Colorado Water
Lots of news this week about water issues. Here's an article about the Big Straw project from the Rocky Mountain News [November 21, 2003, "Sipping on Big Straw facts"]. Boyle Engineering presented the results of a $500,000 study to the Colorado Water Conservation Board on Thursday. From the article, "Blaine Dwyer, vice president of Boyle Engineering, made the presentation that calls for pumping water from the Colorado River at the Utah border across the Continental Divide to dump into the Colorado, South Platte and Arkansas River basins for municipal and agricultural use." Here's another story about the study from the Rocky [November 19, 2003, "Cost, time for Big Straw are in gee-whiz category"].
The editors of the Cortez Journal weigh in on the Big Straw.
Here's an opinion piece by Representative Scott McInnis calling for a renewed effort to plan and build new water storage now that Referendum A has been defeated. Says McInnis, "Let's begin by acknowledging that simply voting down this bonding initiative does not solve Colorado's need for water storage. In fact, the need for a balanced statewide approach to water storage is more real now than ever. Water conservation and investments in water efficiencies are important aspects of Colorado's water future."
Woolford Mountain may be in for an expansion, according to the Rocky [November 20, 2003, "Expansion plan on tap for reservoir"]. Woolford Mountain was held up as a model for cooperation between the Rainy side and the Dry side of the Divide here in Colorado.
Douglas County is either going to go dry or not in the next 10-20 years, according to this in-depth look at water issues from the Rocky [November 22, 2003, "Running dry"]. Lots of great detail, graphics, and prognostication in the article, "The major solution on the table would cost more than $1 billion, according to consultants conducting the study for the county's major water districts. The plan calls for obtaining surface water from Denver, using some of it to recharge underground supplies and building a system of reservoirs and pipelines within the county. Whether the plan would work scientifically, legally and politically is in question."
The Rocky has a nifty little water use calculator application and a glossary of terms.
7:44:59 AM 
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