Clean Water In the News

Colorado’s water could be getting dirtier partly because of widespread energy development, former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Regional Administrator Max Dodson said Thursday.

Whatever oil and gas drilling puts into the Colorado River is something downstream states such as California and Arizona also have to worry about, said Dodson, who retired from the EPA in January.

His statements came as conservation group Environment Colorado released a study Thursday claiming the state’s stream water quality declined 21 percent and lake water quality declined 31 percent during the past eight years, according to state data.

The report attributed the decline mostly to chemicals and sediment running off from thousands of new oil and gas well pads, inadequate water quality monitoring by the state, and widespread urban sprawl.