[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Boulder County Consortium of Cities Water Stewardship Task Force

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Wilson, Ken

Colleagues,


I want to update you on an exciting initiative being explored by the Boulder County Consortium of Cities. At its last meeting, the Consortium was presented with findings developed by the Water Stewardship Initiative Scoping Committee, a group formed earlier this year by the Consortium to determine if there were areas that held opportunities for successful collaborative efforts involving the Consortium. Based on the report (see attached), the Consortium approved in concept the creation of a Water Stewardship Task Force. While not yet finalized, it looks like the goal of the task force will be to produce recommendations and an implementation plan for collaborative engagement among Boulder County; the municipalities in the County; other governments, nonprofits, and private sector partners; and residents, to address the critical water stewardship issues described below.

1. Water Conservation - Explore approaches for conserving water on a county-wide basis, including coordinated education and outreach campaigns.

2. Watershed Management- Identify collaborative water source and supply initiatives that address such critical issues as in-stream flows, ditch water, and agricultural needs, and which support increased dialogue amongst the county’s water utilities and providers.

3. Coordinated Drought Response – Propose steps for coordinating a county-wide response to drought, including steps for addressing crisis management and creating coordinated pre-drought and drought education and outreach campaigns.

4. “Value of Water” Campaign – Identify opportunities for Boulder County’s local governments, either individually or collectively, to engage with and leverage the state-wide Value of Water Campaign<http://coloradowaterwise.org/campaign>.


On August 1st the Consortium will be voting to formally create this task force. While specifics regarding the task force proposal are still under development, including information about the structure, timing, and charge of the task force itself, one thing we know is that the task force will require some level of staff support and commitment from several of the Consortium’s towns and cities, including the City of Boulder. I understand from city staff that working on this effort is entirely consistent with their existing work plan and that no additional direction is required from council at this point. Nevertheless, I want to encourage you to let me know, ideally at an upcoming council meeting, if you have any concerns about the city's participation in this effort.

Please know that any recommendations of the task force that require a further commitment of staff time, or that change how the city directs resources in the above four areas, will not be implemented until and unless they first have been brought to council for approval. If and when it looks like we are moving in that direction, I will provide you with another update.   I would also like to give my thanks to Carl Castillo for his continued support of the Consortium of Cities and the Water Stewardshipi Task Force.  And a special note of thanks to Russ Sands from Boulder's Water Utility.  Russ has been a key resource in putting the Water Stewardship Program together.

Ken Wilson
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