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Douglas County commission discusses water plan completion, monitoring wells and forming a provider collaborative
Summary
Commission members heard staff estimate the county water plan adoption in late August–early September, discussed creating a county water‑provider collaborative and recommended establishing monitoring wells and data collection to track aquifer conditions across the Denver Basin in Douglas County.
The commission's chair updated members on the county water plan, the Douglas County Wildfire Action Collaborative and next steps for public comment. Staff Lauren Pulver said a work session item has been sent to the county commissioners and that plan adoption is still expected in late August to early September.
The meeting turned to regional strategies: members recommended forming a Douglas County Water Resource Collaborative to meet quarterly and provide a forum for about 35 water providers to share data, pursue joint projects and evaluate grant opportunities. "Maybe call it like a mini association ... and get them to meet, like, quarterly," the chair said, urging concrete topics for the providers to work on.
Members emphasized the need for more monitoring wells and continuous data collection outside the central basin to reduce uncertainty in modeling and policy decisions. Harold Smethals and Sean Tonner urged pursuing a monitoring program and combining data across providers, and recommended exploring state funding avenues and CWCB collaboration.
The chair flagged a USGS Denver Basin report edited by Susan Paschke (2011) and said the county could seek to re‑run parts of the USGS model with modern data, possibly extracting a Douglas County submodel to improve local forecasts. Members asked staff to pursue invitations for technical briefings from USGS and other experts and to consider a county‑retained consultant or long‑term monitoring program.
The commission did not adopt a formal resolution but directed staff to continue outreach, gather technical studies and share the county water plan materials for public review.
