The recent National Ground Water Association Ground Water Summit in Denver brought together experts from many fields, from scientists and engineers to urban planners and water users, to discuss managing groundwater in Colorado and around the world.
Colorado is the ideal site for that conversation. Our state includes headwaters that span the continent, more than 80 percent of our in-state water use is for agriculture, and we face the fierce challenge of serving a mushrooming population's water needs while our farmers continue to feed the nation.
Water management demands the attention of all of us, whether it's individual families conserving water or businesses and agriculturalists optimizing their consumptive use. With 30 million people depending on the Colorado River Basin for their water supply, we need to understand threats to our water resources, and determine what needs to be done to avoid them.
The conference addressed concerns about the quality and quantity of water available to meet our future needs. Topics included energy development, climate change, population growth and pollution. Since groundwater makes up 40 percent of the water used to irrigate farms, agricultural producers have a big stake in addressing these concerns.
The Rocky Mountain Farmers Union has raised questions about the impact of energy development on water quality. We have urged our legislators and the federal administration to look closely, and our membership appreciated Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's agreement that critical questions about oil shale still need to be answered. We agree with Secretary Salazar that we need to understand how much water will be consumed or contaminated in order to extract oil shale, as well as the effects on agricultural land use and potential impacts on neighboring communities.
It is also important that oil and gas companies disclose the ingredients used in hydraulic fracturing and their safeguards against groundwater contamination. We support the Environmental Protection Agency's study to determine the potential impact natural gas production may have on precious local water supplies.
This is a common-sense approach to energy development, and it is good news for producers and consumers. We need to develop sustainable, long-term solutions that meet demands for energy and growth while protecting our water supplies and way of life.
Family farming is at the birthplace of conservation and wise land use, and clean, abundant water is the heart's blood of farming.
Secretary Salazar's rich heritage from generations of farming brings that tradition of stewardship to the Department of the Interior. With his leadership and the support of local, state and federal agencies, we can identify and take common-sense, collaborative actions in the headwater basins of Colorado that conserve this lifeblood, sustain our rural heritage and protect the economy and environment for future generations.
Kent Peppler is with the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union
