Last Tuesday, five courageous members of the Colorado Springs City Council approved an ordinance, recommended by the leadership of Colorado Springs Utilities, which will help to ensure Springs residents have a sufficient water supply as the city grows in the years ahead.

Approximately 50% of Colorado Springs water originates in the Colorado River basin with an additional 20% available for reuse within our community.

The Colorado River Basin is in the throes of an historic drought. While we hope the lower basin states will bear the brunt of any curtailment of water rights in the basin, the situation is sufficiently dire in that both lower and upper basin states, including Colorado, face a threat of curtailment of their water supply by the secretary of the Interior.

Colorado Springs has about 95,000-acre feet of reliably met demand and is using about 72,000-acre feet annually. If we were to be subject to a significant curtailment of Colorado River water, we would be in a difficult position if drought conditions persist.

In light of this situation, Utilities recommended to the council that it create and maintain a buffer between our available water supply and our current level of water use, at least until the Colorado River situation is clarified.

The council has done so by passing an ordinance requiring that before additional land is annexed into Colorado Springs, the city must have 128% of the water necessary to meet current use and the additional use required to serve the annexed property.

The ordinance was vehemently opposed by owners and developers of land surrounding the city of Fountain that want their property annexed into Colorado Springs. They turned to Colorado Springs, even though the land is considerably distant from the current boundaries of the city, after Fountain indicated it is not presently able to supply water to the area.

The opponents of the ordinance incorrectly assert that the ordinance gives “a monopoly” to Norwood Development, which owns and is developing Banning Lewis Ranch, which has been part of the city since it was annexed in 1988.

In doing so, they ignore that an annexation, including up to 8,400 homes, could occur under the ordinance right now and the fact the city is constantly seeking to acquire additional water supply.

As that supply increases, there will be greater ability to annex additional property into the city. The ordinance is not a building moratorium.

While the landowners and developers in opposition to the ordinance allege Norwood unduly influenced it, the fact is the ordinance is in the best interest of the residents of Colorado Springs.

City residents deserve the assurance their leaders know how much water we have, how much we are using, and that we will maintain a buffer between the two to protect against a prolonged drought and a possible Colorado River curtailment. That explains why a recent poll shows 83% of residents support the ordinance.

In the ongoing mayor and city council campaign, voters should ask candidates whether they support this ordinance to protect the city’s water supply and how they feel about annexation of property far outside the city’s current boundaries. Considering the political contributions being made by various landowners and developers to candidates, their answers could be revealing.

My heartfelt thanks to Councilmembers Stephannie Fortune, Randy Helms, Nancy Henjum, Mike O’Malley and Wayne Williams for ignoring the noise, focusing on the public interest, and voting to do the right thing.

John Suthers is the mayor of Colorado Springs.

John Suthers