Denver Water insists that expanding the existing Gross Dam is the method of least impact because well, there's already a dam there. It's basically the Brownfields perspective. In most situations, this is good policy and I totally agree with it - but the argument in this particular case falls apart when you look at what the water will be used for.
It will be used to perpetuate water-intensive highly impactful sprawl along the Front Range. It will be used to create a water-careless infrastructure denying us all a water-wise future. It will destroy with Elk migration and other habitat.
This lowest impact argument is simply a facade and a farce. The project is clearly not about low impact alternatives - Draining the Upper Colorado to 20% of its natural flows is HIGH IMPACT! A corridor of sprawl along HWY 93 is HIGH IMPACT, yet DW along with the Governor and the Developers continue to push this idea because they say we "need" it. But what do they mean, we need it? No one really understands how to explain this, but I think I have figured it out, and I think it reaches far into the cultural psyche of those who feel threatened by others and who think they will never have enough.
When you look at the numbers, which we have, it becomes clear that the "need" just doesn't add up. When you look further into modern urban water management strategies, you realize that there is even more water to be had already within the system and no more needs to be gathered to meet the actual needs of our growing State. For example, we define "need" by how much we actually use, not by how much we would use if we employed the best systems to accomplish the results we desired. This is the first clue that there is something very screwy in the system of water management.
The point is that this creation of FALSE NEED has resulted in a SCARCITY MENTALITY which breeds competition rather than collaboration.
If instead, we recognize that there is actually abundant water (no one says that, right?) and enough for everyone, (I mean, look at how many farms in California and Colorado use Colorado River water! It's astonishing how MUCH water there is!) then the job becomes - not getting as much as you can get as fast as you can get it and beating the other guys out, but working together to figure out how best to allocate that water and how to employ common sense strategies to improve everyone's lives, plan for sustainable future, and use water more sensibly.
It will be used to perpetuate water-intensive highly impactful sprawl along the Front Range. It will be used to create a water-careless infrastructure denying us all a water-wise future. It will destroy with Elk migration and other habitat.
This lowest impact argument is simply a facade and a farce. The project is clearly not about low impact alternatives - Draining the Upper Colorado to 20% of its natural flows is HIGH IMPACT! A corridor of sprawl along HWY 93 is HIGH IMPACT, yet DW along with the Governor and the Developers continue to push this idea because they say we "need" it. But what do they mean, we need it? No one really understands how to explain this, but I think I have figured it out, and I think it reaches far into the cultural psyche of those who feel threatened by others and who think they will never have enough.
When you look at the numbers, which we have, it becomes clear that the "need" just doesn't add up. When you look further into modern urban water management strategies, you realize that there is even more water to be had already within the system and no more needs to be gathered to meet the actual needs of our growing State. For example, we define "need" by how much we actually use, not by how much we would use if we employed the best systems to accomplish the results we desired. This is the first clue that there is something very screwy in the system of water management.
The point is that this creation of FALSE NEED has resulted in a SCARCITY MENTALITY which breeds competition rather than collaboration.
If instead, we recognize that there is actually abundant water (no one says that, right?) and enough for everyone, (I mean, look at how many farms in California and Colorado use Colorado River water! It's astonishing how MUCH water there is!) then the job becomes - not getting as much as you can get as fast as you can get it and beating the other guys out, but working together to figure out how best to allocate that water and how to employ common sense strategies to improve everyone's lives, plan for sustainable future, and use water more sensibly.
Right now, DW has claimed a lot of water rights on this Moffat Project, so they want to exercise them. In order to do so, they need to say there's a "need" for more water capture.
So, not only does the system create a scarcity mentality and a sense of false need, it results in competition for who can get AND USE the most water. It disincentives even the most basic basic water conservation!!!
This is childish. Denver Water, as one of the major players in the sector, should be smarter and do better. Instead, DW remains childish in perpetuating the system in this way without trying to improve it, and it has made it impossible for the water sector of Colorado (and the West) to act like adults and respond appropriately to the very serious water shortage that is killing the ecosystems of our State, and that will kill the tourism economy and eventually the entire economy itself. It is laughing in the face of sustainability and of our shared future in this State. And so, by the way, is the Governor.
We've got to stop pretending that there is a naturally occurring water shortage that can be cured by capturing and using more water. The water shortage (like climate change) is 100% man-made and the only way to not have a water shortage is to stop using so damn (dam) much of it.
We've got to stop pretending Rivers don't need water. We've got to stop pretending we don't have enough water to share with the Rivers.
The people (the adults) of Colorado and across the nation and the people far down in the dry Colorado River delta are Occupying the Rivers, and demand that the players in this system stop these childish games.
So, not only does the system create a scarcity mentality and a sense of false need, it results in competition for who can get AND USE the most water. It disincentives even the most basic basic water conservation!!!
This is childish. Denver Water, as one of the major players in the sector, should be smarter and do better. Instead, DW remains childish in perpetuating the system in this way without trying to improve it, and it has made it impossible for the water sector of Colorado (and the West) to act like adults and respond appropriately to the very serious water shortage that is killing the ecosystems of our State, and that will kill the tourism economy and eventually the entire economy itself. It is laughing in the face of sustainability and of our shared future in this State. And so, by the way, is the Governor.
We've got to stop pretending that there is a naturally occurring water shortage that can be cured by capturing and using more water. The water shortage (like climate change) is 100% man-made and the only way to not have a water shortage is to stop using so damn (dam) much of it.
We've got to stop pretending Rivers don't need water. We've got to stop pretending we don't have enough water to share with the Rivers.
The people (the adults) of Colorado and across the nation and the people far down in the dry Colorado River delta are Occupying the Rivers, and demand that the players in this system stop these childish games.
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