CPW owns and operates a total of 110 dams throughout Colorado. The average age of these dams is 72 years. Based on a 2015 Screening Level Risk Analysis (SLRA), CPW identified 11 dams as being at the highest risk level and requiring immediate attention. CPW has subsequently added three more dams to this list based on follow-up inspections. These 14 highest priority projects are as follows…
— from the FY 2019-20 Joint Budget Committee Hearing Agenda, January 2019
When the ‘average age’ of your dams is 72 years, that suggests that some of the dams are older than 72 years. How much older? And how expensive to repair or replace?
We can presume that the dams maintained by the Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife are rather small, compared with some of the massive dams built by the US Bureau of Reclamation between 1902 and 1994. We might mention Hoover Dam, for example — currently 83 years old. The Bureau website suggests this dam is built to last up to 10,000 years. Apparently, we should not feel quite so secure about the Glen Canyon Dam, completed in 1963 — the dam that created Lake Powell. The dam nearly failed in 1983, during a year of particularly heavy snowfall followed by an unusually warm spring, which then led to flooding along the Colorado River. You can read that frightening story here.
At the beginning of 2019, both Lake Mead and Lake Powell were slightly more than one-third capacity. We assume that the generous snowfall delivered by Mother Nature this past winter will help mitigate their recent decline. But both dams — Hoover and Glen Canyon — produce much of the electricity used in the region. That generating capacity is threatened by the falling water levels in both lakes, and has helped generate an impetus for two recent water plans: the 567-page 2015 Colorado Water Plan (which you can review on this website) and especially the seven-state 2019 Drought Contingency Plan, delivered to the federal government on March 19 (which you can view here.)
Funding the $20-billion Colorado Water Plan is not an easy task. Since 2016, primary funding for implementation had been allotted from Colorado’s oil and gas severance tax. But in 2016, BP America won a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that awarded them repayment of excessive taxes. Ultimately, the estimated impact on state coffers could reach $100 million if other companies also seek severance tax refunds. Other factors also contributed to a drop in severance tax collections, and between 2014 and 2017, our annual severance tax revenues fell from $300 million down to $19.5 million.
The Colorado Water Plan was awarded $10 million in severance taxes last fiscal year. This year, they’re expecting only $7 million — a far cry from the $20 billion estimated cost for Plan implementation.
The Colorado General Assembly this year awarded the Plan an additional $10 million out of the General Fund — much less than the $30 million requested by the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
Then we have the Drought Contingency Plan that’s been signed by the seven states — Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California — that divert water out of the Colorado River and its tributaries. Although this new plan uses the word “Drought” in its title, we don’t have any kind of firm definition for the word “Drought.”
But we know it’s not good. What’s less apparent, perhaps, is that it’s also very normal and commonplace.
“A History of Drought in Colorado” was published by Colorado State University in 2000. A couple of useful excerpts, if we’re trying to understand the word, “Drought”:
Before we continue our discussion of the history of wet and dry periods in Colorado, and considering drought and drought preparedness, we should remember that precipitation — our source of water supply — is only half of the drought picture. The impacts of a lack of precipitation on humans and nature depend on several factors including: how water is used; when water is needed; how much water is needed; and how long water can be stored before use…
Agricultural water supplies. This remains the number one water demand in Colorado. However, Colorado agriculture has undergone recent changes, including the introduction of new types of crops, new irrigation techniques, renewed interest in non-irrigated agriculture, and more drought resistant strains of traditional crops…
Municipal and industrial water supplies. Municipalities typically develop extensive storage facilities to ensure reliability of water supplies… Water demands for industrial and many municipal uses are fairly constant throughout the year. However, about 50% of municipal water is used for watering of lawns and landscapes (e.g. parks and golf courses); these demands occur mainly in the summer…
Other water uses noted in the Colorado State University report include recreation (fishing, rafting, skiing, boating); health of the forests (for timber and recreation, and wildfire prevention); and hydropower. The amount of water provided by Mother Nature is half the picture, in assessing “drought.’ The other half is how we humans choose to use the water — or misuse it, or abuse it, or divert it, or try and save it for later.
Another interesting excerpt from the 19-year-old report:
The analysis performed in this study revealed several important facts about dry and wet periods in Colorado:
—Drought is a very frequent visitor to Colorado
—Single season droughts with precipitation of 75% or less of average for one to three months in a row occur nearly every year in Colorado.
—Based on the Standardized Precipitation Index, 3- month droughts with an index value of –1 or lower (equivalent to a moderate precipitation deficit with a probability of occurrence of no more than 16% for any consecutive 3-month period), occur approximately 90 in 100 years at any given location.
—93% of time at least 5% of state… is experiencing drought at either a 3-, 6-, 12- or 24-month time scale.
Translation: Colorado has always been, and always will be, in a state of drought or near-drought somewhere in the state. And I am guessing the same can be said for California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Dealing with drought in the Southwest is a common, everyday task… like washing the dishes.
So if drought is a constant condition, then what exactly is a “Drought Contingency Plan”? The main problem, as far as I can tell, isn’t so much a lack of precipitation. The main problem is the other half of the drought equation: how humans use the water. Like, for example, using water to generate electricity by running it through a dam.
Which brings us back to Lake Powell. Slightly more than one-third full.