Protecting Drinking Water at the Source: Lessons from US Watershed Investment Programs

Abstract

Recent case studies on watershed investment programs suggest that sustainable forest management can generate economic benefits for water utilities.

A Multiple Streams Analysis of Institutional Innovation in Forest Watershed Governance

“…Interviewees cited the unpredictability and potential for significant damages from wildfires as major concerns facing the region, and noted that this shift toward more frequent and destructive fires began in 1996 and 2002 with the Buffalo Creek and Hayman fires in the South Platte watershed. This watershed is critical to Denver Water, the largest water provider in the state (serving a population of 1.3 million; Gartner et al, ), as it supplies and transfers the majority of their water via diversions from the Colorado River Basin across the Continental Divide. These two fires resulted in 1 million cubic yards of sediment deposition (equivalent to 40 years worth of typical sediment amounts) in Strontia Springs Reservoir, a key water storage reservoir for Denver Water and Aurora Water.…”

“…The 2012 High Park Fire in Northern Colorado occurred in close proximity to Northern Water Conservancy District's Colorado‐Big Thompson trans‐mountain water diversion, which supplies over 800,000 people in the Front Range of Colorado. Interviewees operating in the more southern portion of the state described the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire and the subsequent and even more destructive 2013 Black Forest Fire in the same area (an area where Colorado Springs Utilities serves a population of 480,000; Gartner et al, ) as reinforcing the urgent need to address both post‐wildfire response and plan for fire risk reduction and prevention.…”

“…While fires have immediate impacts on communities and ecosystems, impact reports often do not provide a full picture of the long‐term social and ecological damages ( Shortchanging our forests , ). In Colorado, major long‐term concerns revolve around water infrastructure and delivery; for instance, post‐fire rain events increase sediment in water bodies, such as reservoirs (Larsen et al, ), causing potentially severe effects on drinking water infrastructure in forested watersheds (Gartner et al, ). These source water protection concerns are compounded as growth and development further encroach into forested watersheds and increase demands for water resources, stressing ecological systems further and resulting in even more severe impacts from wildfire (Scholz & Stiftel, ).…”

“…The WPPs started in 2010 and increased to include five of the largest municipal water providers along the state's Front Range by 2013 (2010, 2011, 2012 and two in 2013) (USFS, ). Combined, these five municipal water providers serve a population of more than 3,074,000 (Gartner et al, ). All the partnerships delineate their area of interest as the watersheds important for municipalities, and all of these watersheds include primarily national forest land, managed by the USDA Forest Service (see Figure ).…”

Economic Support for Decisions on Source Water Protection

“…PWSs regularly modify in‐plant operations and upgrade capital equipment following changes in source water conditions to optimize performance and maintain compliance with regulatory standards. PWSs may also adopt upstream source water protection (SWP) strategies to safeguard source waters from adverse impacts before treatment, such as agricultural runoff control and watershed restoration to reduce wildfire risks (Carpenter , Gartner et al ).…”