Friday, March 16, 2007

Hickenlooper for mayor? Mayor Hickenlooper has come through the snowstorms this winter OK politically, according to the Rocky Mountain News. From the article, "Voters gave former Denver Mayor Bill McNichols a cold shoulder at the polls over his handling of the Christmas blizzard of 1982. Five years later, a 15-inch dump led to a recall drive that briefly threatened Mayor Federico Peña months into his second term. But even though the city was paralyzed again this winter by a series of snowstorms at the height of the Christmas shopping season, most voters still feel warm and fuzzy about Mayor John Hickenlooper. A poll conducted by The Kenney Group, a political consulting firm managing his re-election campaign, found that most voters weren't too upset about the city's snow-removal efforts despite angry reactions at the time... "The $24,348 poll was paid for by Hickenlooper's re-election campaign. Kenney agreed to share the results at the request of the Rocky Mountain News. More than icy streets have threatened to cool the city's affection for its mayor. The design for the city's new centerpiece justice center slipped off track briefly last fall when a high-profile architect resigned in a public spat. Dust was still settling on the dispute when epic lines confronted tens of thousands of city voters in November as election workers' software failed. But many say they are ready to vote the mayor back into office. When asked about the May election, 49 percent of respondents said they would definitely vote for Hickenlooper... "Among the findings: 68 percent believe 'things in Denver are generally headed in the right direction'; 14 percent said education and schools are the most important issues facing Denver; 55 percent feel their quality of life is about the same as it was four years ago while 24 percent say it's much or somewhat better; 59 percent think local taxes are "about right" compared with the services they receive; 62 percent rate Denver's economy as fairly strong, but 43 percent said it's very or somewhat difficult to keep up with their bills." "denver 2007" 6:31:32 AM

Watson for City Council? According to the Denver Post, "A Denver City Council candidate pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in 2003 after being accused of hitting a child, records show. Darrell Watson, who is running for the open District 8 council seat, received a deferred sentence for 'wrongs to a minor,' according to police and court records." "denver 2007" 6:26:18 AM

Dolores River Dialogue Here's a report from a recent meeting of the Dolores River Dialogue from the Cortez Journal. From the article, "The health of the Lower Dolores River was on everyone's mind Wednesday when a group of about 20 people met for the Dolores River Dialogue. The group of people, who range from wildlife experts, rafting enthusiasts and ranchers, have been meeting to discuss the 130-mile portion of the river below the McPhee Dam for four years. 'The thing the Dolores River Dialogue has done more than anything is to bring together a community-minded effort,' said Jim Siscoe, science coordinator for the Dolores River Dialogue and general manager for the Montezuma Valley Irrigation Co... "On Wednesday, the consensus was that the group was getting somewhere. The biggest challenge is what kind of flow the river will get from the dam at McPhee Reservoir, and the flow depends on the weather and snowpack. Carolyn Dunmire, a member of the Dolores River Action Group, a group that represents the river's recreational users, applauded members of the Dolores River Dialogue... "The Lower Dolores River used to be operated as a canal of sorts, and occasionally it would run dry, said Dunmire, who hopes those days are of the past only." "colorado water" 6:11:52 AM

Minimum flows for the Colorado River? Officials are looking at the amount of water that is needed to keep the Colorado River healthy, reports the Summit Daily News "reg". From the article, "A new study considered by stakeholders in the Colorado River Basin would look at the minimum amount of water needed to be left in rivers and streams. While most water questions have been examined from nearly every imaginable angle, stakeholders in the Colorado River Basin may be headed down a new path as they focus on the main stem of the Colorado River. Trout Unlimited's Ken Neubecker outlined the scope of the project at the Colorado River Headwaters Forum Thursday morning in Frisco. The group is looking at what the non-consumptive needs are, Neubecker said, describing them as uses that go beyond the beneficial uses established by state law. Under Colorado water law, it's fairly clear how water is administered and used for irrigation and municipal use, for example. What's not so easy to pin down is how much water is needed to maintain adequate habitat for fish and other animals... "The concern among traditional stakeholders like Front Range water providers is that the study could develop in a way that challenges the state's established water rights system. Neubecker said that concern has been described as approaching "paranoia" by some interests. The intent is not to take away anybody's existing ability to exercise water rights, he said. The initial goal is to define and quantify those non-consumptive uses... "While many tributaries, including the Snake and the Blue in Summit County, are protected by CWCB water rights, the state's namesake river isn't as-yet covered under the minimum instream flow program. Anecdotally, anglers tell of being able to wade across some sections of the river in summer and fall, and late last year, the alarm went up when the river dropped to near-record low levels in nearby Grand County, upstream of Kremmling. Establishing a regime of required minimum flows on the Colorado is likely to be a long-term project, requiring some additional research in addition to some of the data that's already out there. To that end, Neubecker said the plan is to approach the Colorado Water Conservation Board as soon as this fall to seek funding for studies." "colorado water" 6:01:05 AM

NASA Recognized for Water Purification and Clean Up Technologies From WebWire: "On April 12, two technologies developed at NASA for America's space program will be inducted into the Space Foundation's Space Technology Hall of Fame. NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, receives the honor for its development of the Microbial Check Valve used in water purification. NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Fla., is recognized for the development of Emulsified Zero-Valent Iron technology used to clean contaminated ground water... "The Microbial Check Valve is an integral component for maintaining safe drinking water in water purification systems now deployed in rural areas and developing countries around the world. Engineers at Johnson developed the system to provide microbial control for drinking water systems for the space shuttle and the International Space Station. Johnson will join the Water Security Corporation, Sparks, Nev., and Umpqua Research, Myrtle Creek, Ore., as inductees for developing the technology... "Emulsified Zero-Valent Iron technology is a cost-effective, environmentally-friendly technology used to clean ground water contaminated by dense chemical compounds. Engineers at the Kennedy Space Center developed the technology to clean up pollution caused by chlorinated solvents used to clean Apollo rocket parts. This technology is now used at both government and private industry cleanup sites." "colorado water" 5:51:38 AM

Snowpack Here's a report on the snowpack around Aspen from the Aspen Times. They write, "Aspen's snowpack is disappearing faster than swag at the X Games. Dry weather and warm temperatures sunk the snowpack level March 10 below the 30-year average for the first time all season. Since then, unseasonably warm temperatures have reduced the snowpack to 93 percent of average, according to the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service... "Aspen isn't the only area watching its snowpack melt away. The snowpack statewide is now 85 percent of average. State water managers like the snowpack to continue to build into April, hoping to see a steady runoff that fills reservoirs efficiently. While some of this early melt-off is getting captured and stored, a lot of water soaks into the ground or lost through sublimation, Gillespie said... "The snowpack for the Roaring Fork basin as a whole is down to 85 percent of average. That includes the Crystal and Fryingpan valleys. The snowpack in those valleys never reached as high as the site east of Aspen this winter." Here's another report about the snowpack from the Rocky Mountain News. They write, "A balmy March across Colorado is quickly melting the state's snowpack, but brimming reservoirs and heavy snow earlier in the winter should keep the Front Range out of water trouble, forecasters said Thursday. If the dry spell continues through March and April, however, it could bolster the fire danger and create problems for agriculture, they said. On the heels of T-shirt temperatures, the statewide snowpack had fallen to 85 percent of average Thursday, 'about as low as it's been all season,' said Mike Gillespie, snow survey supervisor for the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service. "Worst off is southwestern Colorado, where snowpack levels in the San Juan River Basin had fallen to 69 percent. And a federal forecast issued Thursday said drought conditions in the southwestern United States could spread to western Colorado through June. But Klaus Wolter, a University of Colorado climatologist, also noted several promising factors: Most of the rapid snowmelt is below 8,500 feet; snow is melting instead of evaporating and 'blowing to Kansas' as has occurred in years past; and he foresees a storm track toward the end of March... "Whatever spring holds, Denver Water's reservoirs, already in good shape, are likely to fill with spring runoff, and it would take 'exceptionally dry' conditions for the situation to go downhill, said Trina McGuire-Collier, spokeswoman for the utility." More snowpack news from CBS4Denver. They write, "Denver is currently having its third driest March on record during a month that is typically the area's snowiest month of the year. Denver Water officials said that hasn't hurt reservoir levels which are about 90 percent full thanks to the early season snow. Halfway through March, Denver officially had received 1.9 inches of snow which amounts to 17 hundredths of an inch of precipitation. Last March, the city received 8.6 inches of snow which was still below normal. An average March in Denver sees 11.7 inches of snowfall. Denver Water's reservoir levels are a little better than average at this point." "colorado water" 5:37:49 AM

Ritter to attend 'water' meeting According to the Greeley Tribune "reg" Governor Ritter will be at a public meeting next week in Wiggins. From the article, "Gov. Bill Ritter will hear about economic problems in northeast Colorado during a meeting next week at Wiggins High School, 320 Chapman. Wiggins is about 35 miles east of Greeley and is located near the intersection of U.S. 34 and Interstate 76. Don Jones, president of Morgan County Economic Development, said that while the meeting is open to the public, no public comment will be allowed. The meeting, he said, is designed to give Ritter a broad overview of problems faced for communities and residents along the South Platte River, many the result of the shut down of irrigation and other wells in the area, and offer solutions to those problems. The meeting is scheduled from 5-7 p.m. March 22 at the high school's event center." "colorado water" 5:32:41 AM

Global warming: The Earth is a beautifully complex system Arctic sea ice may be at a "tipping point" according to a study cited by the Montreal Gazette. From the article, "The meltdown in the Arctic might have reached a tipping point that could trigger a cascade of climate changes and profoundly affect the weather in Earth's temperate regions, a new study warns. 'When the ice thins to a vulnerable state, the bottom will drop out and we may quickly move into a new, seasonally ice-free state of the Arctic,' said Mark Serreze, a senior researcher at the National Snow and Ice Data Centre at the University of Colorado at Boulder and lead author of the study published today in the journal Science. 'I think there is some evidence that we may have reached that tipping point, and the impacts will not be confined to the Arctic region.' The Science paper, Perspectives on the Arctic's Shrinking Sea Ice Cover, pulls together recent research and observations and leaves little question the Arctic ice is shrinking. It says the trend in Arctic sea ice extent, which is defined as the total area where ice covers at least 15 per cent of the ocean surface, has been 'negative' every month since satellite record keeping began in 1979." "2008 pres" 5:28:31 AM

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