Meeting Colorado's water challenges

“Conflict has been our central water narrative in Colorado,” journalist and editor for Mountain Town News Allen Best wrote in a 2016 article for Water Education Colorado.

One part of the act requires junior water users on over-appropriated streams to offset depletions to senior water rights. Priority to water rights is based upon when they were acquired, and holders of senior rights have the first claim to withdraw water. Ownership of land is insufficient to convey a right to use water.

Historically, Brighton had been using temporary pumps to meet its augmentation requirements. “They were costly and inefficient,” said Jake Hebert, a civil engineer who worked on the Erger’s Pond Augmentation Station project. “Construction of permanent infra-structure to facilitate pumping operations was necessary and beneficial to the city.”

Several factors contribute to the state’s limited water supply. The Continental Divide runs through Colorado, and the state’s Western Slope receives about 80 percent of the water. About 80 percent of the state’s residents, however, reside on the much drier Eastern Slope.

Thomas Renner writes on building, construction, engineering, and other trade topics for publications throughout the US.