Denver Water rejects plan for saving river

WINTER PARK, Colo. (CBS4) ― Tumbling off a mountainside near Winter Park, Jim Creek carries a healthy volume of snowmelt until it flows smack into a concrete structure.

"This ... is built to divert water," explains Kirk Klancke, a fly fisherman and Grand County resident.

The structure does its job well. On the downstream side, all that's left is barely a trickle.

Jim Creek is one of many tributaries to the Fraser River. In this valley, Denver Water operates dozens of diversion structures that siphon water from what would naturally flow in the Fraser. The big utility now wants approval to take even more water and pipe it to Denver as part of its Moffat Firming Project.

Recreation and tourism would suffer if the stream is further imperiled, says Klancke who's president of the local chapter of Trout Unlimited.

"This river is struggling for survival," Klancke said. "An additional withdrawal could put it over a tipping point where it may not survive."

Is there a way to keep the Fraser from becoming a liquid graveyard? Yes, say environmental groups. But their solution requires Denver Water customers to make changes in their yards.

"The utility pays money for a customer to rip out their turf," explains Drew Beckwith, a water policy analyst with an environmental group called Western Resource Advocates.

The program he's talking about is called Cash for Grass and it's already ongoing in Aurora.

Homeowner Diane Woods was one of many who revamped her yard as part of the program.

"It was a concern for the environment," she says.

After killing off most of her lawn, she replanted with drought tolerant bushes and flowers.

Aurora Water paid her $1 per square foot, a total of $3,400, as a cash incentive to transition to xeriscaping.

The phrase xeriscaping was created by Denver decades ago as a water conservation campaign, but the concept of paying customers to remove their turf grass has never been tried in Denver.

"Denver's customer base has said over and over that they want to find ways to live with less, rather than going for more water," Beckwith said. He points to a detailed study done in 2005 which made calculations that convince him a Cash for Grass-type program could generate huge water savings if tried in Denver.

Beckwith claims that if just 20 percent of Denver Water customers replanted only half their yards, the amount of water saved would equal the new diversion on the Fraser River requested for Denver's Moffat Firming project.

The new boss at Denver Water says its not that simple.

"Removing turf from resident lawns does not in itself solve the problem," says Jim Lochhead.

Lochhead says a program like Aurora's would take years to get rolling and Denver needs water in a relatively short time frame. He says the added volume provided by an approved Moffat Firming Project will help handle additional growth and improve the reliability of Denver Water's system.

Aurora homeowners like Diane Woods are happy with Cash for Grass, especially when they get their summer water bill.

"From $280 a month to $89 two years later, so definitely it did conserve water," she says.

Finding new ways to conserve is the only hope for rivers like the Fraser, according to environmental groups.

The town of Castle Rock also has a version of the Cash for Grass program.

Additional Resources

Learn more about the programs in Aurora and Castle Rock.