Here’s part three of The Durango Herald’s (Lynda Edwards) series titled The Animas in a Changed Climate. The article takes a look at the future of the river and what Durango water users might face in the coming years. Here’s an excerpt:
[Durango’s 2011 Water Efficiency Management Plan] urges Durango to consider expanding an existing ordinance that restricts some new developments from planting high-water-use trees and plants not grown for human consumption. It also requires low-water-use plants on certain slopes and water-efficient irrigation. The study asks Durangoans to consider expanding and enactingthese restrictions across the city.
The plan also suggests adopting a “green building” ordinance for all new development. The plan does not mention what the ordinance would say.
Sandra Henderson of Project BudBurst, a program that recruits local residents to help document climate change, said: “Doing nothing about environmental problems creates stress. Doing something is empowering. Durangoans can take their city’s future into their own hands.”
Click through for the photos of the installation of a xeriscape garden and drip irrigation.
More Animas River watershed coverage here.