Detailed analysis of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement has revealed that the data used for calculating the impending shortfall of water supply does not take into account Denver Water’s past decade of conservation efforts. If the calculations are updated with the most current data, no shortfall whatsoever is predicted. In fact, a surplus is revealed. Thus, the Gross Dam Expansion Project cannot be justified by claims of a water shortfall. In response to Denver Water’s proposed projects, TEG and it’s supporters have prepared a Citizen’s Alternative to the Gross Dam Expansion Project.
This research clearly indicates that more water is not the solution. What is needed is a transformation to sustainable water use strategies. While it is easy even for the layman to see that all three challenges put forth by Denver Water would be addressed quickly, more directly, and far more cost-effectively via increased conservation efforts, the proposed project does nothing to further real water conservation strategies. In fact, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement explicitly dismisses water conservation as a legitimate solution to address the claimed challenges.
Given Denver Water’s outright denial of the obvious solution, the citizens of Colorado have no choice but to pressure the utility into re-evaluating its decision to pursue an expansion of Gross Reservoir.