Water Commission - Regular Meeting

With that, I'd like to go ahead and call to order the, water commission meeting for Douglas County at 03:32. And with this, I would like to take roll call, Start with Harold. Tricia Bernhardt present. And we do have staff with us and we have two people online and that would be Roger Hudson and Jim Maris are online. So and I'm sure we'll have some other members show pretty quick, but I think we're good to go.

I do want to just look at the agenda for a quick second before we move on to the approval of the minutes from the last meeting. On the agenda, you will note that we do have the Sonoran Institute supposed to come in today and they're gracious enough to give us and they are here a presentation. And we have another update from the Doug Claveys water plan. But I would like to make one thing clear. We all got the email of the water update plan from Forrester.

And so it was really great. I I actually went through and read it. Not that I understood it, but I read it. And, the thing I'm I'm really just pleased about was that last week when we met or last month, we said as soon as you get it, we would like to get a copy ASAP, please. And that's what he did. So they gave it to us the minute they got. They got where they felt it was far enough along. They shared it with us. So we're not going go into detail on that document because obviously in a couple hours, we don't haven't had really a good opportunity to digest it totally. But I think next month we'll start picking up this document and some other updates that will be made and some additions and updates.

So, we'll see from there. And, then we'll begin the process now also of, discussing some of the public forums that will be occurring. So these are things coming in the near future to a meeting for us. So, with that and oh, Jim Echland is here. How are you, sir? Alright.

Evan Hill is online.

And Evan Eva is online also. So it looks like we have four, two, three online, and we have and here comes, James. And then Mickey won't be here today. He had a conflict. So, anyway, with that, I would like to move on to the minutes and see if anybody has any changes, updates, corrections you would like to make. If so, tell us. If not, I will entertain a motion.

I'll We

have a motion to approve and a second by Sean Tanner. Motion to approve was by Harold. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed nay.

Did I hear a nay? Oh, it's an aye. A delayed aye. And then we I got to remember we have people online. And any abstentions? Okay. Seeing none, I think we'll move on to the first items on our agenda, which is we had two things that the commissioners wanted us to consider. We have this Driscoll subdivision and the Flintwood Road subdivision. So one moment, Harold.

Just one question on the minutes. Did did we get any feedback from the commissioners on on this thing of getting permits moved through the state? Did they have an opportunity to look at that? Is there any follow-up with that? That was in the minutes. I know it's something we discussed. It's a critical issue.

This is Katie for staff. Staff did engage with the county manager's office and it is on our board of county commissioners radar in terms of this next session and to monitor what comes from the last session with the bill that's already been passed. And they want to continue to remain engaged just in the conversation and monitor what next steps may come from what's already happened. So no proactive action at this point, but they're taking a monitor the legislative session position.

Thank you. And thank you for the follow-up. This is a critical issue for our state.

Okay. Thank you very much. Any other questions? Okay. Moving on to the Driscoll Subdivision in the Flintwood. Anybody have any comments or things they would like to make about either one? Seeing none, we will leave it as no comments will be delivered to the Commissioner's office. Didn't have it in when I read them. So anyhow, and any other discussion or action items on those? No.

Moving on now, let's move to the Growing Water Smart presentation by Sonorian Institute and please give us your name and if you'd introduce yourself and everything that would be great when you get up there. Thank you. Okay. You can just use that.

Okay. I'll probably just use the little guy here. Alright. Right. Thank you. Lots of technology. Okay. Good afternoon. My name is Merrill Corbin. I'm the director of the Growing Water Smart program at the Snorrin Institute. Can you all hear me okay? Good? Okay. First, has anyone heard of Growing Water Smart?

Just stay close, okay.

Close, okay. Growing Water Smart, anyone? Okay, great. Great, so some familiar folks in the crowd. Thank So you for having me today.

My name is Merrill Corbin and I'm the director of the Growing Water Smart Program at the Sonoran Institute. The Sonoran Institute is a binational nonprofit organization whose mission is to connect people with the natural resources that nourish and sustain them. And one of the ways we do this is through our Growing Water Smart program. Growing Water Smart is a training and assistance program that helps cities, towns and counties connect or link their land use and water planning to create more resilient communities and regions. So this was developed with the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy back in 2017, and we operate in Colorado, Arizona, Utah, California, and along The US Mexico border.

So

growing Water Smart can mean many things to the communities that we work with. At its core, it means to reduce demand by making new development as efficient as possible, while also retrofitting existing buildings. Second, it means to diversify supply by maximizing conservation, reuse, recycling and stormwater capture. Third is to help build resiliency by preparing for uncertainty, whether it's drought, wildfire, floods or growth pressures. And fourth is protect ecosystems by managing rivers, aquifers in ways that deliver multiple benefits to both people and nature.

So together, these principles are at the intersection of water and land use planning, guiding communities towards more resilient, sustainable, and secure futures. So as the Douglas County Water Commission leads the development of the 2050 water plan, there's an opportunity to ensure that the future land use patterns and future water demands are aligned. So the Douglas County 2040 comprehensive master plan reflects where and how Douglas County wants to grow, while the water plan will define what it will take in future water supply to meet those plan goals. So by integrating land use planning into the water plan process, it can give the Commission clearer forecasts of future demand, show where growth is most viable, and guide long term infrastructure and investment decisions. So in turn, the water plan can inform comprehensive plan as well by helping to modernize zoning, development standards and codes so that the county's long term water strategy is reflected in everyday land use decisions.

And by integrating these two planning efforts, Douglas County can work towards a resilient water future. So with Growing Water Smart, we've developed five strategies for communities to consider, each supported by specific tools and policies. So these are the potential opportunities for the county to consider when it comes time to implement the findings from the water plan. So for the rest of my time, I'd like to do three things. So the first is to highlight some of the best practices for each of the strategies and share one or two options for implementation.

And then also discuss the key findings from our recent Bridging the Gap report, which is designed to help communities achieve better outcomes for water supply projects. Okay. So the first strategy is water smart planning. So long range plans are where communities articulate their vision for the future and set the roadmap for how to get there. They also serve as a foundation for policies that shape development patterns.

The county has the opportunity to link water and comprehensive plans to better align water availability with location and intensity of growth. So Douglas County is already doing many of the best practices that we've outlined, but the 2050 water plan will collect and evaluate water supply plans from all providers in the county. And this information will help the county do two things. It can identify where water is reliable versus constrained, and also understand long term supply and infrastructure needs. So there are several options to integrate or link water and land use planning.

These are from communities that have gone through Growing Water Smart and how they chose at the county level to link water and land use. So the first was to or one option is to add an appendix to the comprehensive plan that describes each water provider service area, water sources and available supply. Another option is to align zoning with water provider service areas to encourage growth where supply and infrastructure exist or are planned. And another is to create a supplementary report that documents the current state of supply, demand usage, service area, conservation plans and targets, and other parameters for water districts and providers in the county. This supplementary resource also identified which metrics they would be using for tracking conservation targets over time.

So the outcome is to use the water plan to guide where growth and how growth occurs while creating a coordinated efficient growth patterns. It's also an opportunity for the water plan to align with new state legislation, particularly HB24174, which strengthens water requirements and comprehensive plans. So Douglas County already has a water supply element comprehensive master plan or in your comprehensive master plan. But this section will need to update to meet this new legislation. First, you must consult with water providers while creating the plan development.

It must include conservation policies, which yours already has in Section seven. But you also must be able to estimate the range of water supplies and facilities needed to support the plan's land use goals. So it's important to include sort of both of these in the planning process. So understanding the future land use map can be an integral part of the water plan to ensure that over time you have adequate supplies and facilities to support the growth in your comprehensive plan. Okay.

So strategy two is ensuring water supply for development. So assured water supply policies in Colorado are established by state statute, and our guidebook outlines the best practices for these policies. So very broadly, it essentially states that local governments can demonstrate that adequate water supply is available for development, but how this applied varies. The requirements consider the source of water, its quantity, whether it's renewable or non renewable, and the type of water rights involved. Now Douglas County actually already has something very has an adequate water supply zoning overlay policy, which is actually highlighted in our guidebook as a best practice.

But there's an opportunity to strengthen this existing policy. Some counties in Colorado have gone beyond the one hundred year adequate water supply standard and extended that to three hundred years. Additionally, state statute allows governments to request reasonable conservation and water demand management measures as a part of the adequate water supply development approval process. So by building on the adequate water supply zoning overlay and using the full authority to provide the state statute, Douglas County can further align land use and water planning to ensure a more resilient water future. Sorry, didn't advance the slide in time.

Okay. Strategy three is land use policy and processes. So retrofitting existing development is expensive. To avoid this cycle, local governments can make new development water smart from the start. The most effective approaches are compact development form, outdoor water efficiency and indoor water efficiency.

So focusing on these strategies upfront saves resources, protects water supply and guides sustainable growth. So zoning and dimensional standards are powerful tools for managing long term water demand. Buffers, setbacks, medians, lot sizes and landscaping requirements directly shape the amount of irrigated land. So essentially, you get what you ask for in your code. And we know that compact development reduces landscape areas and outdoor irrigation needs.

So I want to point out also that SB 24,005 prohibits nonfunctional turf in commercial, industrial and institutional landscapes, so therefore further reducing outdoor water use over time and should be integrated into your future water demand calculations. So some opportunities are to strengthen site improvement plans by including soil amendments, mulching and efficient irrigation. Indoor options are to adopt the Colorado WaterSense plumbing standards for all new developments, therefore integrating indoor and outdoor water efficiency into your development process. These code based strategies could allow Douglas County to shape growth patterns that are more water efficient and aligned with long term goals outlined in the 2050 Water Plan. So strategy four is healthy and resilient watersheds.

So across the West, climate change is showing up in our watersheds through wildfire, drought, flooding, aridification, just to name a few. The state of Colorado provides standards and requirements for the water quality protection and watershed restorations, but the way we manage rivers and watersheds is changing. So we are looking for projects that are multi benefit projects, like those that give rivers more space to move and restore floodplain functions, while also gaining traction those are gaining traction, but also helping to infiltrate water, reduce downstream flooding and allow rivers to hear naturally. Not keeping up with these slides. So some options to consider.

Protecting rivers, streams, and reservoirs is critical to improving watershed health and resilience. Although it's probably not directly included in your water plan. But there are complementary land use policies that aimed at are aimed at improving water quality and quantity. So some opportunities include adopting stream buffer and setback standards, strengthening riparian vegetation protection, and updating storm water and site design standards to incorporate low impact development practices. And one example I wanted to point out was we helped the city and county of Alamosa to align their low impact development and green infrastructure standards to better capture stormwater runoff and protect critical resources.

Strategy five is efficient water demand programs. So growing Water Smart, we emphasize making new development Water Smart from the start. But at the same time, we recognize that efficient water demand programs are critical. So they help to retrofit existing development, encourage conservation, provide incentives through tools like conservation water rates.

By

combining smart development with ongoing efficiency programs, communities can protect water supplies while supporting growth. Now counties typically do not set water rates or communicate directly with water customers, but you can still play a role in public education and outreach. By helping residents understand who their water provider is and where their water comes from, counties can inspire behavior changes. Some options to consider, counties can host educational workshops, use in house experts or partner organizations. One example, a county after completing their master plan created an interactive map showing water provider service areas paired with water saving tips, like resources to the native grass guide and other conservation making conservation more accessible.

And then additionally, counties can support partner incentive programs such as turf removal, direct install efficiency upgrades to help residents and businesses reduce water use over time. So I actually wanted to pause there before transitioning to bridging the gap. And I'm curious if there are any questions about some of the policies that I outlined for best practices.

Now it

is. Yes. This is James Echlin.

Hi.

Thank you for the presentation. I was wondering if the Sonoran Institute has looked at the town of Castle Rock's point six seven rate structure for tap fees.

We haven't looked at that specifically. We do include their landscape ordinances, so the no turf in the front yard, and then they set a percentage for developers in the in the backyard. But we haven't integrated that into our guidebook yet, but it's certainly something that we're tracking.

Excellent. Yeah. Well, one of the reasons is pretty innovative thing that's going on in Colorado that nobody else is doing and probably should be adopted in more places.

More broadly.

What innovation are you seeing in Arizona? Because I know the vice is tighter there than it is here. I would assume that the, you know, incentive to innovate is high.

It is. We're seeing communities that are eager to do water conservation and efficiency, but are challenged by the limitations the regulatory limitations that they have. So there's often this need or desire to implement water conservation efficiency, but there's not always that framework to do it, either at the county or the city, level. So, they have to be pretty scrappy, but I think that they're doing innovative things like using, taking out streets, buffers, and replacing those and really trying to calculate that water reduction. So not just saying, oh, we replaced five trees with two shrubs, but calculating the impact of that, and that's what we're seeing as, like, kind of encouraging other communities to do this beyond just, you know, desertscape but having, you know, multi benefit projects.

So I would say that they are eager to do more but sometimes can face those regulatory structure hurdles.

Mister chairman, this is Evan Ella.

Can

you can you hear me, chairman?

Well, I think you might be able to hear me now.

So Oh, no.

I Go ahead.

I have a question for the presenter. I mean, do you, can you tell us anywhere where the WaterSense plumbing guidelines have been codified in Colorado?

Not off the top of my head. No. I have I don't have a list of communities that have codified that. I do know that it's a opportunity to to integrate that into your code to be more water smart, but I don't have a list of those. I'm sorry.

Has that been done in Arizona to your knowledge?

To my knowledge, no.

Okay. Thank you. Mhmm.

Anyone else? Harold?

Chairman, interesting presentation is, as you may know, at Sterling Ranch, we started this about ten years ago, all those including rainwater harvesting. We're the test site for rainwater harvesting. We're coming live into Watercourt this year. Is Sonora Institute ready to stand behind those of us that are pioneering this to help the state?

I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch the the question. What Could you repeat that?

It's an

art institute, those of us who try to pioneer rainwater harvesting because it works. Are you ready to stand behind those of us who are doing it and be involved in that?

Yeah, absolutely. How could we help?

Well, we're going to be in Watercourt for the next ten or fifteen years proving it. We're implementing it now and the studies and scientific having an independent group also come in like St. Orn would be very helpful.

Yeah, I would be happy to talk more and learn more about that and see how we can support it. It's a part of our you know, if in the guidebook, there's much more to this and that you know, I didn't touch on all of that, but rainwater harvesting and those types of approaches are integrated and an important part of, you know, the all the options and tools that can be a part of linking water and land use planning. So we're definitely supportive of that effort.

We went through all of the the various steps that you had. We've implemented all of them in our community. But once you get there, the only major change you can make from there is rainwater harvesting, and it's illegal in this state. And so I think the more attention that can be brought to it, I mean, it's a huge water supply

Yeah.

That basically goes to transfer evaporation and properly done could be a game changer. So to the extent that Sonoran wants to get involved in that, I think everybody's looking for friends as we go through that process. Yeah.

Well, I think through this presentation, you have my contact information. Can you Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So I'd be happy to to chat and learn more, see how we can support. Yeah.

I do have one question. Yeah. So I know one the things you talked about is healthy and resilient watersheds there. One of the issues we run into well, I'll just pick Douglas County out is that we have state forest. We have forest lands that are not county, controlled or managed. And but whenever we had our fire, as an example, we we lost the watershed, became a mudshed. And so would you guys have any experience dealing with the feds, and the forestry department on them going back and getting that stuff reclaimed with reclamation so that we don't end up happening to us with, JP Reservoir and these other places got filled up with sludge and mud?

We do not directly have experience with that, but it is something that we've had CWCB and their wildfire ready action plan group present at GrowingWaterSmart to how you can integrate land use and and to protect infrastructure in the case of wildfires, but also how you recover and respond for them and protect your, you know, water supply reservoirs and and making sure that things like that are mitigated the best that they can. So I would encourage you to reach out to those. I'm not sure. Do you have a wildfire ready action plan for

Yeah. They do. We do now. Okay. So yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Generally, you know, Growing Water Smart is focused on the local government and then their water provider. So we don't the action plans are focused primarily on those two entities doing implementing the policies. So we it's hard to expand it to everyone that kind of overlaps and plans around water and watershed health. So I think it's something that is important, but we don't address it directly in our workshops.

Great. Thank you.

Okay. So last, I wanted to talk a little bit about our Bridging the Gap project. So Growingwater Smart, like I said, has been in Colorado since 2017. We've held 12 workshops and worked with over 70 communities and water providers here in Colorado. And what we heard is that reducing water demand is central to Water Smart Planning, but communities may need to consider new sources of water supplies.

And so in response, we wanted to develop a report to learn from and analyze recent water supply projects. So we had many partners, Northwest Colorado Council of Governments, Colorado River District, Northern Water, Trout Unlimited and CWCB to look at the impacts on both sending communities, which is where water is transferred from, and receiving communities, which is where it's delivered. And our goal was to provide for understanding the long term impacts of water supply, these types of water projects, and to help communities become more sustainable and resilient as in the future. So this is probably familiar to most of you in the room, but in Colorado, we can't just use water whenever or wherever we want due to both geography and policy. Much of our rain and snow flows through rivers to support communities in other states, which is why we're party to several compacts or decrees, which specify how much water must reach downstream states.

Additionally, water supply or water doesn't naturally fall where it's most needed, about 80% falls west of the continental divide, while 90% of our population is to the East. And these realities create real constraints about how and where we can plan for water. We do have options for how to respond to this and really, therefore, how scarce our water will become. While external factors like climate change and population growth are somewhat beyond our control, the policy, regulatory and technological choices we make can shape our future. The Colorado Water Conservation Board developed five scenarios exploring potential approaches from taking no action to relying on technological solutions to implementing low water use and smart growth policies.

But each scenario shows a different level of severity and all indicate that Colorado municipalities could need between two and thirty thousand and seven hundred and forty thousand acre feet of additional water annually by 2050. So this underscores the importance of proactive planning and thoughtful decision making today. So we wanted to create a resource for communities that are considering or starting water supply projects, and so we started by analyzing five recent water projects in Colorado. So these were chosen because they each involve to varying degrees and at varying points in the history of their projects, the transfer of water from one river basin to another or from one part of a river basin to another and from agricultural to urban uses. So there are three project types and five projects.

So Windy Gap firming project and the Moffett tunnel collection system and gross reservoir expansion. These are Trans Mountain diversion projects. The Bessemer Ditch and the Thornton Northern Properties Stewardship Project are agricultural to municipal transfers. And the Southern Delivery System project provides the reuse of water already historically transferred from agricultural to municipal uses and across the Continental Divide via Trans Mountain Diversion. So I'm not going to get into the ins and outs of what we learned from each of these projects, but I wanted to highlight some key findings.

So education and awareness are critical to show what water transfers are, that water transfers are just one part of a broader water supply strategy, and that engaging communities early helps shape projects and ensure long term planning for both sending and receiving communities. The second is permitting and negotiated agreements. So while there where there's disagreements about whether permitting really mitigates impacts, the negotiated agreements often build progress

very And

the And we're trust building is essential. With And then when stakeholders made submit coordinated and joint comments, outcomes improve significantly. And the final was project mitigation. So adaptive management helps address changing future conditions, and projects also improved. And some projects also improved environmental conditions by mitigating historic impacts.

So together, these findings emphasize the importance of early engagement, fair processes, strong relationships, and adaptive strategies in making water transfer projects more equitable and sustainable. So I want to leave you with a few thoughts as you're working on the Douglas Water Plan. Obviously, we know that water is scarce in the West, and solving these challenges requires all of us, local governments, businesses and community members. At the local level, governments and utilities are already planning for long term water needs, from allocation policies to incentives that remove turf and limit outdoor water use. But businesses and households alike can save water by upgrading fixtures, rethinking about landscaping, or exploring reuse.

And then finally, partnerships really do matter. By working together across sectors, we can reduce risk but also build more water secure future in Colorado. And that, I'll pause there. Any thoughts or questions on bridging the gap report?

Any more questions? Thoughts? Is a lot of this information available up on your website? Yeah. Okay. Good. That's one of the things I wanted to get access to. Okay. Great.

Yep. Yep. So our Colorado guidebook is available on our website as well as the Bridging the Gap report, which goes into much more detail about the history and the impact of water transfer projects that we those five projects that we just focused on.

Great. Well,

you so very much.

Thank

you. Wait a minute, Sean, question?

Sean Tanner. So in your opinion, when's the Colorado River compact negotiation gonna get settled?

Oh, boy. I think we're gonna need a beer to talk through that one. Yeah. We're keeping track of that very closely, but we are not not taking a part of those conversations. Are you what are your your thoughts?

Leave it the same or give more to Colorado. So there you go.

It is yeah. I I think that's an interest it is always an interesting conversation when we do these pro workshops in Arizona. Coming from Colorado, I have to kind of, yeah, really think through the challenges that we face versus the challenge the realities and the the whole reason.

Sean Tanner again. Seriously, I I think one option, again, going back to some of the things we've done in Colorado that at the time we're at the forefront now, I think it's been adopted in almost every state on the Colorado River, compact, which is water banking. And I think having river wide water banking with a market where you could have farmers in Colorado allow for whatever period of time, a community in Arizona or Utah. And that way, the water stays,

you

know, under decree with the farmer, but it can be moved across state lines. On a water banking scenario on the Colorado. I think that's one way to bring oxygen to the system. Outside of that,

I don't

know. It's gonna be tough. Yeah.

I'm sorry. What's your background? Where are you kind of how are you in the mix here at the Water Commission?

Political and development, a little

bit of everything.

Yeah. A little bit of everything?

I own a ranch. I own water rights.

Yeah. Yeah. Great. Okay. Thanks.

Sir.

Clark Campbellman. I think, you know, Douglas County is certainly not unique. You mentioned, I think, a lot of most counties have water providers and then counties that are not water providers, and yet we are sitting here at a county table Mhmm. Trying to figure out the long term water plan. What's based on your experience, what's what's the best way for the interaction between the the non well, the the individual water providers and the county to achieve best practices?

Yeah. I think certainly having the water plan is gonna be a big part of that exercise and working with the local providers and and private well owners. And I think what we've seen is the county can serve as sort of the convener in setting these big picture long term goals and vision for water use within the county. There there is also you know, counties can they set development standards and patterns, and and they're able to impact water use whether even though they're not a water provider. We've seen counties serve as sort of that clearinghouse of information and standards, and while not being the one that implements a water budget or efficiency rates or tiers or those types of things, they can be the one to sort of be the point person for the water providers within their communities.

Yeah. But it is challenging because you're not a water provider.

I was just, you know, curious. I I think in one of your slides, you made the point that you saw the county as providing some kind of a clearinghouse so people could find out who their water provider is.

Yeah.

Is it doesn't is that a a reality, a a a need that's a reality?

So that it is an an example of a community or a county after they went through their water plan efforts, and they were engaging with community members. That was one of the resulting requests was to be more transparent and open about all of the the water providers and their service area. And so community members understood more concretely, and it was an interactive map that they could click on and say, this is where my my water provider, and they did the extra step of also providing where their water comes from. So that water provider said that this is sort of my portfolio of of water and to inform community members about where the source the source of their water is. That was driven by community outreach and engagement.

So it's not required, but it's a it's a help it was a tool.

I I just find that kind of hard to believe. You know, all I gotta do is look and see who sends me the bill each month, and I know who my water provider is. But, you know

That doesn't yeah.

Drill down to where does that come from, how does it interact with others. I was just surprised by your comment earlier.

Yeah. Yeah.

Shantanu, I I would say Douglas County is a bit of a hybrid in that the county has sent significant dollars down to the providers, for infrastructure and for other projects as well as helping backstop. I know Commissioner Hilbert, you were on the commission, making wise happen had the county not stepped in. Same with Roxboro negotiations with Aurora. So I think Douglas County, more than just giving ideas on how to save water, I think they do get proactive, hence kind of why we exist.

Just one last comment. So what would be helpful for us from the Sonoran Institute would be to be able to access a clearinghouse of best practices. Who's doing it well? Who's doing I mean, everything you showed us is great.

Yeah.

And that's that's awesome. But, like, Westminster did a code on it based on the GWS guidebook that you just showed us. Yeah. Castle Rock's referenced in there. As you said, Denver is contemplating some code changes.

Right.

And your footprint being here and in Arizona

Yeah.

Like, I I would like to know yeah. Here here are the communities. Here Scottsdale is doing this. Yeah. Tucson is doing this.

Sure.

Like, are all great, but I gotta tell you, like, our water plan's more comprehensive than this

on

the Right. Topics that you covered here.

Right. Right.

It's not your fault.

Right.

But the Sonora Institute would deliver something that we could actually use on this commission if you rounded up the things that

Sure.

Worked and where it

didn't work didn't work. Yeah. So we are working on a story map that has all of the Growing Water Smart communities that have implemented a Growing Water Smart policy. So one of the strategies or policies that we've outlined in our in our guidebook. And then also the impact, you know, five we've been doing this for almost ten years.

So we've got some data on what that return on that investment and, like, how much are they saving. So we're working on that because we realized a static guidebook doesn't get you there, but really being able to see a map, zoom into Arizona, look at Tucson Water or or Scottsdale and even Clarkdale that are developing some policies that are to consider for as you're doing this type of work. We're working on it, but I will say the guidebook is probably the first start. But as you mentioned, not a comprehensive review.

Yeah. And I Shantanu, I'd piggyback. I mean, what Harold and Dominion and Sterling Ranch, like, on rainwater harvesting as an example, I mean, it would be cool to share with everybody else, you know, that this is going on. So, Harold, your phone may ring a little bit. Yeah.

Anybody else? Okay. I'm not seeing anything. Thank you so very much.

Thank

you. That really was informative. Thank you.

Good. Thank you. And

now we move on to the next item on our agenda, which would be the water plan update. As you know, we're trying to get an update every month here. So, I think we have some additional information.

So is it on? Can you guys hear me?

Okay. Good.

Okay. Good afternoon. I'm Will Koger with Foresgrove and Associates. Good to see everybody. We have some information for you that, this afternoon will summarize the results of the water provider survey that we had sent out.

And then Bill, Franzak will be will go through the GIS mapping tools with you. The GIS is pretty well developed, and and so that's a good demonstration of those those maps. I I would just follow-up on the earlier comments from from chairman Hilbert regarding the the study that you received this morning, the portion of that. What we're gonna do, we'll roll that into the working draft that we get to you in January, and that's really when we're gonna be looking for our for review comments. And right now, it's just a matter of getting it to you sooner so you can start wrapping your head around

it. No,

sir. Not at this point. But one comment we did get, though, from chairman Hilbert is we could use a list of acronyms and glossary items in there too. So that's a good comment. We'll do that.

Okay. Let's look at the water provider survey results then. And we there are 31 water providers in Douglas County. We received 24 responses, and those were for all the major water providers were included in that number 24. There were five for which received we no response.

Those were really very small water providers and another provider that's based outside of Douglas County that serves a very small part of Douglas County. And so we really had a very good response to the survey. There were two for which the survey is not applicable. One of them has no developable land in their service area within Douglas County, and the other one is incorporated into a larger district that that included their information as part of their response to the survey. So we really had had very good participation across the board.

And I would say that, with all of these questions, there were, some that, where folks didn't answer all of the questions, and so there's some differences there to sort out. But overall, we're very pleased with the responses we received. So let's talk about the demands that are shown here for the water providers. And and with this, what we did is in the table that's on the right side, we have 10, the the top 10 water providers, and then the other 14 are all grouped together in the smaller providers combined row. And you see that our the the current demand is 73,500 acre feet per year roughly, and that's projected to grow to over 99,000 acre feet per year by 2050.

And so for the next over the next twenty five years, that's a 35% increase in demands. And this shows the demands with respect to the burgundy lines or potable water demands. And then the other, the gold and black lines are non potable demands. The gold is that that portion of nonportable demand met by reuse, and the black is that portion of the nonportable demand met by raw water. So you can see there are some smatterings of of reuse for raw water needs there and re and reuse.

So k. And then this shows our use categories. The the, different customer types are shown here. And you can see that the residential single family units, those are the, those are by far the largest portion of the use, 61% of demand. And then another 10% for multifamily use and 16% is commercial industrial and 13% is for utility and municipal uses.

And then that's the so that's with respect to the the demands. Now let's take a look at the supplies. This shows the supplies of the responding water providers. And and in the table, you don't have to drill down all the details here, but just to know that the this is showing, the reusable supplies, the portion that's, excluded from reusable, and what their total supplies are. And so the bar bar chart on the left shows that they're the, the green portion is that that portion that excludes reuse, and then the reusable supplies are, the crosshatch portion.

And you can see that it goes from 145,000 roughly to up over a 160,000 by 2050. K. Let's look

Shantanu. Yes, sir. Hynolds Ranch's numbers are very rounded.

They are. Yeah. The and with that,

there are some differences in how Sean, would you repeat that question?

So all the I'm just looking at Hounds Ranch. Their numbers are all very round. Right.

Which I mean And by the looks like

it's probably estimates or

Inconsistent for thirty for twenty years. They don't change. I noticed that. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. There there are some differences in how folks responded to to the survey. So looking at the different types of supply, you see that largely the Denver Basin groundwater is the the biggest share of this. Half of Denver half of the water supplies are Denver Basin groundwater. There's 30% that's surface water, and only 5% is alluvial water. And then, 15% is whole also water. So it might be from a connector like Denver Water, for example.

Oops.

There's one more here.

Thank you.

So the the, the big issue is how much of a gap is there? Is there enough supply to meet demand long term? Thank you. So this shows for the water provider in the table there, you can see what their current demand is and their current supplies. And then there's a comment about what future supplies they're evaluating or considering.

And you can see that in the bar chart, the demand is shown as burgundy, and that their, total supplies for each decadal increment is shown in green. So they're all showing they're showing that there would be adequate supply to meet demands long term and that there are no gaps. There are a few water providers where they don't have a lot of details yet about the supplies they're looking at, but they may be looking at five different options or something like that. So we got some some feedback like that from the providers. Okay. Any comments or questions about the survey results?

So this table sorry, James Eklund. This table is just a representative sample. These aren't all the surveys you've received.

This this table is just for the current demands, and we've also got their projections for going forward.

So Castle Pines isn't on there? Castle Pines North is?

Right. There's there's some that responded. Respond? What's that?

Did Castle Pines not respond?

They they responded to to most of it. I'd I'd have to check. Maybe not

this one.

This particular one. Okay. Well, we'll, turn now to the GIS mapping and and show you that. So, Bill.

Will, that information be included in the update in the study or the plan?

Yes, sir. Yeah. That's another portion of

the

overall draft that we'll prepare.

Coming. Okay. Great. Thank you. Yeah.

Trish? Quick question. I mean, know it's a contentious point, but for the providers to say that they have enough supply, are we going to be able to see any the detail about where that supply is coming from? It's one thing to say you have the supply and it's another thing to get a little information on what are the projects that will be bringing that supply. Will that be included in this report?

Well, they've yes, we'll have their information from their responses to the survey. And I suppose we could do a deeper dive on that. But I think let's put all that information together and summarize it and then see where we go from there. But you make a good point.

Good afternoon, Bill Fronczak with Ellery Water. Pleasure to see everybody again. Today, I'm just going to kind of walk through, you guys got the report this morning, so I'm not gonna bother with that right now. You guys can read that one and figure out and ask me questions later. What I wanna do is walk through kind of the GS GIS mapping.

This is draft. So I'll go through some of the, basic the basics of of going through it. One of the keys that I wanna come out of this with is one, are there some, some GIS information the board would like to see in this document, or in this, website, or is there, data they don't wanna see, you know, that's clutter, lack of a better word. So what we're trying to do here is provide a visual representation of the data that's in the actual report itself. Walk through the number of wells, there's a map that I'll show you all the wells, where the water has been adjudicated vis a vis decree or pre-two thirteen by aquifer, service water provider boundaries, links to other information as you go through things to well permits or whatever it might be.

And obviously, the petro data that we went through and the analysis of the geophysical logs is in here as well. Another point of this mapping is to allow folks to go in and actually play with the data and look at what they're at, where they're at, to maybe even answer questions like I'm in XYZ subdivision. I want to look at this well instead of digging through the state engineers website, which can take can be a pain, then go where the lot is, on the well and it pulls up all the information from the state engineers website.

Quick question. Is this operational now?

It is. I'll get I'm gonna get to that.

Okay. You're gonna go into

okay. Great.

A little bit right now.

Thank you.

And so yeah. So that's what we did with this map is to give folks that idea to be able to do that as well as not have to print out a 100 different figures and maps in a report. So when you're flipping through, you don't know what you're looking at. So as some some basics here take off my glasses so I can read here. What we have is, like, our first layer and how you work on this is obviously you click on the menu to left and then you have checked or highlight the box itself.

That's going to pull up. These are the this is just an example. These are the groundwater wells that we reviewed for water level trends across the county. They include both USGS, which are the dots that have the wells that have the dots in the middle of them and also color coded vis a vis what aquifer they are, whether it's the Dawson, Denver, Fox Hills, whatever it might be. The other ones are DWR wells that are monitored. Typically, those are the municipal wells for water levels. So we have that type of data. We can you can get into it. Yeah. Let me look at my hair.

And just should be up to you. You know, pull it up like this is, you know, this is the well where the data came from, and there's just various information that you can go in through there and and see where you know, pull up information associated with that water level of that well that that's out there. I'm gonna shut that off, and then we'll go to specific groundwater data. This is pretty straightforward. Like, not not or nontributory groundwater basins.

Again, I have to go down here. I'm just gonna do the Upper Dawson, for example. That's your nontrib area in the Upper Dawson, which is pretty much all non trib and or not non trib. Excuse me. And if you click on it, the red means it's not non trib actual, which we all know is that when you try to get well from it, you better have an all clear because you're not gonna get well from it out there unless you meet the six zero two exemptions.

There is very interesting two areas within the county in the Upper Dawson that are nontributory just based upon the mapping, how it sits between the different alluvial to what the state gets. So this is all state data. So, again, more information for folks to take a look at, you know, throughout near Parker. Do they are there gonna be water available? There may be water that shows that they're allocated allocatable.

I can go out and find it, but am I actually gonna be able to draw without a big hullabaloo being an aquifer? Two years in water court trying to figure out offset your depletions to the various wells. So it's that's what we've looked at as well is because there's a lot of information out there from USGS and that quantify the aquifers, seeing what water might be allocatable, but is it really usable? If you're not if you have to go through an odd plan for the Dawson, it can be pretty difficult. So that's one that's one example.

Obviously, we'll go down and look at a different aquifer. Here's the Upper Arapahoe or I should say not the Upper Arapahoe, the Arapahoe. You can see there's a ton of nontributory water. That's the green. And then as you get out into the margins of the county, which we would expect, you're gonna get into the not nontrib 4%, not nontrib actual. And that's exactly what we expect because you just start to outcrop and get closer to the surface. But there is a ton of water, and I shouldn't say a ton of water, ton of nontributory area here, so, so deep. I mean, it's one of the deeper aquifers out there. And therefore, it makes it challenging from an economic perspective for various folks to access if they're individual or not well. But again, it gives you this idea of what's out there by aquifer.

Alright. Let's go down to another one. Again, I'm just trying to give you the highlights and you and you can obviously play with some of this as you go through there. This is some information we got from Douglas County, which is very good, information that we had. One of the ones that I like a lot is zoning.

Unfortunately, with this one, you had to zoom in to get it, But it actually walks through a lot of the zone from the the incorporated areas to the development areas, rural residential to the ag. So, again, gives you an idea, and and you can overlay the layers on top of each other, do the different opacity, whatever you wanna do to kinda really give you that information where you're at in the county. I'll close out of that one. And go to constructed wells. Oops.

I hit the wrong button. I hate when I do that. My apologies. Apologies. Sorry. I apologize for my So, not to do now. It's actually responding pretty good. Here's all the wells. It's another thing we wanted to show in the counties, you know, all the wells that are out there. As we can see, when we go through this, you can see where your individual on lot wells are, pretty obvious, you know, where there's a well clusters.

Those are all subdivisions with individual on lot wells. And then the open areas are more where the water providers are that have the larger use wells throughout. There are some. Yes, sir.

Yeah. Let's say I'm looking at buying an existing property. It's in Keene Ranch. It's on 20 acres. It has its own well. What can I learn about buying that property from this data source?

Perfect. I'm gonna act I was actually actually beaten to the punch, so I'm gonna actually do that. You wanna wanna go down? I was just gonna use a different one as an example. But

Yeah. I and I just tossed that out anyway.

No. I was right

in there. That's fine too.

The only reason I was gonna do a different one is

like Okay.

I practiced with this this morning. So here's the information. This is, you know, my last note here. This is Ponderosa Hills. So this is a pretty big subdivision up in the Northwest part of the con of the county.

So some of the information you can do is, one, you can see, you know, there's all the individual on our wells. But let's go down and take a look at, you know, some of the information that we do have for, so here's a cross section. As we talked about before, we went through and looked at all the geophysical logs throughout the county over five ninety five wells to put together these, different geophysical log maps. Why is it not doing that? Cross sections.

So let me see if I can zoom in on this. That's probably the best I'm gonna get. So what you can do is you can look through. Let's go back to the map. Close this. You can look through here's where the subdivision goes through. So we've taken this point, this point, this point, and that point to really take a look at where the how the cross section is across that part of the area. So if you zoom in, and this is just an example, you're going through some part of the Ponderosa Ringer subdivision. I can go over and take a look at is between these two points here. Here are your different aquifers on where water is allocatable.

And obviously, more red, the more water would be allocatable in that aquifer. I always use the word allocatable versus deliverable because there's so much complexity in the Denver Basin that you may show a lot of water that's available that could be possibly allocated. But how does it come out of the ground? Depends on well construction, depends upon a whole bunch of other things that can come into the equation. But this would tell me data that there's a lot of individual on lot wells that are probably in the Lower Dawson.

So I would go back here and go, okay, I wanna buy I'm I'm gonna go with this lot here. Gives me a bunch of information. One, here's my well permit. Two, I'll go to after the state engineer's website, and I'll take a look at the image documents. This is straight from the site the the website. And then I'm a look at, okay, the original file. I wanna know how was that well constructed? Was it constructed properly in the in the Lower Dawson? Do I have a well that was illegally constructed? Was it constructed to the base?

Whatever the information might be. So this is well, you go well permit. And so this is what someone can do besides I mean, it's right there visually instead of having to go to the state engineer's website, type in Ponderosa Hills. Hopefully, you get that that comes up as a subdivision and figure out where your property is. But you go to the web you go to this and you'll say, okay. I'm, let's see. I don't I can know how much water I could draw. It's supposed to be coming out of the Lower Dawson as we see right here. My glasses off. The depth should be near 415 feet to eight 580 feet is where the the screen should be.

So that's gonna be the aquifer itself. And then you can go into look at the well construction log. And how was the well constructed? Okay. Well, they they bought them about at $4.75. So the permit said, you know, go all the way down to $5.60. It starts at $4.15, it goes down to $5.60, while the well driller stopped at $4.75. So they left a 100 feet of saturated thickness below the well. That'd be a big piece of information if I was buying that property going well. I didn't get I have a well that I may have to redrill in the future as a result of there is water level clients.

We know that. They only access to a certain portion of that aquifer. I got another 100 acre 100 feet of saturated thickness that I can get to. That's gonna cost me some money. What's is that gonna go into my calculus on whether I wanna buy a piece of property with a well on it. So there's a lot of information you can pull from there as you look through it. Let me go through one other thing that we've done with with Petra. It's by Aquifer. I'm gonna stay with the Upper Dawson, but it's the net pay maps. So this is gonna give you some information as well, and I apologize for the it's just kinda take the colors taken over a little bit.

It's one thing I I've noticed I wanna work on. If there's greens and how I can get the wells to look at it. But purple to red, purple being good. That means there's good, water available for allocation. Red, there's very little water available for allocation, which what we would expect in the Upper Dawson. Along the fringes, you got very little water. But as you get down into some of the deeper parts and the more of the centralized portion of the Upper Dawson, it looks like there is, you know, pretty good water for allocation. And again, we can take a look at the cross section.

Quick question. How did you choose those cross sections? The transects are kind of variable.

It depends upon where the wells are that we have geophysical logs on and the quality of the geophysical logs. We looked at five sixty five to five ninety wells to really take a look at how those logs come through. Those logs are complicated based upon the different logging companies that do it, you know, how they what resistance they use and how how to calibrate all that down. So we took the best ones based upon all that and and and strung it across. I can get a better explanation for it from our geophysicist, to be honest, because, that's a little probably above my pay rate as they as they say. But here's a, you know, an example of this with the heat map.

Let me

turn that off. You can see I went across the f to f prime and it just it just gives you a good idea. This gives you visually that there might be some water there. Let me confirm that. So next next talking

the

standpoint, whether it comes out or not. But you can also see in other aquifers, there's really is no saturated or net sands water available for appropriation. Yes, sir.

Harold Smith. There's a question. When you say allocatable, it means there's water available there. Has nothing to do with the recoverable percentage or the dynamics of of the sands in terms of getting water out. It just means that there's water in the area.

There is dynamic. Available under the law. Yeah. There well, it's there's two things. One, it's, available that's under the law. That's SP five. That's your net stands. But we further refine that as a result of the geophysical logs and the ohmmeter about where we see there's more the most productive stands would be in there. But you're right. It is what is we feel is allocatable versus what comes out of the ground because of well construction standards of how people pump the wells, what wells might be around there.

It's extremely complex as we can imagine. That's why we looked at what those water levels were for trends to see how much water would come out. But we're we mean, we've seen it in Highlands Ranch. I mean, there's water when we go look at it. It looks like there's water available, you know, in the in the Arapahoe and the Denver. But due to pumping over time and how things have happened and well construction and whatever it might be and recoverability of the Denver Basin, we've seen problems with various wells in Highland Ranch area.

So this would be to Clark's question about if I'm buying a house out there, this would give me some idea if there's

Hey, Harold.

Harold, you help us get closer to the mic? I'm sorry.

To Clark's question of buying a house out there, I want to know the water in the area. So this would show there's potential for allocatable water.

Correct.

But it's still a crapshoot when you drill your well.

Unless there's another well around there

that you That can look you're not interfering with.

Or just a piece of data that you can look at. Like, I mean, if you go out to for example, I go out down here. I wanna buy a piece of property down in, say, this area. Well, there's a well down there that I could take a look at and say, okay. This well was constructed down to 600 feet. Well, driller says I'm getting 70 gallon a minute out of there. Well, it looks like it's pretty good place to have a water well. You know, what depth I have to go to? You know, give people that information too to obviously go into your calculus of the amount of money you're gonna have to spend to do a well. Some of those type that type of information.

Also is assistance to the county. The county could take a look at, you know, down in this area, for example, down here. A developer comes in. I mean, I know that's Green Valley Ranch, so that's why it's pretty much blank out there. But a big developer comes in down there. I wanna use the Upper Dawson. Okay. There's water there. But can it actually be allocatable because I gotta get an odd plan? Well, maybe not.

So it's something that the county then can play with and look at. And what we're our goal with this is was to basically give someone a visual representation of what's going on and a a better place to find data that they could go and, you know, kinda do some research instead of hunting and pecking over multiple websites, you know, a a place to to to look through this. Yes, sir.

May I have a quick question? Because I tried this this morning, and I wasn't intuitive enough to figure it out yet, but you've just helped me quite a bit. But how do I identify where in the world I'm at in Douglas County other than Perry Park is down there? I can see that. But based on this, is there a way to do an overlay that would give me a road, something?

Yep. That's actually one of the things I noticed too when I was playing playing around with it today too. I got a lot of good data in there. I wanna get in, PLS PLSS, I should say, the public land survey system so you can go by Section township range. We have that.

I don't know why it's not turned on, but we have that in there. But, yes, to make things a little more allocate you know, easy to identify. One of the other things that we're look that I'm looking at is as we go let me turn off some of this because it's gonna get very confusing very quickly. One other thing that we're looking at is to when we go to land use and we have zoning and we zoom in oh, it should allow me to do this. Oh, I see.

I didn't click on that. You have to click on all the the appropriate boxes to make sure you get it, which is a little g s is always fun. But, like, this is a, you know, this is gonna be a subdivision, rural residential. I'm trying to figure out exactly which one that is. But, you know, the I wanna put more documents on there or more labels that says, okay. I'm in, you know, this plan development here, and it's whatever the name is from the from the counter. We just haven't pulled that in

there yet. So the the only reason I point that out is because I was and I just asked Don. He's on the waterboarding Parker Water. And I look at the number of wells in the town of Parker. Well, I I know since 1980, Parker Water's taken over the majority. So a lot of these wells have been they have had to been shut down, basically capped, and the water rights transferred. But with the well in reality then still exist on this map?

It shouldn't. And here's the reason why. We've gone through the state engineers website as a pretty good exercise to get through any wells that have been abandoned, any wells that have been expired. And these should just be active wells that are in there. To the extent that the State Engineers' data is accurate. It's hard to find. We also used SB5 to really work at the tops and bottoms, so very up various aquifers too. As you'll if you get into the state engineer's website, you'll click on your well, and it'll say, oh, all available all available aquifers. Well, what does that mean? You know, I'm 400 feet. Well, that should be the the Lower Dawson. This will help you further ascertain where you're at instead of just looking at your well permit and saying

Fully get it. When all else fails, blame the government. No. No. Just kidding.

It's just I mean, these wells have been around forever. I mean, we have wells out there pre '73 that just they just didn't have the information that the state now requires.

So Okay. I think it's definitely going to take just a little bit of playing with it. Absolutely. And probably, I hate to tell you this, but at some point, there's going to have to be a guide.

Oh, yes.

Because a lot of residents want to get access to this, whether it's a video guide, an instructional, whatever it is. Somebody's going to have to do that. Because I know I spent some time on it, and I got nowhere fast.

Yep. So Okay. That is absolutely right. We are gonna be putting that in as we've done before.

Yeah. Bill, Clark Hamilton. Who do you envision as the primary user of this? Is it the policymaker, the planner, the professional, or is it the individual well owner?

I would say all the above. When we've rolled this out to Arapahoe County before and Adams County, it's been I mean, a lot of the a lot of folks that use it are the individual property owner. You know, what I'm I mean, I hate to say it, but the inner the Internet lawyer and engineer that go out there and say, oh, I know everything about water. Well, let's look at exactly what's going on.

I mean, it seems to me that I mean, the the individual property owner wants simple answer to the question, how am I gonna have water under I mean, was my pump gonna keep working for the next fifty years? Yep. And is this gonna answer that question for me?

That's gonna give it's gonna give you some information, but is it gonna tell you exactly

how or no answer, but it's gonna give you some hopefully, it'll give them some information.

Correct. I mean, hopefully, it'll give some information to say, you know, where is my pump set? Is it set in the in the artesian versus actual aquifer itself? It that I would able to my it's my well current well drilled to the base of the aquifer. That'll give well, I mean, obviously, me mean, I've been around this business a while, but it'll give me some information on, hey. You know?

Yeah. Like Is

that well gonna be reliable?

One example you had there was still a 100 feet left on

the Correct.

On the permit anyway. At least that homeowner would know, well, you know, I've got another 100 feet that that I could drill down. It's gonna cost me some money, but at least

There's some

I don't have to drill a thousand

or

I I I I don't have to go back for a new permit to go down 500 feet.

Correct.

Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. So I'll give them info other information, like, I'm in the Pipe rampart, I know I'm in, Brachard Grenada. And then

I can go to see if it looks like there's water down 50 more feet.

Correct. It gives you some also some other ideas of who are my neighbors. You know? Is it Parker water sand that's draining my aquifer? Well, not really because I'm here up in the Upper Dawson. I go look at Parker water sand. They're in the Denver and the Arapaho. So because I like I said, when we've gone across the state, we've seen a lot of into property owners saying, well, just because development a over here came in, they drained my well. Well, let's look at the data. Your well is here.

It's in the Upper Dawson. This well is here in the development down in the in the Arapahoe. They don't connect. So this development is not draining yours specifically, but maybe it is. Maybe there is a development that has a Upper Dawson well that's right next to this pumping really up. It gives folks that information besides guessing. Instead of just saying, hey, right across the street is a big development. They gotta be draining my aquifer. Not necessarily until we look into the day.

Chairman, Hilbert, this is Evan I

wanna follow-up on Clark. Could could you go back to the overlay where you'd show for the out where the most water was unallocated water, that type

of thing? Yes. I'm

just trying to figure how I might use it if I were lucky you.

See what you were indicating as you wanted to. Give me one second. I know where I'm at. Hold on. Let me and that's one thing that's one piece of information I definitely would like to have from the commissioners as well is Yeah.

Usability, you know, what other information you wanna use, you know, how can we clean this up to make it more user friendly. You know, we are gonna have a guide. I mean, the biggest key on the guide here is clicking on that little arrow to the left to open up the menu and making sure the right boxes are checked. That's that's because it's not intuitive. It's kinda like, well, I wanna uncheck it to see it. Don't know. It's a

It's a policy baker in the county, and I'm looking at well based, use. As I interpret this, it would mean when you start to the far right in the purple, there's there's a lot of water in that. As I move further west up into the red area, then I'm in I guess I'm in margin a because we don't really know where that is. But if I'm looking then off to the left, that means that's that's high risk area to the to the last.

Yep.

He's showing the Upper Dawson. Remember, he's only showing one aquifer formation here.

Yep.

So he can click it off and show a different formation.

Yeah. I can go so that this is just Upper Dawson.

Well, but it tells me if I'm if I'm an individual homeowner, this is the Dawson. I'm going west. I I could be at Jeopardy. And I may have to look at the Arapaho or much more expensive well. I guess that that's what I'm trying to put perspective.

So here here's your Arapaho.

That's Arapaho.

And it looks a little better. It's more greens in this area. But what's I mean, again, this is what where the data really is very interesting. Oops. You start seeing some reds right here in this area in the Arapahoe.

I think you're in the Denver, aren't you?

On Denver. Excuse me. I apologize. In Denver. That's just, you know, what happened geologically, why you how things got set down here. It looks like a a pretty good deep area. And this is where we've seen also that's getting fairly close to Green Valley Ranch. Green Valley Ranch is right in this area, but we've seen some pretty good water down there. It's just all how it's deposited and gives folks some information.

Okay. We can Evan? I think Evan has a question. Yes.

Thank you, chairman Hilbert. I have a couple of technical questions for mister Franzak. The first one is on your cross sections where you link the top of the Arapahoe, let's say. Is that based on the well driller's determination of the top of the aquifer, or is it based on something else?

It's based on the geophysical log.

Yeah. I know. But as interpreted as interpreted by whom? The driller when he submits the log or by the state or whom?

By by basically Lynn and Rice, through the Petra software. We go we take these geophysical logs and run it through, this Petra model, which basically calibrates where things are at based upon the different elevations. We work that through with the state as well, walked them through this this technology. So it's not just someone going out and picking it out, you know, putting up on a blackboard and picking tops and bottoms. It actually the the program itself actually really takes a look at that and it's been checked by our, geological engineers.

Okay. So the Petra software does some analysis to determine those aquifer tops across the whole region?

Correct. And and it standardizes the logs because we get different logs where they're dealing with one, logging company like Colog may have a different log than hydro or something along that line. Their logs are slightly different on how they actually calibrate them, whatever. Petrol also standardize that and get them, you know, across the board equal. So you're not actually looking at apples and oranges. You're looking at all apples.

Okay. So that that's interesting to know how that's done. We'll look in your report to see a little more explanation on how that's done. And then my second question is if I'm a as we've talked about a person who's looking to buy a piece of ground and wanna see what the aquifers look like under that piece of ground or what wells are nearby. If I click on an existing well, you get a set of GIS data. Does that also include a decree if there a decree number if there is if there is a decree on that well?

Yes. It will. I'll I'll say provided that the state engineer has actually linked it to a decree, which they actually are pretty good about that.

Yeah. They are typically. So so so I guess the point is you're accessing, Yeah. The point is you're accessing the state's database on all of that. So that should give a full picture.

That's correct. Yep. You're absolutely right. And then what we're trying to do is just keep keep it in one location versus having people to go to the state and there and all over. They can go to one one area and really take a look at water levels, what the well permit is, and what the the general and specific geologic outlay is of water in that area.

Okay. Thank you.

Just wanna remind the commission we have five minutes left, after that, then I just need consensus to continue. So, James?

I'll be very brief because I wanna get out of here on time. So one of the things that drives me crazy about the CDSS map viewer is the the state runs is that it's hard to find the vintage of the data that you're looking at. And so I was just wondering if you had you play with that tool more than I do times by an order of magnitude. So I'm wondering if there's a way to, you know, see if that's gonna you know, if that's something that can be displayed somewhere in the info. And then I had a second question.

Oh, if up updates, how frequent will the will that mirror the state's datasets? And are you just pulling, like, from the state API to get the data onto this site, which I gotta say is already looking more user friendly than the the map you're saying.

And and

Good job.

I'm gonna improve it a

little bit. Answer both your questions, yes. I'm going to look into doing that date, like where data is. Obviously, the wells will be pretty difficult. We'll just have to go into that. But like we're like we do petro analysis from 2025, whatever it might be, aerials. So we can take a look at, that's a very point. I'll I I know we can do that. We got JS guys that are lot smarter than I do that. And then then absolutely with with remind me the

second. Updating it.

Updating. Yeah. I'm sorry. Yeah.

No. You're good.

I was thinking going, why would I miss that? Updating. We did it, like so for Arapahoe and Adams County, typically, the the county data doesn't get need to be updated that much. Some of that GIS data and, obviously, your streams and rivers and all that never needs to be updated. From the state engineer's website, typically we look at, it just depends on the activity. Adams County, I believe we're doing monthly because they do have quite a bit of activity in Division 1. They were new decrees or whatever it might be. But it's monthly or quarterly, we would update it. And it's really a fairly simple process. It's something that either we can do for the county or actually Arapahoe County is actually doing it themselves. We just said, here's what you do is you go out and type it in and just automatically populates.

Thank you. Okay. How are we doing on time, sir?

Five minutes.

You done?

I watch.

You know, I had a builder do that to me one time. He says, how much longer to finish this room? And he started picking his tools up and says, hell, I'm done. He's like, well, never mind. Let me rephrase the question. So, okay. Any other questions?

Well, I guess at our next board meeting, we'll really dig into the written report.

Say that again. I'm sorry.

At our next commission meeting, we'll dig into the written report and and really dig down into this.

Yeah. So going going forward, we'll be meeting with staff to set up then the agenda going forward, which is gonna include several different items, and please fill in for me, k, where where I miss it, Katie. But it's gonna be that as well as some other things.

So this is Katie for staff. The next Water Commission meeting is really going be a time for Forrest Gren to walk through the entire plan for the water plan, what we expect to see in the initial draft, which will be provided to the Commission in January. Right now, we'd like to propose a two hour meeting in January to start to workshop the plan. So reading of all the content that you are receiving up to this point, coming to that meeting to really start workshopping the plan, talk about comments, talk about questions. So December, basic overview to start forming some thoughts, questions. January, a workshop for two hours.

Yes, Trish?

Quick member questions. Several of us have terms that are complete at the December. Do we have any updates on continuing our

this is Katie for staff. The bylaws, procedures for the commission do indicate that you continue to sit. Even if you haven't been renewed, technically, you can continue to sit. Staff from County Manager's Office should be reaching out to people who have terms coming up to see if they want to renew. The Board will reappoint you. If the board doesn't take that action, you can continue to sit. Thank you.

Great questions. Any other questions? Great job. Pretty cool. It's it's a neat I this is gonna be interesting.

I will tell you that. We can always improve. We're that that's what I wanna do is improve the usability of it.

Alrighty. Thank you, and thank all of you for coming. And I appreciate it very much, and please be safe going home. We're getting darker darker quicker now.

So there we go.