Drought Preparedness 9/14/23
Grand County Drought Preparedness Committee determined that Grand County remains in Drought Watch. Despite moderate rainfall, the county experienced temperatures ranking among the 10th to 20th warmest on record in July. This elevated heat led to heightened evaporative demand, resulting in diminished water runoff into streams and wetlands. The Quick Drought Response Index further highlights the progression towards drier conditions.
It’s crucial to emphasize that we are enduring the driest two decades ever recorded. While water availability might seem adequate now, it's far from a guarantee for the upcoming stages of the fall season. The situation can swiftly evolve, necessitating proactive engagement from both residents and visitors to effectively tackle this persistent challenge. Let's unite to combat the ongoing drought – HELP OUT DURING DROUGHT!
The Drought Preparedness Committee will continue to monitor the situation closely and requests everyone to practice continued water conservation measures. The following tips can help conserve water:
Reuse Water: Collect and reuse water from activities like rinsing fruits and vegetables or waiting for the shower to heat up. You can use this water for watering plants.
Sweep, Don’t Hose: Use a broom instead of a hose to clean driveways, sidewalks, and patios.
Turn Off Faucets: Don’t leave the faucet running while brushing your teeth, washing your face, or doing dishes. Only run water when you actually need it.
Shorten Shower Time: Aim for shorter showers. Consider using a timer to help you keep track and reduce shower time.
The Drought Education and Outreach Committee kindly requests the cooperation of all recipients to share this important information with their contacts and the public through various channels, such as email, social media channels, and any other available means. If you manage a short-term rental, we encourage you to display this information in the residences you oversee, ensuring that visitors are aware of the conservation efforts in our community.
By working together and taking proactive steps, we can preserve our water resources. Thank you!
Drought Video
It’s mid May, 2023 and still snowing in Grand County so we’re not worried about drought…yet. Fortunately, our current snowpack is about 20% above normal. We’re also happy that soil moisture is higher than it was last year at this time. Those two facts give us hope for improved spring runoff.
One year of better runoff is a good thing, but we’re in the midst of a drought the likes of which hasn’t been seen here in about 1,200 years. We will have more drought and need to do our best to cope with it. Be prepared for and aware of drought. Kayli Foulk, Grand County’s Water Quality Specialist, recently provided a link to a brief 94 second video about the drought stages and response guidelines. We’ll keep you updated here when summer arrives and drought conditions evolve.
DROUGHT PREPAREDNESS
By Kirk Klancke
Last winter, when we were getting above average snowfall, a group of Grand County stakeholders were meeting to discuss drought. The purpose of their conversations was to write a comprehensive plan that can help guide Grand County water interests through the complicated process of evaluating and responding to different levels of drought severity.
Stakeholders included agriculture, recreation districts, municipal water suppliers, conservation organizations, towns, fire protection districts, and Grand County government. The stakeholder meetings were funded through a grant from the Sonoran Institute acquired by Grand County , and were facilitated by Anna Drexler Dreis.
A series of 8 meetings were held to discuss drought preparedness and how drought affects each of the different stakeholders. During the same time period, a subcommittee worked on drafting a Drought Preparedness Plan that encompassed all of the comments from the stakeholder meetings. The final meeting was held in June and a draft Drought Response Plan was completed at that meeting. Two committees were also formed at this final meeting. The Drought Preparedness Committee (DPC) was formed with 5 representatives from the five diverse types of stakeholders. This committee meets at least monthly to look at all drought indicators and to determine which level of response we should be in. An Education Outreach Committee was also formed to help inform the public of decisions made by the DPC.
Routine water conservation in Grand County was defined in the plan and is recommended to be practiced every year. These are just good common sense water saving ideas.
Despite higher than normal snowpack during the winter of 2019-2020, Grand County was showing signs of drought by the end of June 2020. At the DPC meeting in late June the committee agreed unanimously that conditions called for “Drought Watch”. This stage of drought triggers more intense action than the routine conservation that should always be practiced. Drought watch call for increased education about water conservation measures and asks that people use only what they need.
In their meeting in early August, the DPC looked at steam levels, water temperatures, the US Drought Monitor and fire bans in Grand County and neighboring counties. All of these indicators were close enough to the averages discussed in the late June meeting that the DPC concluded that we should remain in Drought Watch. The committee also decided to keep a close eye on any change and be ready to declare a Stage 1 Drought if the indicators and triggers were continuing to trend to drier and hotter conditions. No emergency meetings were called in August, so the DPC decided to reevaluate conditions at their September 3rd meeting.
On September 3rd the Drought Preparedness Committee looked at several drought indicators and agreed unanimously to declare a Stage 1 drought. Because this level of drought is more severe than a Drought Watch stage, the actions requested of the public are more demanding. Those with lawns are asked to water no more than 2 days a week and to refrain from watering between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm. Watering outside of those hours will result in less evaporative loss of water, resulting in more water getting to the roots of the plants. Hand water or drip irrigate gardens no more than 2 times a week. Establishing new landscapes is not advised as it takes much greater amounts of water to establish plants than to keep them alive. Agriculture and golf courses are asked to reduce water use whenever practical while not damaging their source of income. Use dry clean methods to clean driveways and sidewalks. Restaurants should only serve water when asked.
These are serious measures because we are in a serious drought. The US Drought Monitor shows about 2/3 of Grand County is in “extreme drought”, while the remaining third is in “severe drought”. Under these conditions, every drop matters, so please conserve as much water as possible by following these and other Grand County Drought Preparedness Plan Stage 1 guidelines. For more information please visit www.co.grand.co.us/drought.
Grand County’s Drought Preparedness Plan
In April 2019, a team of professionals representing water districts, towns, and county government attended a Sonoran Institute “Growing Water Smart Workshop” in Keystone. The team walked away with an action plan to create a Drought Management Plan. Over the course of 8 facilitated meetings, a stakeholder group including representatives from the towns and water districts, stock growers, county government, fire protection districts, recreation districts, Trout Unlimited, private commercial ranches, homeowner’s associations, and Northwest Colorado Council of Governments met to hash out the elements of what came to be known as the Drought Preparedness Plan. A subcommittee of that group wrote the actual text of the Plan, which as of July 2021 has been finalized. 2020 was the first year of implementing the plan in a “trial run”. Additional subcommittees to the plan include the Drought Preparedness Committee which was selected by the stakeholder group to review the drought severity indicators on a regular basis and make the determination of which drought stage, if any, the community should recognize, and the Education and Outreach Committee, which is in charge of developing incident-specific as well as general conservation communication tools.
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
GRAND COUNTY DROUGHT PREPAREDNESS PLAN
THIS Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) is made and entered into on the first signature date below when any two Parties sign this MOU. This MOU is intended to be a dynamic document, which allows the signatories (“Party” or “Parties”) to join with others when they are prepared to do so.
RECITALS
WHEREAS, an increase in drought periods is predicted by climatologists to be more frequent, and;
WHEREAS, stakeholders including water districts, agricultural interests, environmental organizations, fire districts, town representatives, and Grand County government, have worked collaboratively on drought mitigation and preparedness planning to preserve essential public services and minimize the adverse effects of drought on public health and safety, economic activity, environmental resources, and individual lifestyles during a drought event, and;
WHEREAS, stakeholders have developed the Grand County Drought Preparedness Plan (“Plan”), a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit A, which is intended to mitigate the crisis through drought preparedness efforts, reduce the hardships caused by water shortages, create a county-wide approach to drought preparedness, and raise public confidence in the actions taken to address water supply shortages, and;
WHEREAS, the purpose of the Plan is to prepare the water users in Grand County for times of water shortages. The Plan is to be used as a guideline for the entities that adopt it to help them deal with varying drought conditions and educational possibilities. The Plan is meant to be used as an educational tool and not a regulatory document. While each individual entity adopting the Plan has the option on how they choose to use it, each entity is encouraged to implement recommendations of the Plan, in order to facilitate a uniform response throughout the County, and;
WHEREAS, the Parties desire to establish and maintain the Drought Preparedness Committee and other committees as identified in the Plan as part of the effort to create county-wide collaboration in dealing with drought conditions, and;
WHEREAS, all Parties to this MOU have an interest in protecting the County, it’s inhabitants and other stakeholders from the deleterious effects of drought, and;
WHEREAS, the Parties desire to enter into this MOU to cooperate with one another and to coordinate efforts, if possible and beneficial, among both the Parties to this MOU and other stakeholders, in order to provide efficiency in their efforts to preserve essential public services and minimize the adverse effects of drought on public health and safety, economic activity, environmental resources, and individual lifestyles during a drought event, and;
WHEREAS, the Parties wish to record their mutual understandings in this MOU. NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the premises and the covenants and agreements
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set forth below, it is agreed by and between the Parties as follows:
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
1. AUTHORITY. This MOU has been duly adopted by the Parties’ governing bodies or authorized decision makers, and the undersigned representatives are authorized to execute this MOU on behalf of each respective Party.
2. PURPOSE & AGREEMENT.
a. The foregoing Recitals are hereby incorporated into and made part of this MOU.
b. The purpose of this MOU is for the signatory Parties to commit to the Grand County Drought Preparedness Plan in an effort to cooperatively prepare the water users in Grand County for times of water shortages. The Plan is to be used as a guideline for the entities that adopt it to help them deal with varying drought conditions and educational possibilities. It is meant to be used as an educational tool and not a regulatory document. Each individual entity adopting this Plan has the option on how they choose to use it. Each entity is encouraged to implement recommendations of the Plan, in order to facilitate a uniform response throughout the County.
c. The Parties will help establish the Drought Preparedness Committee and other committees as identified in the Plan as part of the effort to create county-wide collaboration in dealing with drought conditions.
3. FINANCIAL DETERMINATIONS. The Parties are undertaking these actions with unknown financial impact to their future budgets. This is necessary and desirable due to the need to plan and take action to preserve essential public services and minimize the adverse effects of drought on public health and safety, economic activity, environmental resources, and individual lifestyles during a drought event. No Party to this MOU may seek to impose costs or financial obligations on any other Party. Any and all financial determinations are reserved to each Party independently for a determination by the governing board of each entity.
4. ASSIGNMENT. The Parties may not assign this MOU without prior written consent from all of the other Parties.
5. COMPLIANCE WITH STATE AND FEDERAL LAW. The Parties agree to timely comply with all state and federal laws including but not limited to any applicable reporting requirements.
6. NOTICE. All notices, demands, or other written communication required or permitted to be given by this MOU shall be by electronic mail, hand delivered or sent by certified or registered mail, postage prepaid, and return receipt requested, to the Parties at their most recent address of record.
7. NO WAIVER OF IMMUNITY. Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary,
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nothing herein shall constitute a waiver, express or implied, of any of the immunities, rights, benefits, protections, or other provisions of the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (“CGIA”), C.R.S. § 24-10-101, et seq.
8. GOVERNING LAW. This MOU shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Colorado and the laws of the United States of America.
9. COMPLETE AGREEMENT. This MOU consists of all the agreements, understandings, and promises between the Parties, and there are no agreements, understandings, or promises between the Parties other than those set forth in this MOU.
10. AMENDMENTS. Any amendments or modifications, not including the addition of Parties by signatures below, to this MOU must be in writing and executed by all Parties to be valid and binding.
11. SEVERABILITY. If any provision of this MOU is invalidated by any court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.
12. TERMINATION. This MOU shall automatically terminate without further action of the Parties five calendar years from the date of the second signature to the MOU. Any Party may terminate its participation in the MOU by a written Notice of Termination delivered to the remaining Parties as provided in paragraph 6. The MOU may be extended between the Parties who consent to such extension in writing.
13. THIRD PARTY ENFORCEMENT- NONE. This MOU and all rights and obligations are reserved solely to the signing Parties and not any third party. This MOU does not create any rights to any third parties.
14. COUNTERPARTS – This MOU may be signed in multiple identical original counterparts, all of which shall be constitute one MOU.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties hereto have executed this MOU on the dates set opposite their respective signatures below.
Name of Agency
Name
Signature
Title
Date
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Grand County Drought Status Communications
Over the past year a group of Grand County water stakeholder have worked to create a comprehensive drought response plan to help guide Grand County water interests through the complicated process of evaluating and responding to the different levels of drought severity. Stakeholders included agriculture, recreation districts (golf courses), municipal water suppliers, conservation organizations, towns, fire protection districts, and Grand County government.
The initial drought plan was finalized, and two committees were created (Drought Management Committee and Drought Outreach and Education Committee) to manage the new plan starting in the Spring of 2020. Despite a higher than normal snowpack last winter Grand County was showing signs of drought by June 2020. The committee initiated a “drought watch” in June that quickly moved to a severe “Stage One” drought by September.
The key to the drought plan is quick and effective communication throughout the County. The Drought Outreach and Education Committee would like your help. While Grand County has incorporated drought information onto their website (www.co.grand.co.us/drought) we need help creating drought awareness, directing people to the Grand County site for detailed information. We are asking that once a month May through September your organization sends a message to your email list stating the monthly drought status in the County and directing individuals to the County website for details. The end of the first week each month the Drought Outreach and Education Committee will provide a summary of the monthly drought status as well as key points for communication.
As a diversified group of stakeholders with little or no funding we are limited to local news articles as well as carefully placed tent cards at Chambers and hotels. Your assistance is invaluable to helping the community learn of drought status as well as where to obtain additional information. We understand the confidential nature of your email list and will never request access to that list. The list and the final message will be in your control.
If possible, it would also be helpful to include a message of the County’s drought status and link to the Grand County drought information on your website during the May thru September timeframe.