Colorados Water Plan Water Quality Colorado Water Conservation

Colorado’s Water Plan: Water Quality Colorado Water Conservation Board October 2015

Critical Action Plan • We turned Chapter 10, originally envisioned as a list of legislative recommendations, into a strategic action plan that summarizes all of the critical actions. . Chapter 10 will also be used as a standalone document to guide future implementation of Colorado’s Water Plan. Chapter 10 specifies the methods by which the actions will be achieved, such as through legislation or changes in agency policies. • The section will be modified based on public comment and guidance from the CWCB moving into the final draft, focusing on actionable and meaningful strategies for Colorado’s water future.

Public Involvement • Almost 30, 000 comments submitted • Over 150 basin outreach meetings • Over 1, 000 regular roundtable meetings • Nearly 15, 000 unique pageviews on website • SB 115 outreach by (IWRRC) legislature • CWCB Board meetings through September 2015 • All input and CWCB responses available online

Defining Success – In the Future • Do basin roundtable members believe the plan is an accurate reflection of the BIPs and Interbasin Compact Committee recommendations? • Are the basin roundtables making progress on the measurable outcomes set forth in the BIPs? • Is funding as recommended in Colorado’s Water Plan falling into place? • Are the actions outlined in Chapter 10 of Colorado’s Water Plan moving forward? • Is this a plan/process that can continue to adapt and improve as circumstances change in the future? • Is public awareness and engagement on water issues improving?

Executive Order D 2013 -2005 “Colorado’s water quantity and quality concerns can no longer be thought of separately. Each impacts the other and our state water policy should address them conjunctively. ”

Water Quality in Colorado’s Water Plan • Chapter 4: Water Supply • Section 6. 2: Meeting Colorado’s Water Gaps • 6. 3. 2: Reuse • 6. 3. 4: Agricultural Conservation, Efficiency, and Reuse • 6. 6: Environmental and Recreational Projects & Methods • 7. 1: Watershed Health and Management • 7. 3: Water Quality • 9. 4: Framework for a More Efficient Permitting Process • 10: Critical Action Plan • Basin Implementation Plans

Chapter 4: Water Supply • Chapter 4 is a general overview of the surface and groundwater supplies available for use in Colorado • The discussion of water quality is limited to a brief overview of the necessity for consideration of water quality issues when making water supply decisions

Section 6. 2: Meeting Colorado’s Water Gaps • This section breaks down the Basin Implementation Plans, assessing how each BIP addresses water supply gaps. • For each BIP, the following water supply gaps are assessed, with a summary of each roundtable’s strategy for meeting the gaps: • Municipal & Industrial • Agricultural • Environmental and Recreational • Many BIPs addressed water quality issues in the discussion of their environmental and recreational gaps, and some in strategies to meet M&I water supply. • A brief discussion of each basin’s Goals and Measurable Outcomes is provided, and water quality is discussed if basins chose to included these considerations.

Section 6. 3. 2: Reuse • This section is part of the greater portion of CWP regarding conservation and reuse strategies for the future. • In discussion of potential reuse strategies for the future, the regulations associated with reuse and the programs and initiatives that concern water quality are addressed. The requirements for potable treatment are discussed and innovations such as Prairie Waters are explored. • If basin roundtables discussed reuse strategies in their BIPs, a summary of their findings is included.

Section 6. 3. 4: Agricultural Conservation, Efficiency, and Reuse • This section has been a hot topic of discussion among roundtables and public comment, with stakeholders hoping to encourage discussion and foster a greater understanding of the differences between agricultural conservation and agricultural efficiency. • Improved water quality is discussed as a potential benefit of improved irrigation efficiencies. • Recent programming and efforts within the state to encourage ag efficiencies are summarized, with a description of the associated water quality benefits. These programs include efforts of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program, The US Department of Agriculture’s EQIP funding, and more localized efforts driven by water providers cooperating with farmers.

Section 6. 6: Environmental and Recreational Projects and Methods • Sections 6. 5 and 6. 6 focus more specifically on the types of projects and methods which each roundtable identified to meet their water supply gaps. • These projects and methods came from many sources: the public outreach process, identification by in-basin water providers, or targeted technical outreach performed by roundtable BIP consultants. • Projects and methods which address water quality concerns were mostly identified through the environmental and recreational project lists. This section breaks down the benefits of this type of project, and discusses the process by which each roundtable identified their suites of options for moving forward. Also included is a summary of the BIPs, with some preliminary estimates of costs and the types of protection offered by the project lists.

Section 7. 1: Watershed Health and Management • Section 7. 1 discusses the relationship between watershed health and water quality. The physical processes which influence watershed health are explored, with strategies enumerated for successful stewardship of watersheds and water supply. • An example of planning strategies for watershed health is the Arkansas Basin’s “Wheel of Fire” which sets out a framework for watershed-based planning efforts as an ongoing and cyclical process, identifying key players and evens.

Section 7. 3: Water Quality • Section 7. 3 explains the key players, influencing regulations, and identified strategies for addressing water quality concerns moving forward. • This section was authored by staff at the Water Quality Control Division, who did an excellent job organizing the chapter, getting approval from the Commission, soliciting public and stakeholder comments from organizations such as the Water Quality Forum, and working closely with the CWCB on an ambitious timeline and process.

Section 7. 3: Water Quality • The section first explains the relationships in Colorado between water quality and quantity. • These connections are not only the regulatory or statutory connections identified in state and federal programming, but the type of impacts that regulation of quality may have on available quantity and vice versa. • This section also discusses the relationships between state agencies which have water quality as part of their organizational purview, and how they may interact at the agency mission level

Section 7. 3: Water Quality Primary messages in 7. 3 are the water quality and integration goals: • The WQCC’s strategic water-quality goal is by 2050, Colorado’s waters will fully support their classified uses which may include drinking-water, agriculture, recreation, aquatic life, and wetlands • Recognizing the inter-relationship between quality and quantity, strategies designed to meet Colorado’s current and future consumptive, recreational and environmental water needs will incorporate, as a key objective, the protection and restoration of water quality.

Section 7. 3: Water Quality • Section 7. 3 goes on to discuss in more depth the current water quality conditions within the state, the potential for improving or preserving this baseline, and the management system for water quality issues which is mostly under the purview of the Water Quality Control Division. • The section also provides a summary of water quality concerns and strategies raised by the Basin Implementation Plans, which will be addressed in further detail.

Section 7. 3: Water Quality Actions: • The message from stakeholders, roundtable members, and CWCB members was clear: to be a success, Colorado’s Water Plan must be actionable, with an identified suite of action items moving forward. The staff at CDPHE put together a list of action items which fall into four categories: • • Integrated Water Quality and Quantity Management Actions Policy Considerations Financial Considerations Stakeholder and Public Outreach • The action items for each section identify the means by which to advance the Water Quality and Quantity Integration Goal, and are included in the updated Chapter 10: Critical Action Plan.

Section 9. 4: Framework for a More Efficient Permitting Process • One of the charges of the Executive Order was to identify a way to make the permitting process more efficient, through greater state agency cooperation and proposed process improvements. • CWCB also cooperated with CDPHE on this section, which summarizes the processes involved in project permitting, past efforts to improve the process, and a preliminary series of actions for new improvements. • Additionally, a potential framework for state support of a project is explored. • Moving forward, actions are identified for the review of current permitting processes, the development of a permitting, certification, and mitigation handbook, and items which address future collaboration between state and federal agencies.

The Basin Roundtables

Basin Implementation Plans • CWCB updated several sections based on the final Basin Implementation Plans (BIPs). Within the final BIPs, many of the basin roundtables developed priority lists of projects or refined their pre-existing lists. We now have an in-depth and multifaceted suite of options for each basin. The direct result of this work is that is we can close many of our identified water supply gaps strategically, while minimizing the negative impacts.

Arkansas Basin • Water Quality Working Group – specific WSRA grant • Ark Valley Conduit – addressing water quality issues in the lower Ark basin • as part of the Conduit, SECWCD developed Regional Water Conservation Plan • WSRA grant to help support improved water management in areas impacted by naturally occurring radioactive materials in water supply • 4 Environmental and Recreational Goals: one is improving watershed health and water quality

Colorado Basin • Impact and ongoing programming as part of the CRBSCP, especially Grand Valley Unit • Basinwide themes: • “Protect and Restore Healthy Streams, Rivers, Lakes, and Riparian Areas” • “Secure safe drinking water” • Steps to achieve themes: “B: Define water quality needs and at-risk water bodies” • PAGE 47 BIP – Measureable Outcomes, Short/Long Term Needs, Projects & Methods • Projects and Methods: • All of the Top Projects identified meet one of these two Water Quality related goals

Gunnison Basin Goal #6: “Maintain or, where necessary, improve water quality throughout the Gunnison Basin. ” Environmental and Recreational Needs Assessment: • 29 target stream reaches • Identifying water quality and watershed health needs in the Gunnison Basin • CDPHE implementing further monitoring and evaluation of 22 water body segments in Gunnison Basin • CDPHE developing TMDL strategies for identified segments • Colo State Forest Service, USFS, addressing forest health projects related to forest management

Gunnison Basinwide inventory of projects and methods • 15 projects identified “to help fulfill this goal with the intent to maintain outstanding water quality in headwaters streams and improve site-specific water quality related to mining, selenium, and salinity issues. The projects include investigation of feasibility for nonconsumptive focus segments in four specific regions of the Gunnison Basin; and development of water supplies for augmentation, irrigation, hydropower, and instream flow enhancement. ” Measurable Outcomes: • Compliance with state and federal standards. • Maintain outstanding WQ in headwaters and improve site-specific WQ. • 100 percent of existing direct use and conveyance use reservoirs attain applicable standards that protect the water supply use classification.

North Platte Basin The largely agricultural North Platte basin mostly addresses water quality concerns through identification of the processes that are in place for watershed management and forest health. Processes in place: • Owl Mountain Partnership: a watershed plan to help Jackson County secure future grants for water quality protection and improvement project. • Pine beetle issues in coordination with federal and state agencies Basin Goal: • Maintain healthy rivers and wetlands through the strategic implementation of projects that meet prioritized environmental and recreational needs.

North Platte Basin 49 projects on the planned Environmental and Recreational Project List, some of which directly address Water quality, forest health, and watershed health issues

Rio Grande Basin Goals • Make progress toward meeting applicable water quality standards throughout the Basin Given the recent history of wildfires and associated watershed health impacts, the BIP focuses on overall watershed health and the impact that these disasters can have on water quality. • Post wildfire studies conducted by RWEACT (Rio Grande Watershed Emergency Action Coordination Team) have focused on water quality issues associated with the West Fork Complex Fire.

Rio Grande Basin Identified Projects and Methods • 29 projects were identified for further study in Project Summary Sheets • 13 of these projects meet the Basin Goal associated with water quality

South Platte (including Metro) Water quality issues as they are related to municipal and industrial supplies are identified as a major challenge within the basin. • Basin efforts to protect and enhance environmental and recreational attributes include water quality as a focus. • New technologies for water treatment are identified as a priority, with maintenance of water quality and disposal of waste as a concern. The roundtable identified three groups of “South Platte Solutions” which are the categories of solutions to meet various water needs. • Solution #3: Watershed health and water quality management

South Platte (including Metro) Water Quality Goal: Maintain, enhance, and proactively manage water quality for all use classifications MO#1 – Maintain or improve the delivery of safe water supplies throughout the basin. E&R MO#1 – Monitor, protect and improve watershed water quality and identify and document progress and improvements. E&R MO#2 – Improve areas where water quality may be limiting the suitability of focus areas identified by BRTs through environmental and recreational mapping efforts. Statewide Long-term Goal: Meet Colorado’s Water Quality Management Needs by continuing to provide safe and reliable water and proactively managing water quality for all use classifications.

Southwest Basin Roundtable Themes: • Preserve Water Quality Basin Goals: • Monitor, protect, and improve water quality for all classified uses Measurable Outcomes: • Periodic status review of streams meeting or not meeting designated uses and standards • Implement 6 IPPs to monitor, protect, or improve water quality

Southwest Basin • In identifying potential constraints to development, the roundtable identifies water quality concerns as a potential constraint • The roundtable also recognizes the nexus between watershed health and water quality • The Animas River Stakeholder Group is highlighted as an example of an ongoing IPP related to water quality. • Ongoing water assessments in the Mancos River Basin seek to improve watershed health and water quality. • Most water quality efforts on the Basin IPP List are identified as environmental or recreational projects

Yampa/White/Green Basin Goals: • Maintain and consider the existing natural range of water quality that is necessary for current and anticipated water uses Processes: • Encourage and support water quality protection and monitoring programs in the sub-basins of the YWG Basin through watershed groups, municipalities, land management agencies and other efforts. Measurable Outcomes: • Consider and maintain the existing water quality necessary for current and future water uses when reviewing IPPs. • Support the implementation of water quality monitoring programs to create quality-controlled baseline data for all sub-basins of the YWG Basin

Yampa/White/Green Basin • BIP examines the different players in water quality • Identifies ongoing and planned water quality related studies. • Forest Health, Wildfires, and the effect on water quality in the Yampa, White, and Green basins are examined. • 5 projects are identified on the Environmental and Recreational IPP List which will benefit water quality in the basin

Next Steps for Basin Roundtables • • Engage in SWSI through outreach and review BRTs as implementation catalysts Continued education and outreach BRTs should continue to be proactive and responsive with WSRA grants and continue to serve as a policy forum

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