Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Water Supply Challenges & Solutions The fourth lecture in the series Wringing Water from the Rocks rocked the Imax theatre last night. Ed Means started off the show with an overview of water issues nationwide. He says that the west has the fastest population growth rate in the nation. Other slides showing impaired waters, education trends and population projections painted a pretty challenging future for water customers ($1 Trillion). Mr. Means was upbeat though. Maybe that comes with the territory in 2005 if you're a water consultant. I did not know that costs are dropping for operating and maintaining a desalination plant. Now there's a solution to the supply problem. That's the beauty of this lecture series - the varied opinions and diverse topics. Mr. Means drove home the importance of communicating with customers. Expectations are often not understood well. That could lead to a costly gap in service delivery. Douglas County Commissioner Steven Boand tried to communicate the point of view of Douglas County, looking down on Denver, wishing that a local had been claiming water from the Fraser River and Williams Fork an hundred or more years or so ago, as was Denver. He is advocating using agricultural water to solve the county need. He also mentioned that the county is just getting underway in cooperation with Parker to build the Rueter-Hess reservoir. I did appreciate his mentioning that any development of Denver Water water rights after they reach buildout should be gentle on the current rate-payers. Mr. Means talked about the concept of Total Water Management. The American Water Works website says that total water management, "recognizes the paradigm shift from considering water available in unlimited quantities to understanding water supply as a limited resource." Coyote Gulch recommends a hike over the Waterpocket Fold if you have any doubts about the water supply being a limited resource. The Museum is saving the best for the last. There will be a roundtable discussion on Tuesday Septermber 27th. Category: Colorado Water 6:37:40 PM

Union Park to be built? The proposed Union Park reservoir is the subject of this article from the Denver Post [August 24, 2005, "Setbacks can't cloud dream of reservoir"]. From the article, "Dave Miller sees a reservoir in Colorado's Collegiate mountain range that no one else sees - or wants to see. On a sweltering summer day last month in this tiny mountain hamlet, Miller patiently delivered a pitch he has been making for 19 years - this time to a room of hardened foes, members of a Western Slope lobbying group. It took less than a minute after he finished his spiel for the Club 20 water committee to send Miller its message on his plan to ship water to the Front Range: No." Category: Colorado Water 6:25:24 AM

Referendums C and D Here's an article from the Denver Post with information from a poll on Referendums C and D [August 24, 2005, "Poll on Nov. referendums shows waning opposition"]. From the article, "Though they say they believe the budget fix offered by November's Referendums C and D will fail at the ballot, opponents saw public sentiment drifting away from them this spring, according to an internal poll. Paid for by an Illinois small- government foundation at the request of the Colorado Club for Growth, the poll also tested many of the arguments being made on both sides of the issue...The telephone survey of 600 Coloradans over two days in May had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. (In July, a poll commissioned by The Denver Post with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points measured the Yes vote for Referendum C at 43 percent and No at 42 percent, with 15 percent undecided.)" Category: Denver November 2005 Election 6:22:38 AM

Salazar won't run for Governor U.S. Senator Ken Salazar does not plan to run for governor, according to the Rocky Mountain News [August 24, 2005, "Salazar says no to bid for governor"]. From the article, "Rookie Sen. Ken Salazar told his inner circle of trusted advisers and friends he won't run for governor next year...signals some concern about the lone Democratic candidate so far, former Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter, and his anti-abortion stance. Sondermann said the interest in Salazar could also indicate problems with other possible nominees, including Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald and Speaker Andrew Romanoff." Meanwhile Peter Blake, in his column in today's Rocky, indicates that Marc Holtzman will petition onto the primary ballot if necessary [August 24, 2005, "Blake: Holtzman has hole card"]. From the column, "Last Saturday rival Bob Beauprez captured 78 votes to Holtzman's 16 in a straw poll conducted at a Larimer County GOP barbecue. But Holtzman had boycotted the event because the county's GOP executive committee had provided Beauprez with lists of Republican voters days - or perhaps weeks - before giving them to Holtzman. Thus Beauprez had more time to turn out supporters." Category: Denver November 2006 Election 6:09:09 AM

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