Colorado and the other six states that share the Colorado River will not solve the current water crisis without implementing intelligent land use. We can address our disconnect between water use and growth locally. We don’t need to wait for the state and federal agencies to solve it for us.
Initiatives at the state and federal levels have not reduced our water demand. Yet growth, one of the critical drivers of water overuse, is not even on the table for discussion.
Our top water policy officials said, “We can’t develop the state over the next 100 years as we grew over the last 100 years.” We have ignored that advice for too long.
The rapid growth in the Colorado River basin is not just concerning; it’s alarming. During a 10-day trip to the backcountry through all corners of the Western Slope, I witnessed the furious pace of growth over the last decade. Is this 6% average annual rate of growth sustainable?
The Colorado River serves 40 million people and 500 communities with drinking water. Colorado’s 150 western slope communities and water providers are growing.
The Front Range, which relies on Colorado River Water from trans-basin diversions, is growing. The other six states we share, the Colorado River, are all growing. Are we in denial to think that we can continue unfettered growth while the Colorado River no longer reaches the delta?
Growth is not a binary question of growth or no growth. It’s about making intelligent land-use decisions. Innovative growth strategies can lead us to a future of world-class health care, better educational institutions, vibrant downtowns, and a lifestyle of economic prosperity, convenience and comfort. It’s a path that can ensure our kids’ future while preserving our water resources.
Our current growth trajectory has led to unattainable housing for our kids, teachers, nurses and emergency services staff members. It’s high time we reevaluate our priorities and focus on more affordable housing.
What does smart growth look like? Let’s cap the rate of our development and impose a real estate transfer impact fee on the seller of real estate to help establish a fund for attainable housing. Smart growth promotes higher-density housing near our downtowns, with access to transit, along with mixed-use and new urbanism concepts that are water-conscious. Smart growth is about creating walkable, bike-friendly neighborhoods, not sprawling five-acre ranchettes that displace prime agricultural land.
Smart growth prioritizes replacing our existing aging infrastructure before we build new infrastructure we cannot maintain.
Smart growth involves maintaining local agriculture, while preserving open spaces and wildlife habitats. Rather than trucking in low-nutrient food from California and Mexico 1,500 miles away, let’s prioritize buying food from local farmers. With a growing population, we need more food, not less.
Smart growth does not include fallowing agricultural land through buy-and-dry policies to enable sprawl. Let’s not follow the example of the eastern plains, Arkansas Valley and Crowley County, which have dried up agricultural land to support sprawl and growing cities, while decimating rural economies.
Colorado recently passed land use initiatives, including incentives for denser housing along transit corridors on the Front Range, policies supporting accessory dwelling units, funding for conservation easements and replacements of bluegrass lawns.
We all share a collective responsibility to resolve the crisis in the Colorado River. It’s not a problem for “them” to solve; it’s a challenge for “us” to tackle together. We should demand that our local communities and counties adopt proactive, intelligent land-use policies.
Louis Meyer is a civil/water engineer who lives on a family farm in the North Animas River Valley.
