Colorado Water Division Underfunded

Colorado Water Division Underfunded



2007 September -   Oil and gas leases, mining, 
construction are taking their toll on the water quality in Colorado's 
lakes, rivers and streams, finds a report released Thursday by the 
nonprofit Environment Colorado Research and Policy Center. 
The water in rivers and streams declined 21 percent over the past eight 
years, and water quality in Colorado lakes sank even lower, showing a 31 
percent decline since 1999. 
The report cites underfunding and understaffing at the Water Quality 
Control Division as the biggest challenges to protecting Colorado's water 
resources. 
"We need more cops on the beat. Without proper inspection and enforcement 
of existing water quality protections there is no way to start improving 
water quality," said Stephanie Thomas, clean water advocate for 
Environment Colorado and author of the report. 
More staffers are needed to oversee the booming number of stormwater 
permits, says Thomas. In 2006, stormwater permits rose 20 percent over the 
previous year, to the current number of 5,268 active permits. 
These permits set conditions designed to protect waterways from sediment 
and chemicals running off construction sites associated with residential 
and commercial development as well as oil and gas drilling. 
Over the last eight years, the Water Quality Control Division has been so 
hampered by funding limitations that it had only allocated 25 percent of 
one employee's time to inspecting these sites and supervising the handful 
of contractors hired to help. The Stormwater Unit was able to inspect less 
than one percent of stormwater permit sites in 2005. 
"In fact, an EPA audit of Colorado's program found that it would take the 
Division 70 years to inspect each stormwater permit just once," said 
Thomas. 
Water quality challenges include rapidly expanding energy development such 
as oil and gas drilling and mining. 
"Colorado and other Rocky Mountain states are feeling the impacts of a 
widespread energy boom," said Max Dodson, who retired in January after 35 
years working at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional office 
overseeing Colorado's water quality efforts. 
"We're doing a relatively good job given the circumstances, but we still 
need more presence on the ground to protect our water," said the former 
EPA assistant regional administrator. "This energy boom is going to be 
around for a long time. Protecting water quality has to be part of 
Colorado's and the country's long term energy strategy." 
"The sprawl and irresponsible urban development resulting from our 
skyrocketing growth is a huge contributor to decreased water quality," 
said Thomas. "Over the last eight years Colorado has added 820,000 
residents. The effect is like a city the size of San Francisco moving in 
and paving our wetlands, prairies, and forests into shopping centers, 
roads, and parking lots." 
But Water Quality Control Division Director Steve Gunderson said 
Environment Colorado's statistics leave out important parts of the story. 
There is more pressure from development and rising population on the 
state's water quality, he acknowledged, but the state has tougher water 
quality standards and more data on streams than it did eight years ago. So 
comparisons claiming the state's water is dirtier now are not based on 
parallel figures, Gunderson said. 
The state is able to inspect up to 10 percent of its roughly 6,000 
stormwater permits annually, using four staff inspectors, local health 
departments and contractors, said Gunderson, and the state legislature has 
allocated money to the division for new staff. 
"The Division needs a big influx of funding and staff in order to keep 
up," continued Thomas. "In fact, modeling done in 2004 indicates that the 
Division may need as many as 80 new employees." While the Division has 
hired 22 new staff members in the past couple of years, it has a long way 
to go towards 80, and that number may even be increasing with Colorado's 
growth pressures. 
Environment Colorado says taxpayers should not have to pay for more water 
quality inspectors. Instead, the group says stormwater permit applicants 
should pay higher fees to fund the salaries of new employees because they 
are the ones responsible for discharging pollutants into the water. 
Fewer Colorado rivers and streams are clean enough for fishing, the report 
found. The percentage of waterways the division designated as not fishable 
nearly doubled in just four years, jumping from eight percent in 2002 to 
15 percent in 2006. 
"In just four years, we've discovered that the percentage of streams 
deemed unfishable is twice what we originally thought," said Eddie 
Kochman, former state aquatic manager for the Colorado Division of 
Wildlife. 
"Angling, rafting, and kayaking are part of Colorado's $10 billion outdoor 
recreation economy. We need to ensure the division is adequately funded 
and putting enough eyes in the field to protect our precious water 
quality," Kochman said. "Colorado must ensure protections for aquatic 
wildlife and outdoor recreation opportunities for future generations." 

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