Colorado's oil and gas drilling consumes enough water to sustain
79,000 households a year — enough for a medium-sized city and
more than state planners have projected, a new study says. The
analysis, presented Wednesday by the Boulder-based consultancy
Western Resource Advocates, determined that the amount of water
pumped into the ground for drilling wells and for hydraulic
fracturing to coax out oil and gas is between 22,100 and 39,500
acre-feet each year. That's enough for up to 296,100 people — or
to meet most needs in Douglas County. "We're already having
trouble meeting our demands. Especially in a dry year like this,
if this water is going to go into oil and gas wells, there's
going to be a loser," said engineer Laura Belanger, author of
the study. "Where's this water going to come from?
Municipalities? Agriculture? Are we going to have to make new
diversions from rivers on the Western Slope?" State regulators
have estimated that fracking requires 13,900 to 16,100 acre-feet
a year. State officials and i