Crawford approves draft Source Water Protection Plan

The Town of Crawford approved the draft Source Water Protection Plan (SWPP) with corrections by Bruce Bair, public works director, on Jan. 16.

Bair said the plan took just eight months to formulate.

The town held a number of meetings with landowners, stakeholders and council members with the facilitation of Kimberly Mihelich, the Colorado Rural Water Association's Source Water Protection specialist.

A final meeting will determine how to implement the $5,000 grant money received for the plan last June. The Town of Crawford "intends on using the majority of the grant to implement management approaches that are identified in this Plan."

The council's approval came a month before the proposed BLM auction of parcels for oil and gas development. It was also just six days before the council met with representatives from the Bureau of Land Management.

The Town of Crawford provides 485 residents with their domestic water supply. Those residents live within town limits or just outside of the town boundaries in Delta County.

The Town of Crawford has only one source for its drinking water. That is a spring located at the base of Land's End Peak.

The plan states, "Crawford recognizes the possibility of potential threats to its water supplies. They realized that in order to utilize their wells as a safe and reliable source of their drinking water, they needed to develop a protection plan to prevent possible contamination of their source waters. Proactive planning and prevention are essential to both the long-term integrity of their water systems and limiting costs and liabilities."

The SWPP designates which entity will be responsible for implementation of the plan. That includes the Town of Crawford, Delta County, BLM, Crawford Mesa Water Association, U.S. Forest Service, West Elk Livestock Association, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Colorado Rural Water Association.

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