Coyote Gulch

 



















































































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  Friday, February 22, 2008


Snowpack news
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Here's some snowpack news from The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

The Arkansas River could be looking at record levels of snowfall, on top of water conditions for the past year that have returned to above-normal levels. "It is an impressive snowpack," Pat Edelmann, head of the U.S. Geological Survey office in Pueblo, told the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District board Thursday...

Edelmann showed satellite imagery that indicates snow is not only deep at measuring stations - which are recording levels at 161 percent of normal - but over a wide area of the Rocky Mountains. Statewide, the snowpack is 132 percent of normal, with the highest levels recorded across the southern half. The snowpack comes on top of already high water levels throughout the basin. Last year, water flowing by Avondale totalled 702,500 acre-feet, a level not seen since 1999. More water continues to be stored in the winter water program, which captures winter flows that historically would have gone to irrigators. So far, about 121,000 acre-feet have been stored in winter water, 46 percent above the five-year average and 8 percent above the average for the 17-year history of the program, said Steve Witte, Division 2 water engineer. Storage to satisfy the Arkansas River Compact at John Martin Reservoir is 124 percent of the historic average. "There is no cause for concern of the compact," Witte said...

Roy Vaughan, local manager for the Bureau of Reclamation, said water still is being moved from Turquoise Lake and Twin Lakes to Lake Pueblo to make room for a large runoff expected to be imported through the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project. The conservation pool at Lake Pueblo - the amount of water that can safely be stored and still maintain flood protection - is over 90 percent full. Water users have been concerned since last fall that Pueblo could fill, possibly spilling "if-and-when" storage accounts. "It's too soon to tell," Vaughan said, noting that a lot can happen to the snowpack or with agricultural water demand in two months. "It's all a guessing game."

Bob Hamilton, Southeastern engineering director, said the water supply is looking good in the Roaring Fork River Basin, where water is diverted from the Fryingpan River into the Arkansas River Basin. Levels of moisture in the snow are at about 150 percent of average - more than the average peaks - at Snotel sites in the Roaring Fork. Meanwhile, levels in the Arkansas basin are running ahead of the record year of 1997.

"colorado water"
7:28:54 AM     


Southern Delivery System
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Here's a recap of Wednesday's meeting of the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservation District Board from The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

With the release of a draft environmental impact statement on the Southern Delivery System expected by the end of the month, Colorado Springs officials gave an update on the water project Wednesday. "I want to make it clear we want to come from the dam," John Fredell, SDS project manager, told the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District board Wednesday. "It's our No. 1 choice, if we're going to be allowed. We'll know more when the draft comes out."

The district has been wrestling with Colorado Springs over the project since early 2005, when it began negotiating with potential partners in the Preferred Storage Options Plan. After about one year, those negotiations tapered into intense one-on-one bargaining that helped push Colorado Springs to form a stormwater utility and led to a cooperative effort on Fountain Creek. Lower Ark's point man in those negotiations, Chairman John Singletary, said it has been hard to come to the table in recent months without knowing what the final project will look like. He said an alternative in the Bureau of Reclamation's environmental study that calls for a river intake east of the Fountain Creek confluence would be the most valuable for the Lower Ark district. "We need to look at that, rather than say it's too costly," Singletary said. "Because it can help with the water quality that comes down the Fountain and be of benefit to the whole valley. We're the recipients of all the mistakes made upstream."[...]

[SDS is] needed to provide water for growth, to provide a backup system for other pipelines and to fully use water rights owned by Colorado Springs in the Arkansas Valley, Fredell said. Those rights include former farmland in Crowley County, as well as exchange rights that allow Colorado Springs to exchange water down Fountain Creek against return flows from fully consumable water. Singletary asked how the water from those rights is used now. Gary Bostrom, Colorado Springs water supply manager, said most of the new water in the pipeline will be generated through more complete use of exchanges. At capacity, the pipeline would move about 75,000 acre-feet of water annually. Colorado Springs already is a leader in conservation - using less than 100 gallons of water a day per person over the past five years - and reuses 13 percent of its water for outdoor irrigation and power plants. Potable reuse is too expensive and would more than double the cost of the $1.1 billion project, Fredell said. Reclamation looked at six potable reuse alternatives and dismissed them as too expensive. Water rates in Colorado Springs are expected to more than double in the next eight years under the preferred alternative and would increase even more under all of the other alternatives, according to Reclamation's early analysis. Singletary said Colorado Springs, because it was not settled at the confluence of a river like most large Western cities, should expect to pay more for water. Citing Aurora's Prairie Waters Project, he said Colorado Springs should also look at physically reusing water rather than exchanging it. "Reuse is in the future, but is not first in the sequence," Fredell said. Energy costs and environmental waste from reuse processes drive the cost up, he said.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

"colorado water"
7:24:12 AM     


Lake Pueblo: Zebra mussels update
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Here's an update on the zebra mussel infestation in Lake Pueblo, from The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

Few colonies of zebra mussels have been found in underwater camera images taken at Lake Pueblo this week, but officials are still wary about what could happen when water temperatures rise. "They grow from just a few to hundreds of thousands per square meter, and they grow on top of each other," Rob Billerbeck, chief biologist for Colorado State Parks, told the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District Thursday. "They'll attach to structures, boats, water intakes and docks."[...]

The good news is mussels have been caught at their early stages in Colorado, but long enough after their arrival in North America 20 years ago that the state can benefit from the experience of others, said Jennifer Gimbel, the new director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board. "This is an issue that affects everybody," Gimbel said. "We have to look at this statewide." The CWCB likely will help fund a statewide response plan that is expected to be developed next week after the initial survey of Lake Pueblo is complete...

Cameras so far have turned up little evidence of widespread population of zebra mussels, which were found for the first time in Colorado in Lake Pueblo in November. "We didn't find any adult colonies, but we did find one area of concern," C. J. McKeral, deputy area manager for the Bureau of Reclamation. Next week, Reclamation divers will check out the spot in more detail. "We'll know more after next week." The state has not decided its course of action, said Mike French, southeastern region manager for Colorado State Parks. "What we're looking at now is all kinds of options for containment, but they all cost money," French said. "We have a window of opportunity before the water temperature goes up and breeding begins ... The fact of the matter is, they are there." A big part of the state's program will be educating boaters about the need to drain, clean and possibly decontaminate boats both entering and leaving Lake Pueblo. The state is concerned mussels will be transported between lakes if precautions aren't taken, French said...

Billerbeck said zebra mussels prefer still water, but have been known to travel to aqueducts and ditches. "I'm reluctant to draw quick conclusions," Billerbeck said. Pueblo Board of Water Works Executive Director Alan Hamel said area water providers are working with the state technical task force...

Colorado began a hunt for the mussels, mainly using plastic pipe suspended by rope, in 2004 before the first confirmed sighting at Lake Pueblo in November. Unlike other freshwater mussels, zebra mussels will attach a foot to underwater structures. They harm other aquatic life by filtering nutrients from the water. An adult female can produce millions of larvae each year, all of which could reach maturity in a single season.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

"colorado water"
7:16:33 AM     


SB 08-119: Authorize Domestic Exempt Cisterns
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From The Denver Post: "The Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources & Energy Committee approved a plan to allow homeowners to collect water that drains off of roofs up to 3,000 square feet so ranchers and farmers could use it to water livestock and metro residents could use it to water their lawns and gardens. The measure (Senate Bill 119) passed unanimously and goes to the Senate for debate."

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

"colorado water"
7:03:17 AM     


Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel update
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Can't we all just get along? The perpetual answer in Colorado, when dealing with water issues, is no, we can't. It seems as though that applies to potential mine tunnel blowouts also, according to CW2 News. From the article:

It was a heated meeting at the State Capitol Thursday on what to do about a growing threat to the people of Leadville. County commissioners confronted the heads of three government agencies about the contaminated water building up in an abandoned mine...

"I'm angry, and I'm damn angry," said Lake County Commissioner Mike Hickman. "I have three agencies sitting right over here and I am terming them as the Three Stooges." He was talking about the EPA, the Bureat of Reclamation and the Colorado Division of Emergency Management. Representatives from the three agencies met Thursday with Lake County commissioners to discuss how to pump trapped water out of a Leadville mountain...

"What we're facing here is bureaucratic meltdown of the inability of the same folks who haven't dealt with this for the last 20 years...and certainly not for the last five," said Lake County commissioner Ken Olsen. Lake County commissioner Mike Hickman said they knew what needed to be done 3 years ago, but no one wanted to pay for it. "And what do we have?" asked Hickman. "We have people pointing every which direction. 'I'm not gonna pay for it, I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna treat your water.' And I'm angry. I'm angry because the people of Leadville deserve more." The group decided they will start pumping water out of the mountain on Wednesday. The cost to do that is expected to be about $1.5 million. But that's just a short term solution. A more permanent solution to the problem could cost more than $6 million.

More coverage of the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel from The Denver Post. From the article:

Federal officials have set aside $1.5 million for a short-term fix to the potentially catastrophic buildup of contaminated water in a blocked mine-drainage tunnel above Leadville. Robbie Roberts, the Environmental Protection Agency's regional director, said agency higher-ups approved use of the money Thursday. The funds will be used to draw down more than 1 billion gallons of metals-contaminated water trapped in the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel...

Lake County commissioners met with U.S. Sen. Wayne Allardcq, state lawmakers, and federal and state officials at the state Capitol on Thursday to discuss what is being done to solve the water buildup...

Bureau of Reclamation regional director Mike Ryan, whose agency has faced the brunt of the criticism, bristled at Hickman's statements later in the meeting. "I take exception to the characterization of some of our efforts," he said. "But taking exception doesn't do a gol-darn [thing] says this is right thing to make anybody up there any safer. So I'm going to let that sit." Roberts said a permanent fix to the water buildup was proposed in 2005, but federal agencies had difficulty coordinating the solution's implementation. Now, he said, the agencies are looking at short-term fixes to quickly ease the danger. The first solution will get underway Wednesday, when crews begin pumping clean watercq out of the Gawk shaft in Leadville's mining district, which officials hope will ease the pressure on the drainage tunnel. It will take as long as 12 weeks for crews to drill new shafts and begin pumping contaminated water out of the drainage tunnel, Roberts said.

"colorado water"
6:59:55 AM     


HB 08-1161: Strengthen Mining Reclamation Standards
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Here's an editorial in support of HB 08-1161 from The Fort Collins Coloradoan. They write:

Legislation that could tighten state regulations for uranium mining operations - a hot topic in Northern Colorado - cleared an important hurdle Thursday. House Bill 1161, carried by a bipartisan delegation from Fort Collins that includes Reps. Randy Fischer and John Kefalas, both Democrats, and Sen. Bob Bacon, a Democrat, and Republican Sen. Steve Johnson, passed the House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee on an 11-2 vote. The next step is the House Appropriations Committee. If passed, the bill will go to the full House for a second vote. Many residents in the region have been concerned about Powertech Mining Corp.'s plan to mine uranium in Weld County via an in-situ mining process, in which pressurized water is injected into an aquifer to remove uranium. Current state law does little to compel public oversight or water quality protection...

The legislation does not prevent uranium mining, but it does add some sensible controls. For example, uranium mining companies would have to prove their methods would either return groundwater to pre-mining condition or to levels outlined by existing state regulations. A third-party contractor would be required to test the water to ensure adherence to the law. Powertech has previously indicated that its processes would return the affected water to its previous condition. The bill also lifts an existing confidentiality clause to require companies to disclose mine projects that are in an exploratory phase. This is an important change to allow the public more information about mining activity before full operation is achieved.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

"colorado water"
6:52:31 AM     


Ken Salazar: I'm very optimistic about our future
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Here's a recap of U.S. Senator Ken Salazar's recent visit to Northern Colorado from The Loveland Reporter-Herald. From the article:

A lack of water damages agriculture. A weak agricultural economy, in turn, can stunt the development of renewable energy sources such as ethanol. "Very few people understand that link," said Larimer County Commissioner Kathay Rennels, who attended a meeting with U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar on Thursday at the Fort Collins Northside Aztlan Community Center. The Democratic senator has outlined goals and plans for Colorado, which he broke into 10 regions. On Thursday, he discussed his ideas for the north-central region, which covers Larimer and Weld counties. Encouraging smart water use, supporting farmers and ranchers through the 2007 Farm Bill and promoting renewable energy research and development are all elements of his plan.

More coverage from The Fort Collins Coloradoan. They write:

Sen. Ken Salazar touted Northern Colorado's leading stance in renewable energy development and promised to continue fighting for land and water preservation during a Thursday meeting with elected officials and community members in Fort Collins...During his visit to Fort Collins, Salazar also talked about his efforts to get Rocky Mountain National Park wilderness protection, his support for the Cache la Poudre Heritage Area and his pledge to "monitor" proposed uranium mining in Weld County.

"colorado water"
6:44:14 AM     



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