ASPEN CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
MEMORANDUM
TO:

Mayor and City Council

FROM:

Margaret Medellin, Utilities Portfolio Manager

THRU:

Scott Miller, Director of Public Works;
Dave Hornbacher, Director, Utilities and Environmental Initiatives;

DATE OF MEMO:

May 11, 2017

MEETING DATE:

May 15, 2017

RE:

Resolution 141, Series 2016 Quarterly Progress Update

SUMMARY: On October 10, 2016, Council passed Resolution #141, Series of 2016 directing staff to
implement certain water management measures to improve resiliency against future climate change
impacts and other system changes while continuing efforts to maintain diligence for two conditional water
storage rights on Castle and Maroon Creeks. During today’s work session, staff will provide Council
progress updates on the four (4) identified tasks and seek Council feedback to refine this communitybased approach to securing Aspen’s water future.
BACKGROUND: The City Utilities and Environmental Initiatives Department is responsible for
assuring Aspen has a safe, legal and reliable water supply, now and into the future. To this end, the City
has developed an integrated water supply. As a part of this integrated water supply, since 1965 the City of
Aspen has held and maintained conditional water rights for reservoirs on Maroon and Castle Creeks.
Today, the City’s primary source of stored water is snowpack, which varies significantly from year to
year. Aspen uses direct flow rights from Maroon and Castle Creeks, which are diverted to the Leonard
Thomas Reservoir located at Aspen’s Water Treatment Facility, treated, and then delivered to Aspen
customers. The Leonard Thomas Reservoir is an operational reservoir with a capacity of 9 acre-feet,
which is less than a day of storage during peak summer use. The Aspen community will face significant
challenges maintaining its water supply as we experience changing precipitation and runoff patterns, and
possible increased fire, drought, change in runoff timing and lower snowpack levels due to climate
change. Storage reservoirs, however, can retain water from season to season and year to year, and can
provide water supplies even during times of shortage Without water storage, Aspen’s water supply for
households and businesses will be threatened. There will be no meaningful back up if surface supplies
are greatly reduced. This is a risk the City considers when making long-range plans.
Science confirms that Aspen’s climate is already changing and will continue to do so. Aspen now sees
23 fewer winter days than in the years before 1980. This trend is projected to continue and Aspen’s
current water storage – our snowpack - will diminish. In addition, it is of significant concern that the
current storage is less than a day’s worth, which means in an emergency, supplies are limited.

 PREVIOUS COUNCIL ACTION: The last Council work session to discuss the Maroon Creek and
Castle Creek conditional storage rights was held on March 20, 2017. City staff provided to Council an
update on its workplan. Dr. George Oamek, consultant with Headwaters Corporation, was introduced to
City Council and discussed the risk analysis that he is conducting for the City on its water supply and
demand projections.
DISCUSSION: Resolution #141 directed staff to pursue actions in four (4) task areas. A substantial
multi-year effort is being undertaken to implement these tasks, and will require concurrent processes:
legal proceedings, on-going integrated water system development and operation, refinement of future
water demand, collaborative process to identify system needs and potential solutions, and investigation of
reservoir resizing and/or relocation.
Staff will provide quarterly updates on work progress, and will check-in regularly to update Council on
significant work items, decision points and to provide timely information. Monthly reports are prepared to
keep Council apprised of progress on the work plan (See Attachment A for the March 2017 Monthly
update and Attachment B for the April 2017 Monthly update). The goal of this work session is to update
Council on significant work accomplished since the last quarterly update.
Following is an update of significant work performed during this Quarter for each of the four (4)
Resolution tasks:
1) On-going Integrated Water System Development and Operation
Continue development and implementation of the City’s integrated water supply system, including water
conservation measures (including, but not limited to, rate revisions and new landscape ordinance), the
reuse project, and other current plans for development of water supplies, as well as further refinement of
climate change impacts on supply and demand patterns.
•

•

•

•

Water Conservation Measures
o A Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance was presented to Council. First reading was
approved on May 8, 2017. Public Hearing is scheduled for May 22, 2017.
Re-use Water System
o Carollo and City staff met with CDPHE to discuss the next steps for securing a permit for
applying reuse water on the golf course.
Alternative underground storage resources
o The potential to use mine tunnels for water storage has been evaluated by Deere and Ault
Consultants, Inc. The results of this evaluation are included in the Mine Storage
Evaluation Report (Attachment C) and will be presented by Deere and Ault at this Work
Session.
Refinement of Future Water Supply and Demand Scenarios
o Work with Headwaters Inc. to perform a preliminary review of risks in Aspen’s demand
and supply through 2065 is on-going.
o COA staff and Headwater’s Corp. staff met with NCAR scientist, Dr. Julie Vano, to
discuss a partnership for incorporating best practices for consideration of climate change
impacts into supply and demand projections.

 2) Collaborative Community-Based Process to identify system needs and potential solutions
Initiate a collaborative process to evaluate existing and identify new alternatives and any other
necessary actions to fill the currently projected and updated anticipated water supply and demand gap
•

•

Contracted with Consensus Building Institute (CBI) to perform a convening assessment. The
results of this assessment are discussed in the Convening Assessment Report, which was shared
with all participants.
Released RFP for Public Outreach effort. This RFP will close on May 30, 2017 and staff
anticipate bringing a contract for this work to the June 26, 2017 City Council meeting. The RFP
is included as attachment D.

3) Legal Proceedings
File and pursue an application for finding of reasonable diligence in the development of the Castle and
Maroon Creek conditional water rights on or before October 31, 2016.
•
•

Telephone conferences with the water referee and opposers occurred February 9, 2017 and May
9, 2017.
A facilitated meeting was held with 9 of the 10 opposers on March 21, 2017.

4) Investigation of reservoir resizing and/or relocation
Enhance and increase the City’s efforts to investigate alternative locations and sizing requirements of the
Maroon Creek Reservoir and/or Castle Creek Reservoir, and to report findings back to City Council for
further consideration and action as appropriate.
•

Deere and Ault Consultants have identified in-situ reservoir as a potential method for storing
water in the Aspen area. This concept will be presented by Deere and Ault during this work
session.

COUNCIL DIRECTION REQUESTED: This presentation is intended to be informational and no
formal action is requested of Council.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS: The City is committed to reducing its footprint (carbon and water)
and fighting climate change, but even with this effort and action the City recognizes that it is best practice
to plan for a future that looks very different than today. The City’s efforts to refine its demand and supply
projections, along with undertaking a collaborative effort to identify new water infrastructure and
management options is necessary to ensure the City’s resiliency.
BUDGET IMPACT: Funds to support the work associated with Aspen’s Water Future was included in
the recently adopted spring supplemental budget.
CITY MANAGER COMMENTS:
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment A – Aspen Water Future – March Monthly Report

 Attachment B – Aspen Water Future – April Monthly Report
Attachment C – Mine Tunnel Storage Evaluation, Deere and Ault Consultants Inc.
Attachment D – Public Outreach RFP