Conifer Area Council Water Committee
Conifer Area Council Water Committee (CAC-WC) is a group of volunteers committed to understanding the water supply issues of our mountain community. It includes professionals with multi-disciplinary scientific backgrounds, engineers, staff from Jefferson County, and many interested community members with varying backgrounds. Interests and objectives span several areas that address the water balance that supplies our area. These include collecting, compiling, and evaluating data about groundwater, surface water, water use, and wastewater discharge; collaborating with Jefferson County and Colorado State officials charged with managing our water resources, and education of the public about water issues. The committee meets on an approximate monthly basis to share information and plan activities.
Currently the committee has several ongoing projects:
- Water level data compilation and evaluation
- Water district water use data compilation and evaluation
- Education through community seminars and information meetings as part of their regular meetings
Data and interpretations on this website are presented for general information only. This is a compilation of data from multiple sources and the compilers cannot ensure accuracy. Contents are continuously updated and the compilers strive to provide the best data possible but Conifer Area Council does not assume responsibility for use by others.
Conifer’s Groundwater Resources
The Conifer area is nearly completely reliant on water from what is known as a fractured crystalline bedrock aquifer. An aquifer is a geologic material with open pores or fractures that can yield water to wells or springs. These small openings store and transmit water that comes primarily from infiltration of precipitation. In developed areas other water entering the aquifer is from infiltration of treated water through leachfields and infiltration galleries. There is a balance of water coming in, water being removed by evaporation or transpiration through vegetation root systems, water being extracted by wells and water flowing out through the aquifer to eventually be discharged to streams. A critical part of this balance is water held in storage in these openings. Too much water taken out of storage will result in less water available to flow out of the aquifer and the volume in storage could eventually fall to a point where some wells tapping it may “go dry”. But at the same time, if water in storage falls below capacity then the aquifer will be able to take more in, instead of letting it follow out of the system. If the storage capacity is exceeded by water coming in, more water will flow out.
