Metro Round Table Grant to SMWSA

It is interesting that the Metro Round Table saw fit to provide the South Metro Water Supply Authority $100,500 through the Water Supply Reserve Account (one of the grant programs administered through the Colorado Water Conservation Board), even though the Authority's membership does not comply with the requirements set forth in Colorado statute regarding water conservation planning, and that the State is supposed to consider such compliance when awarding grants. In a State where the Governor has publicly stated that water conservation is his number one priority regarding the creation of future sustainable water supplies, it is alarming that the Authority would be granted funding until such time as its membership met with the basic state requirements.

It can be considered an oversight, if the Authority's membership was small and lacked resources,.. or if the member organizations were in the process of developing meaningful water conservation plans. But, unfortunately this does not appear to be the case. For example, Centennial Water & Sanitation District, which supplies water to nearly 100,000 people in the South Metro area, has developed a draft water conservation plan that was open for public comment early this year. The draft plan that Centennial developed did not meet with the basic requirements of the state statutes, and met with some fairly harsh publicly documented criticism. It is unclear what the status of this draft plan is, but based on this reviewer's read of the draft document, it is not something that Centennial or its customers should be proud of since it does not allow for meaningful water conservation to occur based on the state's definitions.

Meaningful water conservation is obtained through measurable and verifiable reductions in water demand. Centennial claims to have reduced water demand by increasing water rates and implementing a water budget. Although these are good water conservation programs, most of Centennial's reduced water demand occurred prior to its implementation of these two programs,.. and since they implemented increased water rates and the water budget, average per capita water use has increased. Perhaps Centennial Water & Sanitation District, which is led by a Board of Directors that does not represent the customer base that it serves, but is rather staffed entirely by home builders, needs to take a long hard look at its policies and act in a manner that is more in keeping with the needs of the community and the state of water resources management in Douglas County and the Front Range (as evidenced by the handful of communities that do have strong water conservation plans such as Denver Water, Castle Rock, and Colorado Springs).

Given Centennial's actions, and lack of meaningful water conservation, it is surprising and disappointing that the Metro Round Table saw fit to provide funding to SMWSA. If the Authority really wants to be taken seriously, it would seem that it needs to pull together its membership and lead the way with meaningful water conservation. Until such time as this occurs, it would appear that the Authority is going down a path that is not sustainable and will not ultimately provide renewable water supplies to the South Metro area,.. and the State is happy to help them achieve this inauspicious goal.