There is still time to provide statements on Colorado's first strategic water plan, but officials encourage citizens to act quickly. The deadline to comment is May 1.

In a recent podcast interview with The Water Values, Colorado Water Conservation Board Director James Eklund said the Colorado Water Plan was being formulated from the bottom up. The state has held more than 850 basin roundtable meetings at the local level, generating more than 13,000 comments to date.

"Water is an emotional topic," Eklund said. "It's a private property right."

Recognizing widespread citizen distrust whether elected officials could decide what's best, Ecklund urged residents to participate in the development process by submitting their personal comments. Launched in 2005, the basin roundtable meetings have enabled citizens to influence the state's future water policy, he added.

The Southwest Basin, which includes the San Juan and Dolores rivers, covers more than 10,000 square miles. Durango, with a population of roughly 15,000, and Cortez, with some 8,500 residents, are the largest cities within the basin, which also serves three ski areas: Telluride, Wolf Creek and Purgatory.

As population grows, the demand for water from cities across the region could almost double.

The most conservative estimate calculates municipal water use will increase from about 7 trillion gallons currently to about 13. 6 trillion gallons annually by 2050.

The region also encompasses 216,075 acres of irrigated farm land that will continue to need water.

Citing an imbalance between supply and demand, Ecklund said conservation was central to any water discussion. Since 2002, the state has reduced its water consumption by 20 percent, according to the draft report.

"Conservation is a really exciting frontier," said Eklund.

The draft report further reveals that the state's average precipitation yields 14 million acre-feet of water annually. Although Colorado only consumes about 5 million acre-feet of water annually, the Colorado Water Plan is essential considering a nine-state water pact as well as international water treaties.

"We have to get our house in order," said Eklund.

Colorado is home to nine major river basins that supply water to downstream states across the West. Nearly every western state except Colorado has a water plan, said Eklund.

Surprised to learn that Colorado didn't have a strategic water plan, Governor John Hickenlooper issued an executive order to create the state's first water plan in May 2013.

In developing the draft report, Eklund said Colorado's plan would be unique, considering that headwaters originate in state and the Centennial State was the only one in the nation with a designated water court. He added officials had reviewed other western state's water plans.

"We need to make sure we are learning everything we can from other states," said Eklund.

According to the draft report, up to 80 percent of Colorado's water falls west of the Continental Divide, but up to 90 percent of the population resides east of the divide. Two dozen tunnels and ditches transport some 500,000 acre-feet of water from the western to eastern slope annually.

Ekland said the idea to develop a water report started to bubble up after the 2002 drought. He cited drought was a slow moving natural catastrophe that needed and deserved a state-wide response.

To meet 2050 water needs, for example, Colorado will need to invest $20 billion on water projects, said Eklund.

"We have to think outside the box on financing," he said.

Prior to reviewing the densely packed 344-page draft report, Eklund advised residents to first read the 15-page executive summary. The 11-chapter draft water plan provides an examination of the regulatory framework that guides the state's water management and an overview for each of the state's nine major river basins. The plan also addresses water supply and demand issues and projections, interbasin projects and agreements as well as policies and legislative recommendations.

To access and comment on the Colorado Water Plan, visit www.coloradowaterplan.com.

tbaker@cortezjournal.com