Q&A: Northern Colorado Water Public Information Officer on Drought up North

Northern Water Public Information Officer Jeff Stahla, works under a government agency that delivers water from the Big Thompson project to communities up and down Northern Colorado.

I had the chance to do a phone interview with Jeff Stahla, and he talked a lot about the true problems surrounding the severe drought in Northern Colorado, and how to deal with it in times where it seems more critical than ever.

Q: So North Weld and the drought that has been currently going on, what is your initial thoughts on that?

A: There’s the big issues and then there’s kinda medium sized issues and then even though I am going to call them small issues, they are smaller in scope. Certainly, the big issue is overall Colorado climate. It also is what it means to live here, dating back to the first European settlers that came out here [Colorado], they thought it was a desert. We live in a place where most of the water comes during a very short window of time and that’s during snow melt [between April 1st and July 1st and monsoon season]…It’s always been a dry state.

Q: What are the medium size issues?

A: What does it take to increase that capacity [North Weld moratorium]? Well the answer is, some of the local governments are looking to take stronger regulatory or looking to pass stronger local laws for the permitting of pipelines to deliver water. So, Larimer county where Fort Collins is, and where North Weld needs to put pipelines has recently changed the rules on what it takes to build an expanded pipeline or more pipelines to houses. Fort Collins is looking to do the same thing by the end of the year, and how agencies are looking to apply for building pipelines. So, rule changes are affecting how local utilities are delivering water.

Q: Your social media presence seems to always highlight the snowmelt, and in the last couple of weeks Northern Colorado has experienced a crazy amount of snow, is there a possibility that there will be a future where drought would not be an issue?

A: Well it’s interesting, especially when we talk about drought in Northern Colorado, it really focuses people’s attention on water issues. There will be some years where Colorado is good, but most of the time it’s like this. This is good because it teaches people what it means to live in a state like Colorado. People are going to realize that their grass won’t be as green as it was in Ohio, and if they are building a new house they might have just a little bit of grass or some other native plant, and unfortunately it will be a great time to teach them about that. It’s one of my jobs to remind people that Colorado over the course of a millennia has had a couple of years of drizzle, but we had become smarter because of it.

Q: Could you go into further detail?

A: If there is a crazy amount of snow this weekend, we are able to save a little bit of that water for when it will be needed in a dry period. That’s part of what it means to be in Colorado, it is to be stingy and conserve water whenever you can, but then also be able to think about can you store [Colorado River Basin] it in such a way so you can have it available in the dry period… Actually I could tell you now that Horsetooth is full and ready for whatever happens this summer in Northern Colorado, but if it snows and rains a lot we can save if for future use.

Q: So you said earlier climate change is the big picture, medium sized issues are the laws being implemented, what are the small issues?

A: Well, the small issues are the individuals or a neighborhood thinking about how those changes in the county or city rules affect a single home builder or a family that wants to buy a new home in Severance, that you know North Weld can’t navigate the system, well you know that has an impact on a family that otherwise might have to find another place to live, or to keep renting, or who knows what. I’m sure you know that housing is tight around here [Severance], so [climate change] has big impacts on those [rules] that affect where they might want to live. So, that’s the small scale, not so much less significant but it’s just affecting a few people.