Statewide Water Supply Initiative (SWSI)

The severe drought conditions in Colorado in recent years prompted the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) to promote the Statewide Water Supply Initiative project to quantify current and future water demand and supply in order to begin evaluating options for water management including conservation. This effort focused on the following eight river basins: Yampa/White/Green, Colorado, Gunnison, Dolores/San Juan, Rio Grande, Arkansas, South Platte, and North Platte.

Riverside Technology, inc. (RTi), as part of a team lead by Camp, Dresser, & McKee (CDM), was selected to perform the SWSI study. RTi’s role was to provide general Colorado Decision Support System (CDSS) support to CDM, develop geographic information system (GIS) products, estimate agricultural demands, and estimate available supply. The reconnaissance-level study resulted in estimates of current and year 2030 conditions, in order to perform a water supply gap analysis. CDM and the CWCB held several rounds of meetings in each basin to discuss water issues in each basin. This information is being used to help guide the water supply analysis.

Arkansas Basin Land Use

RTi used the baseline StateMod data sets developed in CDSS projects to estimate the current available flow. Future demands were used to make additional model runs and the results evaluated to determine regions where water supply issues will occur in the future, and to what degree problems will occur. The water availability analysis was evaluated in conjunction with demographic, environmental, economical, and other factors to provide an overall picture of the availability of Colorado’s water in the future. This information can be used to perform more detailed studies for specific regions and water development projects. Of particular importance is the consideration of Colorado’s water obligation to other states, and the need to change water management plans, increase conservation, and implement structural changes.

2290 East Prospect Road, Suite 1, Fort Collins, Colorado 80525  (970) 484–7573  (970) 484–7593 Fax www.riverside.com   info@riverside.com