Transcript

David Getches/John Keys: The era of the big dam is over

Getches: I guess I agree and disagree with you, John. I think the era of the big dam is over. That is not to say that we've stopped building dams; I think we've got to have some new structural facilities to make our new approaches to water management work. For instance, the idea of water marketing of willing seller transactions where we move water, most typically out of agriculture to the cities, are going to need some facilities. But probably not the mega dams that we knew in the 50's and 60's. There just aren't places to build them, there isn't the economic resource, and there are environmental problems. But as we do that, we've also got to look at the other side of the equation. This is the traditional approach of looking for new supplies. But in a shortage, you also manage demand and that is a horizon we haven't reached yet. Conservation and controlling the way we use water can more than double the available supplies for cities at our present rate of use, and it does mean that we may have to go from the Kentucky bluegrass in the desert to something more typical of the environment, but it is a very helpful solution to most urban areas' water problems.

Keys: Certainly, I wouldn't disagree with you when you talk about new big dams, but to say that the big dam building era is over, I would certainly argue with. And the point I am making is that we have rebuilt three large dams in the past 5 years, as large as they are in the western United States, but it is part of our dam safety program. Where we have actually taken the old one down and put the new one right back up in its place; we are doing one in your backyard right now, Horsetooth at Fort Collins. And the point to make is that we do that to protect the public from any disaster that might happen from a failure and to maintain that critical infrastructure that's there for us to have available, to help us make the best use of the water.

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