I will defend Denver’s water supply from the many pressures and threats it will continue to face. As the state’s population continues to grow, water scarcity may well become the state’s biggest problem. The state needs to play an active role in both defending its waters from outside pressures and as the fair broker in future regional supply issues.

• Growing suburbs that don’t have an adequate supply of water.
  
  
• Growth in mountain communities where local governments are seeking
  additional control over new, expanding or changing infrastructure.
  
  
• Lower basin states where the flow of the Colorado River continues to
  diminish. Those states may look to the upper basin states (Colorado and Utah) for additional supplies.
  
  
• In addition, all of the state’s water utilities face ongoing issues on their watersheds because of past fires and the growing threat of new ones as a result of the pine beetle infestation. Watershed remediation has already cost Denver more than $30 million. The damage from the beetle infestation will be with us for decades and the state needs to be sure that all its watersheds are protected to the extent possible.