The Colorado Water Plan proposes a reduction of 400,000 acre-feet of water by the year 2050. In the more familiar terms of gallons, 1 acre-foot of water equals 325,851 gallons; therefore, 400,000 acre-feet equals 130 billion gallons!

How can Coloradans save this much water in the future as one of the fastest growing states (recall they legalized pot sales) and climate change makes for more extreme weather conditions including severe droughts? 

To save this much water Colorado would need to reduce the population, based on my calculations, by over 3 million people! So the fight will be over water for people vs. Mesa County agriculture - we have prolific orchards for grapes, peaches, and many other fruits. 

This blog is promoting active conservation as does the Colorado Water Plan. Mesa County does encourage voluntary dry landscaping in land use planning. However, in my opinion we need to have much more conversation statewide on how we are going to meet the needs of the state and downstream users.