Resources

Water is kinda the main thing we need to be concerned with.

Even the Druids knew that much.

JR Roberts, Daily Camera OpEd:

Next time you lift a glass of water to your lips, take a moment. Please reflect on where it comes from. Most people haven't a clue.

Rivers from snowpack? Only partly. Less understood is that the mountains are not really like steep roofs that shed their meltwater bounty directly to us down surface watersheds. Our mountains are more like deeply-stacked sponges. Their underlying fractured rock substrata hold far more water in their cracks than reservoirs do. Underground water flows into and out of rivers and streams all the way down and out onto the plains.

To have enough clean water, we must maintain the health and volume of our deep, spongy, groundwater exchanges.

Call Gov. Jared Polis. Demand revisions to the Colorado Water Plan that include more attention to our support base of groundwater resources. Stop pollution and protect the vital health of aquifers and wetlands.

You're drinking from a deep, giant sponge. Please, think deep.

John Roberts
Boulder

Tara Lohan, EcoWatch:

In the last few weeks of 2018, the Trump administration set the stage for a big battle over water in the new year. At stake is an important rule that defines which waters are protected under the Clean Water Act. The Trump administration seeks to roll back important protections for wetlands and waterways, which are important to drinking water and wildlife.

This is just one of the upcoming water battles that could serve to define 2019. It's also poised to be a year of reckoning on the Colorado River, which supplies water to 40 million people and 5.5 million acres of farmland. A long-anticipated multi-state agreement is close to completion after an ultimatum from the federal government. And it could also be a landmark year for water management in California, with several key issues coming to a head.

Big things may also happen on the water infrastructure front and in efforts to address clean-water concerns. Of course, underlying many of the water issues is the specter of climate change, which is bringing both severe droughts and floods and exacerbating water-supply problems.

• Clean Water Rule Change
• Colorado River Agreement
• Climate Change
• California's Grand Bargain
• Infrastructure and Clean Water