Water projects take time, and there is never enough of either. Some members of the Interbasin Compact Committee are frustrated with a process set in motion in 2005 that has led to trust between water basins but doesn’t appear to be getting much done. Last week, as a monumental deal between Denver Water and 33 Western Slope communities was announced, the IBCC fretted over its role in state water projects. At a March Roundtable Summit, many of the 300 participants were actually newcomers to the roundtable process and needed to be educated in the basics of what the IBCC and roundtables are trying to accomplish. At the Arkansas River Basin Water Forum two days before the IBCC meeting, a woman in the audience had a burning question for IBCC Director John Stulp at the end of his 45-minute talk: “So, what does IBCC stand for?” Jeris Danielson, a former state engineer who now sits on the IBCC, politely stated that most Coloradans are out of touch with the semi-arid environment most of them live in because municipal water providers have done such a good job plumbing the state so far. But the pipes are old, and the water supplies are being stretched thin, he cautioned.

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