From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
SeEtta Moss, who heads the Arkansas Valley chapter of the Audubon Society and represents environmental interests, and some other roundtable members have been working with a group from the Gunnison Basin Roundtable to come up with a statewide proposal encouraging conservation in order to preserve water for wildlife and recreation. The group decided to take a small step, by requesting a requirement that any state project get a variance before installing or renovating any patch of turf more than 1,000 square feet. “This is to get the state to take the lead in conservation,” Moss said…
She showed a photo of the vast lawn in front of the Territorial Correctional Facility on U.S. 50 in Canon City, where she lives, as an example of a wasteful irrigation system. “There are 50,000 square feet in front of the prison, and that one facility probably has 100,000 square feet,” Moss said. “There’s no functional reason to have the state money and water going into this. It’s inaccessible to the public.”
Jay Winner, general manager of the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, said an array of urban conservation measures need to be considered, and providing incentives to install drip irrigation systems could also be effective. “People still want to see a green Colorado and there are ways to do it,” Winner said…
Reed Dils, a member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, said the state is developing a thick urban conservation manual and already requires conservation plans for some types of funding. The roundtable agreed to hear a presentation on that effort at its September meeting. “If this is a local control issue, it’s dead in the water,” said Gary Barber, chairman of the roundtable. “You’ll get my support if it’s not a top-down mandate.”
More IBCC — basin roundtables coverage here.