 National Rural Water Association 2915 S. 13th Street Duncan, OK 73533 580-252-0629 FAX 580-255-4476 Contact: Chris Wilson, nrwacw@nrwa.org
April 1, 2009 Source Water Protection spreading through rural Colorado PUEBLO WEST, Colo. – Small communities across Colorado are deciding it’s time to protect their water resources, and Colorado Rural Water Association’s Colleen Williams is at the center of the movement. “That’s the best situation, when this idea spreads by participation and by word of mouth,” said Williams, CRWA’s Source Water Protection Specialist. Williams recently completed a source water protection plan for Brush, a city just over 5,000 in northeast Colorado. The work on that plan inspired source water protection in the Morgan County Quality Water District, one of Colorado’s largest water distribution system relative to land mass. “It started when the City of Brush operator, Don Marymee, attended some Colorado Rural Water training sessions,” Williams explained. “He got the idea that the city should protect their water sources and told Brush Assistant Administrator, Karen Schminke.” The source water specialist gave a presentation to the Brush city council, and they agreed to move forward with the process. A group of 26 people, including citizens, local government, state agencies and oil and gas representatives, met regularly to create a plan to protect the Beaver Creek Aquifer, which was the source of Brush’s water supply. The group was able to create a plan where a number of smaller efforts created a very large, very effective protection effort. “They developed a number of partnerships they didn’t have before,” Williams explained. “It was important to work as a partner with the oil and gas industry. “ “It’s a real dynamic group, very committed,” she added. Protection efforts include creating a watershed district ordinance, and public education efforts for the population in the area. Brush also applied for a grant from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, to help with the implementation of the plan. The effort has also inspired protection plans in neighboring communities. “Because of the efforts in Brush, the neighboring Morgan County Water District has decided to pursue source water protection,” Williams said. Stakeholders in Morgan County have already held preliminary meetings to implement a source water protection program in their area. “It’s critical that we maintain the kind of water supply and the quality that we currently have,” said District General Manager Mark Kokes. Morgan County Quality Water District covers a huge area of rural Colorado, spanning from Weld to Washington counties, and from Adams County to an area north of Jackson Lake. The district currently serves customers from three aquifers and utilizes more than 500 miles of water main lines throughout the counties it serves. Kokes estimated it would cost more than $40 million to replace the district’s water sources, if they were lost. “It’s a pretty expansive area,” Kokes said. Stakeholders formed a planning ground after their first meeting, and are beginning the source water protection process. “Source water protection is the protection of all present and potential future drinking water sources,” Williams explained. “There are a lot of potential contaminant sources, and the whole idea is to prevent these potential contaminant sources from polluting your drinking water.”
The big benefit for Williams, who
prepares roughly three source water plans a year, is how these efforts
are inspiring neighboring communities to protect their water sources.
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