Agenda 2024: Our water system is complex, but in capable hands
It’s been said so often that it’s almost cliché at this point: We’re incredibly blessed to be able to turn on a faucet and enjoy clear, clean, high-quality water.
That’s especially true here in the arid West, where, in many places, water is growing increasingly scarce and a topic of rising concern. Here in Cheyenne and Laramie County, some are more concerned than others, but it seems the average citizen hasn’t made the connection between the battle over water rights on the Colorado River and the water they use to brush their teeth or wash their clothes.
Thankfully, there’s a group of people in Wyoming’s capital city who are paying close attention. They’re also working hard to ensure that residents continue to enjoy that same high-quality water for generations to come.
It won’t come easy, and it definitely won’t come cheap. But Cheyenne residents should rest assured that, thanks to the leaders at the Board of Public Utilities (BOPU) and in city hall, they have people representing them and their best interests every single day. (Laramie County residents have allies at the county level, too. More on that later.)
Complex system
Although there’s way more that Laramie County residents should know about the complexities of this region’s water system than we have time to get into today, trust us when we say it’s far from simple for Cheyenne to gain access to the approximately 14,000 acre-feet of water we use every year. (After all, the main tributary winding its way through town is Crow Creek.)
Thanks to a series of visionary decisions and investments made decades ago, our water comes primarily from something called the Little Snake River Collection System. Its purpose is to collect water from the western slope of the Continental Divide and store it in Hog Park Reservoir. Through a series of agreements, Cheyenne’s portion of that water, along with another amount stored in Seminoe Reservoir, is then traded for water collected from the Douglas Creek watershed in Rob Roy Reservoir, a 140-foot-tall earthen dam, which was built in 1962-66 (Stage I) and expanded in 1983-85 (Stage II), that stores 35,000 acre-feet of water.
Through a complex system of 28 water collection structures and 23 miles of pipelines known as the Douglas Creek Collection System, water is transported to Lake Owen, which was constructed in the 1960s as part of Stage I. This 10-foot-tall embankment dam can hold up to 700 acre-feet of water from both this collection system and Rob Roy Reservoir, which is then transported through the Laramie Plains Pipelines to Granite and Crystal Reservoirs in Curt Gowdy State Park. From there, it’s piped to the Sherard Water Treatment Plant, treated and sent out through more pipes to homes, businesses, parks and industrial facilities.
Thanks to the Stage I and Stage II projects, Cheyenne has enjoyed more than enough water to meet its daily needs and accommodate growth, both residential and industrial. But as we all know, water is a finite resource, and we’re at the mercy of Mother Nature when it comes to whether there will be enough for everyone.
Which is where the Colorado River comes into play. The Little Snake River is part of the larger Colorado River watershed, which connects more than 40 million people in the West living in seven states — Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, California, Arizona and New Mexico. The watershed is divided into the Upper Basin and the Lower Basin (see map), and there’s a longstanding disagreement between the two regions over who’s entitled to how much water and when.
As this argument rages on, it’s believed that by 2030 — just six years from now — the Upper Basin states, including Wyoming, could be forced to give up more of their water to the Lower Basin. This “call” on water (also known as curtailment) is possible because some places have “senior” water rights, meaning they were established much earlier than others. Cheyenne’s water rights are relatively new compared to most other places.
Thankfully, BOPU and city leaders have been aware for some time of this potential loss of Little Snake River water, which would reduce our annual water supply to 7,100 acre-feet. Through a variety of methods, including drawing more than the current 3,300 acre-feet a year from wells in the Ogallala Aquifer, BOPU is looking to add capacity to the city’s water system to meet current needs and allow for further growth. (For perspective, the city currently has access to 22,000 acre-feet of water per year and uses around 14,000, so there’s already 8,000 acre-feet of “excess” capacity in the system. But that doesn’t leave much cushion, especially without the expansion the city is expected to see in the next five to 10 years.)
Some interesting options include: feeding recycled water into the reservoirs in Lions Park, freeing up 600 acre-feet of raw water per year to add to the city’s potable capacity; expanding the recycled water system to cover the Airport Golf Course and Cheyenne Country Club; tapping the Casper Aquifer on the west side of the Belvoir Ranch; and finalizing an agreement with developers of a planned gold mine west of the city to drill three or four wells and connect them to the city’s system, saving residents $8 million to $10 million in system investments.
Outside the city
Laramie County residents who live outside of the capital city have a different concern about water. It centers around the status of the aforementioned Ogallala Aquifer.
This underground geologic formation spans 175,000 square miles underneath parts of eight states, including southeast Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The U.S. Geological Survey has conducted a water-level monitoring study since 1987, documenting the aquifer’s decline. As of 2009, the entire aquifer contained an estimated 3 billion acre-feet of water, but was losing 18 million acre-feet per year.
In 2014, the Wyoming State Engineer’s Office contracted with a company called AMEC Environment & Infrastructure out of Boulder, Colorado, to calculate the recharge rate of the aquifer under properties in Laramie County. Based on an assumed consumption rate of 85 gallons per person per day, AMEC generated a recommended lot size in four separate zones.
In most of the county, that recommended minimum lot size was 5 acres. In the Laramie County Land Use Regulations adopted in 2016, county leaders set it at 5.25 acres and said the only exception would be for those homes connected to a public water/sewer system like Cheyenne BOPU or the South Cheyenne Water and Sewer District.
Now it’s up to members of the county Planning Commission and our elected county commissioners to stick to that regulation. Some developers have tried some creative ways to get around it, but without commissioners holding firm, rural homeowners could be even more concerned than they already are about dropping water levels in the aquifer meaning a need to pay for drilling ever-deeper wells to maintain a supply of potable water.
What each of us can do
That’s all well and good, you say. We’re glad there are people watching out for our current and future water needs. But why are you bringing this up now, and what are we supposed to do with this information?
First, we all need to understand that a changing climate means an increasing scarcity of water across the West and more pressure on both the Colorado River system and the Ogallala Aquifer. We all need to do our part to conserve water in whatever ways possible.
Years ago, BOPU implemented year-round residential water restrictions. Even in “wet” years, those have continued, and it’s up to all city residents to comply with their requirements related to watering lawns and avoiding waste.
Since 2006, the city has been using recycled water to irrigate certain parks, rather than potable water. Although this water isn’t cheap to produce, it’s critical to get more than one use out of as much water as possible. We can do the same by collecting rainwater for our gardens and putting unused drinking water on houseplants.
We also need to plant more low water use grasses instead of Kentucky bluegrass (don’t simply rock areas over, please, since it’s not only unsightly, it creates more dust and provides less environmental benefits). Trees are great, but some varieties require a lot less water than others and are just as beautiful (for the best varieties for our area, visit rootedincheyenne.com/recommended-trees-for-cheyenne). And drip irrigation systems are great for facilitating plant growth without losing large amounts to evaporation.
Simple things like taking shorter showers, not leaving the tap running while brushing your teeth, and switching to low-flow showerheads and toilets make a big difference.
All of these things will not only help conserve a precious resource, they’ll save money. And with ongoing maintenance and mandatory replacement of lead-based water lines in the future, costs are sure to continue to rise.
We’re confident that government officials are doing everything in their power to limit the impact. We have to do our part, too.
More info online
For more information about the city of Cheyenne’s water supply, visit cheyennebopu.org/Water/Water-Supply.
For more water conservation tips and other water-related information, go online to cheyennebopu.org/Water/Water-Conservation.
Our panelists
In preparation for this month’s editorial about local water issues, we convened a panel of local experts that included:
Brad Brooks, director of the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities (BOPU)
Jeff Fassett, BOPU board member and former Wyoming State Engineer
Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins
Laramie County Commissioner Troy Thompson