AN INTERVIEW WITH ERIC KUHN
When the Past is Not Predictive
"Water districts that are going to have to make changes can't do so when the public is
still split 50-50 on whether climate change is real."
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Q: How did you come to understand the relationship between climate change and western water?
A: After years of good water supplies in the mid through late nineties, the Colorado River Basin hit
a dry period and the question became, "Are things fundamentally changing or will we go back to the previous wet
period?" The reality is that because of climate change, we don't have that answer yet. But there is definitely
a connection.
Q: What are the challenges facing practitioners working in the field of water, energy, and climate change?
A: The culture in the water business is changing from the basic assumption that in water planning you can
use the past as a proxy for the future. That is no longer the case, but there is no easy way to adopt newer
planning criteria. We are struggling with that transition. There is no clear answer to what the new approach
will be. What we do know is that we will need to use more science and run many different climate models under
many different assumptions, develop a probability distribution function, and make decisions based on a concept
of probability. Water managers will have to be like people who program slot machines, we'll have to take a look
at the odds and plan accordingly. The ones who program the slot machines need to make sure the house comes out
ahead. We need to plan our water systems to end up with enough water.
Q: What are the most pressing issues regarding the water, energy, and climate change connection?
A: Within the science community and within the water management community there is a general
understanding that climate change is here and is
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happening. However, water districts that serve water to the
public or that are going to have to make changes can't do so when the public is still split 50-50 on whether
climate change is real. This is a serious issue. As a water community we'll have to react to what society at
large dictates regarding how we deal with climate change.
Another issue is the need for new energy sources and the water demand that creates. I've always been concerned
that there is a lot less reliable water than we thought there was. Until recently we thought it would take
another hundred years to use the water available for Colorado to grow, but the water supply we thought we had
isn't there. Add to that the potential for oil shale production to take off on the Western Slope. The energy
companies have locked up entitlements to billions of gallons per day. That could use up the last of Colorado's
entitlement and leave the Denver area with no water to support future growth.
Q: In your opinion, what is the best way for Carpe Diem to serve the field?
A: The most important role the Carpe Diem project can play is to integrate the approach to watersheds.
Keeping the entire watershed approach in focus is a very valuable contribution. It is essential to maintain
awareness of the integration of the human and the environmental needs of the watersheds and the different things
that they do for us beyond just water supply. Water management is just one part of watershed management, and
there are other aspects to consider: water supply, water quality, for habitat, for vegetation management.
For the last 13 years, Eric Kuhn has been General Manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District.
In 2006, he was appointed by Governor Owens as an at-large representative on the Colorado Interbasin Compact
Committee. Mr. Kuhn has also served on the Engineering Advisory Committee of the Upper Colorado River Compact
Commission since 1981.
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