 9 million by 2050. This will likely create a municipal water supply gap of 500,000 acre-feet by the year 2050. This squeeze is currently calling for a long-term solution. Perhaps acquiring more and more water rights from agriculture would help, but this is a short term solution. This will further deplete the most needed resource from farmers, and feeding Denver more and more water, will likely only create a demand for more. This would eventually bring us to a stalemate. The issue will call for much more innovative solutions focused on recycling and reusing the water Denver already has the rights to, and using it in a way that is sustainable. These are things like hydroponics, aquaponics, high efficiency water users (toilets, faucets, plumbing), and perhaps government incentives to residents and businesses based on conserving their water. Check out the "Possible Solutions" tab for more info.
Current Approaches
Since water supply in Colorado and the city of Denver comes mostly from snowmelt and groundwater, this is one factor
we have little control over. However, the demand for water is steadily increasing and will eventually reach a tipping point.
As this demand increases with population, the price for water will also increase and water is not like gasoline. We need
drinkable water everyday to survive. To incentivize water conservation Colorado and the city of Denver have several
programs and offers in place. Currently Denver Water offers rebates to residents and businesses who install qualifying
water provider products like toilets and faucets. Denver Water has also offered commercial, industrial, and institutional
customers a performance contracting program since 1997. Under the program, Denver Water pays $4,500 for every acre-
foot of water saved during a one year period up to $40,000. The agricultural industry may have the strongest incentive to
conserve water and that is crop yield. When farmers use less water, they spend less money, which increases the
profitability of their crop. However, the agricultural industry still uses more water than all other industries
combined. Colorado's most effective approach could be the Chatfield Storage Reallocation Project which can
accommodate an additional 20,600 acre feet of water storage for water supply without compromising its flood control
function. This additional water storage space will be utilized by municipal and agricultural water providers making is an
all encompassing solution for diverse needs. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determined the viability of this project and
should consider projects like this on other nearby reservoirs.