Thread by @shayshinecastle

I might also tweet some stuff from the Drought Plan. I don't know much about it, having not read the notes, but I did do an interview with Kim Hutton, water resources manager, not that long ago. And it's interesting.

Here's the staff presentation: documents.bouldercolorado.gov/WebLink/DocVie…

What is a drought plan? It basically guides what water can be used for when it's scarce. It has 3 levels of worsening severity.

This is mostly related to outdoor water use, Hutton says. "Outdoor water use tends to be more discretionary than other water uses, and there's more savings potential."

"Fun" fact: Outdoor water use is about half of all residential water use. People watering their lawns and gardens and such (but mostly lawns).

Boulder's drought plan does prioritize trees, even during severe and extreme drought, bc of how important they are to the climate.

Someday when I have more time, I may launch my War on Grass. Maybe after election season.

Boulder has all sorts of conflicting rules regarding lawns. BHP officials have complained to me (many years ago) about requirements to plant lawns — which cost residents $$ to maintain.

And some past stories have exposed that Boulder's rules about how tall your grass / weeds can be don't actually allow folks to (legally) grow native grasses — they're all taller than city code!

Anyway, back to the Drought Plan: The city receives about 1/3 of its water from the Colorado River, Hutton says.

We're monitoring that situation, and have options in place if we need to use them.

"Every 7 years, we update a water efficiency plan," to inform goals and use, Hutton says. We're updating that this fall and through next year.

Hutton: We haven't developed new landscaping requirements. That would require code changes as well. We've had discussions about how to address it, and we'll keep working with the planning department.

That was in response to a Folkerts q

Benjamin: Are we having ongoing convos about getting ahead of drought with conservation, in terms of codes related to xericscaping, etc.?

Hutton: That's a mix of our long-term planning as well as our conservation program.

Long-term, we're looking at various climate scenarios and build-out. Can we meet our demand? And if not, what do we do? Those conversations are happening.

The efficiency plan, starting this year, will take a closer look at what our demands are, Hutton says — "What can we do now to meet some target reduction goals in terms of overall water use reductions, which could include code changes."

Benjamin: "1/3 of our water comes from a basin that is virtually evaporating before our eyes."

You said we'd address that if we need to. I'm not an expert, but don't we need to? We're watching it happen.

Joe Tadeucci, from utilities: We're modeling dif scenarios. "We have plans in place with how we'll adapt to that if the time comes, if and when the time comes, and it's probably when."

In a September interview, Hutton told me that, essentially, we're good for the foreseeable future in terms of water supply. Boulder has some of the oldest water rights in the state, and a lot of them. And we've reduced water use by ~20% in the past two decades.

Oh, also got more specific stats on how much residential water use is outdoors in Boulder: 60%

A lotta big houses and lawns here

Plan is adopted with Wallach voting no. He has an issue that the city manager would be the one to issue any water restriction orders — not city council.

There was some fairly interesting discussion on this, but I'm not sure how relevant it is to you.

A couple highlights: (bc I can't help myself)

City attorney Theresa Tate: Council's job is setting policy. That's the the drought plan is. Staff's job is to implement policy. That's what the orders are.

Friend likened it to COVID. The city manager was the one who issued emergency orders, but she did so after policy direction from council.

Anyway, that's it for this one and me for tonight. Not as fun as last time... it felt lonelier. Or maybe I'm just more exhausted.

But still glad to spend a few hours with a few of ya.

@threadreaderapp please unroll. Thanks!