DENVER -The Denver Water Board has declared its dought-induced water shortage over, with reservoirs at their highest levels for any October since 1999. Healthy snows last winter, good summer and fall rains and reduced demand have left reservoirs at 90 percent capacity. That is three percentage points above the longterm average for October, according to Bob Steger Denver resource water engineer. Although snow and rain have been heavier in the mountain watersheds where Denver gathers its water, the city itself is on course for one of the driest years in its history. The possibility of a wet winter in the state is still unclear. The federal Climate Prediction Center said last week Colorado is expected to have warmer-than normal temperatures this winter but has equal chances for a wetter- or drier-than-normal season and some parts of the state, however, are still struggling with the drought.
Summit County -Earlier this year it was reported that State officials are looking at almost 4,000 wells, with 2,700 of those located in the Upper Blue. At issue are state laws that limit well water for indoor, domestic use. The general idea is that if you use groundwater to irrigate a lawn or wash a car, at least a portion of that water doesn’t make it back into the aquifers, which are considered tributaries to surface streams. In effect, that water is lost to a potential downstream user with senior water rights. The problem grows as more well-users get hooked up to sewer systems, resulting in an even greater net loss to groundwater flows. To make up for the consumptive use, there are two local augmentation plans, enabling well users to buy surface water rights to replace the water they are using. Problem is, there are significant parts of the county that apparently aren’t served by either of the augmentation plans, mainly in the Upper Blue, between Breckenridge and Dillon Reservoir, described as a critical reach by Scott Hummer, Division 5 water commissioner for the State Engineer’s Office.
Hummer said his agency’s enforcement efforts will focus on those areas where augmentation is available, to try and bring people into compliance with their permits. While the state crackdown intensifies, a number of wells in Summit County have gone dry, even as the county and state continue to issue new building and well permits in areas without current access to augmentation water. That’s not an uncommon situation in the Lakeview Meadows subdivision, near Farmer’s Korner. Hummer said the Engineer’s Office is mandated to issue well permits in platted subdivisions, with the expectation that property owners abide by the household-use-only provisions.
And while Summit County certainly has an interest in ensuring reliable water supplies, local officials also continue to issue building permits for areas where well-users might potentially violate their well permits. According one Summit County Commissioner, the county only requires that property owners show that they can get a state well permit for a project.
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