Thursday, June 5, 2008

Prairie Waters Our first post is up at Examiner.com Denver. We're flattered that they've asked us to cover Colorado water issues. Please click through and look over the website. We think you'll find some cool new voices along with that of a tired Ol' Coyote. Please send story ideas and links to coyotegulch [AT] mac [DOT] com. "colorado water" 7:19:08 PM

Colorado Foundation for Water Education: South Platte Basin Tour Don't forget to sign up for the Colorado Foundation for Water Education's South Platte Basin Tour, June 19-20, 2008. It should be a hoot. From the registration page: Discover Colorado's best example of a "working river," the South Platte, with the Colorado Foundation for Water Education. This two day tour will highlight the lower portion of the river as it winds its way across the urban and rural patchwork of northeastern Colorado. On its journey, the river provides water for numerous communities, irrigation to Colorado's premiere agricultural areas, and is an important stop for migratory birds and other wildlife. "colorado water" 7:16:50 PM

Iraq Juan Cole: "A big explosion in north Baghdad killed at least 15 [late reports say 18] persons and wounded 75 on Wednesday. Iraqi police said it was a suicide bombing. The US military said it was an accidental explosion of munitions a Shiite militia was moving up for an attack on US forces. Robert Reid writes, 'The force of the blast crumbled several two-story buildings, buried cars under rubble, sheared off a corrugated steel roof and left a large crater on the residential street.'" "2008 pres" 7:03:11 PM

CWCB Water Availability Task Force meeting From email from the Colorado Water Conservation Board (Ben Wade): "The next Water Availability Task Force Meeting will be held on June 26th from 9:30a-11:30a in the Archer Room of the Three Stones Building at Denver Water. The agenda is attached but can also be found on the Water Availabiltiy Task Force web page. Please note that this is not a joint meeting with the Colorado Flood Task Force. However, CWCB's Kevin Houck will give us an update on any flood conditions." "colorado water" 7:01:54 PM

VoteFromAbroad.org Say hello to Andrew Tanenbaum's VoteFromAbroad.org. We had great fun following them in the 2004 election. Here's the link to our post the day Tanenbaum announced that he was behind the website ElectoralVote.com. Computer geeks know him from the Minix operating system and his several works on computer science. "2008 pres" 6:59:44 PM

? for President? Oliver Willis: "Team Obama is now joined with Team Democrat, and our party will no longer take donations from lobbyists and PACs. Change is coming, America." Time has the lowdown on Barack Obama's campaign and campaign organization. Read the whole thing. Here's an excerpt: The 2008 presidential campaign has produced its share of surprises, but one of the most important is that a newcomer from Chicago put together by far the best political operation of either party. Obama's campaign has been that rare, frictionless machine that runs with the energy of an insurgency and the efficiency of a corporation. His team has lacked what his rivals' have specialized in: there have been no staff shake-ups, no financial crises, no change in game plan and no visible strife. Even its campaign slogan - "Change we can believe in" - has remained the same. The Current: "Clintonism represented a distinctively Boomer strain of politics, but Clinton-hatred did as well. For Boomer conservatives, it was a reaction to the Clinton personae, his and hers -- to the way Bill and Hillary embodied, in so many respects, everything that forty something right-wingers despised about their own peer group -- joined to an anger at the First Couple's facility for winning political battles (if not the war) in an era that was supposed to belong to Reagan's heirs. For Boomer liberals, it was a mixture of self-loathing, sibling resentment, and the inevitable disappointment at the Clintons' failure to live up to the idols of their youth, the brothers Kennedy ... and then, more unforgivably, their failure to get out of the way when a New Kennedy came along." Meanwhile here's 11 observations on Clinton's crash & burn from The Moderate Voice. Political Wire: "Sen. Barack Obama holds a six point lead over Sen. John McCain, 48% to 42% with 6% undecided, according to a new CBS News poll." Digby: "First of all, congratulations to Senator Obama. This is a truly historic moment for the Democratic party and for America. When I was a kid (yes, back in the stone age) and when he was born, Barack Obama wouldn't have been allowed to stay in the same hotels or get a drink in a bar or buy a house next to a large number of white Americans. Last night, America took another huge and necessary step in putting that awful history behind us. It was long overdue, and was made possible through the tremendous sacrifices and courage of many people who didn't live to see this day. I am grateful that I did live to see it." "2008 pres" 6:54:23 PM

Marathon donates $1,000 for the tamarisk fight on the San Miguel River From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: "The San Miguel River will soon be rid of more water-sucking tamarisk trees, thanks to a donation of $100,000 by Marathon Oil and $60,000 from the Bureau of Land Management. The Nature Conservancy will do the work, which began in 2001, to remove tamarisk, including cutting the trees back and putting herbicides on the stumps. There will be mechanical removal in some areas...The money goes to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which is charged with helping the Nature Conservancy remove tamarisk from 40 miles of banks along the San Miguel." More Coyote Gulch coverage here. "colorado water" 6:53:10 PM

Prowers County: Drought From The Lamar Ledger: "The Prowers County Commissioners declared a state of emergency Thursday resulting from drought conditions over the past five years. The declaration cites economic hardships as a result of 'damages and ongoing losses' that have affected farmers, ranchers, and other business of the area...In recent years the commissioners have passed similar resolutions declaring states of emergency as a result of drought conditions. In conjunction with the resolution declaring a state of emergency, the commissioners re-instated a fire ban originally passed in 2006. The ban does not outlaw the setting of controlled burns, but does require the permits to be issued prior to the burn. Individuals burning trash barrels are exempt from the ban." "colorado water" 6:24:32 PM

Peter Smith: This is really a gleeful day for us The Phoenix Mars Lander may have landed in a spot with readily accessible ice, according to e-Water News Weekly. From the article: The Phoenix Mars Lander has photographed what scientists believe may be a smooth table of ice just under the craft's belly. Scientists believe the lander's powerful thrusters blew away the surface soil and exposed the ice when the craft landed on May 25. The finding could be good news for the mission because it may mean ice is close to the surface and easy for the lander's robotic arm to reach. The ice is important because it may have helped preserve the planet's geological history, including organic material or other signs of life. "This is really a gleeful day for us," said lead scientist Peter Smith of the University of Arizona. Smith had worried that ice could be as much as 30 to 40 centimeters beneath the surface and therefore more difficult to reach. But the recent photo leads scientists to believe ice could be as little as 5 to 10 centimeters below the surface. The Phoenix craft is designed to dig into the Martian polar region to analyze the history of water. A nearly 8-foot arm will deliver samples of soil and ice to scientific instruments onboard which will examine them for signs of organic materials, the building blocks of life. The lander isn't sophisticated enough to actually detect life, but if the craft finds signs of a habitable environment, future missions could return to answer the life question. Scientists nicknamed the smooth icy patch under the lander "Holy Cow," because it was the first phrase uttered when a scientist saw the photo for the first time. The patch under the lander can't be reached by the robotic arm, but Smith expects to start digging in other locations within days. Now if we can just move the ice back to Earth. "2008 pres" 6:19:03 PM

Runoff and snowpack news Here's some runoff news from The Glenwood Springs Post Independent. From the article: Despite the greatest snowpack in decades, Garfield and Pitkin Counties have floated through the runoff season so far without any significant flooding... The Colorado River just below Glenwood Springs peaked Tuesday around 20,000 cubic feet per second running about 9.8 feet deep. The river was well above the 9,860 cfs average. The level is above where the river is considered full but below where it's considered flooding, according to the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center... The Colorado Basin River Forecast Center predicts that Tuesday's peak will drop off several thousand cfs with cooler weather until Saturday. Then the river is tentatively predicted to rise again to about the same flows that occurred on Tuesday's peak again on Wednesday. It would then begin to taper off through June 14, the furthest date out included in the forecast... The Upper Colorado River Basin still had about 126 percent of the average water content in its snowpack Wednesday. Around Glenwood Springs, the concrete landing at Veltus Park was underwater Wednesday morning. The path through Glenwood Canyon is closed indefinitely from No Name east through most of the canyon due to high water. The River Meadows Mobile Home Park cut down trees and put in sandbags over concerns about flood danger... The Crystal River is also running at about twice its normal flows. The U.S. Geological Survey says it was flowing at 3,000 cfs just below Carbondale Tuesday. The average is 1,530 cfs. Carbondale Fire Department Chief Ron Leach said, "Up the Crystal River into the Redstone area it's been just fine. The river's handling it just fine and we haven't had any flood issues at all."[...] The Roaring Fork River near Emma flowed at about 3,600 cfs Tuesday compared to a 1,640 cfs average for the same date. Here's a look at the runoff on the Yampa River from The Steamboat Pilot & Today. From the article: The rain showers that fell on the rivers of Northwest Colorado on Tuesday afternoon weren't a factor in pushing the rivers over their banks. But the sullen skies were enough to keep a flood warning in place on the Elk and Yampa... The Elk River was above its 7-foot flood stage overnight Tuesday into Wednesday at the confluence with the Yampa. But the Elk peaked at a lower level than it had the night before. The cool weather that accompanied the rain showers worked to slow the pace of snowmelt in the mountains that feed the Elk and Yampa rivers, leaving Vale uncertain whether the rivers have peaked for this season. The U.S. Geological Service had issued a preliminary forecast that the rivers would peak June 1 and 2, he said, but casual observation suggests "maybe not." Here's a look at the remaining snowpack in Summit County from The Summit Daily News. From the article: The late-season snows and cool temperatures helped maintain a surplus snowpack in the local mountains. According to the statewide snowpack was at 111 percent of average as of June. The Colorado River Basin was at 146 percent of normal on the same date. The highest local reading is from the Snowtel site at Copper, with snowpack sitting at 223 percent above average, according to Blue River Basin water commissioner Scott Hummer. The deep snow at the site holds 6.7 inches of water, compared to average three inches for early June. The Hoosier Pass snowpack is at 195 percent of normal, with 7.8 inches of water (average, 4.0 inches). The four Snowtel sites above Dillon Reservoir average a snowpack of 140 percent above average... The Blue River below its confluence with the Swan was running at 545 cubic feet per second early in the week, compared to historic mean flow of 306 cfs. Tenmile Creek reached a daily peak flow of about 1,000 cfs on June 4, just after midnight, according to Hummer. The timing of daily peak flows on local streams depends on daily weather cycles. Tenmile peaks in the middle of the night because it takes several hours for the snow to melt, collect and run down of the mountains. Essentially, the snow that melts during the warm afternoon surges through town about six hours later. "colorado water" 6:23:48 AM

Reclamation to realease Ruedi water for Coordinated Reservoir Operations program From email from Reclamation (Kara Lamb): "Even though we are looking at good snowpack, the cooler weather has not produced as large flows into the Colorado River basin as originally anticipated. As a result, the critical habitat for the endangered fish in the Colorado River upstream of Grand Junction will not have the targeted cfs flow necessary for the fish. "That means the Coordinated Reservoir Operations program for the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program is ON. Ruedi will be bumping up from the 360 cfs it was earlier today (Wednesday, June 4) to over 800 cfs by the weekend. We will bump up in 50 cfs increments. The first increase was this evening at 6 pm. The next will be tomorrow morning at 6 am, then 6 pm and continuing on that same pattern until we reach 850 cfs on Sunday morning (June 8) at 6:00 am. "The decision to run CROS came about this morning during a weekly conference call between reservoir operators and the State Engineer's Office (Colorado Division of Water Resources). Operators were responding to a quick decline in river volume due to the cooling temperatures. Normally, we have a little more lead time before CROS operations begin, but the weather is being a bit different this spring. Fortunately, we had planned a 'just in case' model for Ruedi CROS releases (and actually presented it at our annual meeting last month); so we are prepared for this increase and have the proper communications in place with local responders and other government agencies." More coverage from The Aspen Times. From the article: The higher releases come just after rivers and streams in the area reached a high point of the spring runoff season thus far on Wednesday morning. Water levels from runoff were expected to decrease in the next few days because of cooler temperatures. Aspen didn't make it out of the 50s for a high Wednesday and conditions were cloudy. Snow was forecast for elevations above 9,500 feet Wednesday night. Nevertheless, greater releases could fray the nerves of people living along the rivers after water reaches the banks Wednesday. Lora said the reclamation bureau will monitor weather forecasts and streamflow projections to avoid flooding. "I don't think there will be any problems for anyone," he said. "If we start causing problems, we will cut back the releases." Reclamation bureau officials have said in the past that flooding on the Fryingpan River isn't an issue in Basalt until the level reaches close to 900 cfs. Water releases from Colorado reservoirs will be coordinated to create high water on the Colorado River near Grand Junction for the fish recovery program. The goal is to create high flows on the Colorado River without causing flooding, Lora said. The high flows improve the habitat for the pikeminnow, humpback chub, razorback sucker and bonytail; Colorado natives that haven't fared well since humans built dams. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is supervising the fish recovery program. It has a contract with the Bureau of Reclamation for water from Ruedi to help with the recovery. In past years, water releases were coordinated from the Dillon, Green Mountain, Williams Fork and Wolford Mountain reservoirs as well as Ruedi, as part of the program. It couldn't be determined Wednesday if all the reservoirs are participating this year. Lora said the change in the water levels of the Fryingpan and Roaring Fork rivers will be hard to perceive on a daily basis, but more visible over the course of four days. By Sunday's peak release, the Fryingpan River will be up about 8 inches higher than it was right below the dam, he said. "colorado water" 6:07:06 AM

Northern Integrated Supply Project Here's a update on the Northern Integrated Supply Project from The Windsor Beacon. From the article: NISP is a collaborative effort between 15 municipalities and water districts which began in 2000. It has roots reaching back to the mid-1980s, but was formalized eight years ago. Windsor has been a player in NISP since the beginning, and the town board listened to a presentation on the project's progress Monday night at the work session... The first reservoir, Glade, would be located northwest of Fort Collins and north of Horsetooth Reservoir. At five miles long, 260 feet deep and capable of storing 170,000 acre-feet of water, Glade would be the largest reservoir in Northern Colorado. By comparison, Horsetooth is seven miles long but holds 156,000 acre-feet. "Glade would divert water from the Poudre River using the existing Poudre Valley Canal," said Carl Brouwer, a project manager for NISP. "There would be no new dam built on the Poudre itself; we've moved that dam off the main stem of the river." The second reservoir, Galeton, would be located east of Ault and northeast of Greeley and hold 40,000 acre-feet of water. Water for Galeton would be diverted from the South Platte downstream of Greeley, and delivered from two irrigation companies in exchange for the Poudre River water currently used in a swap. The project will cost an estimated $400 million, and that cost will be born by participants in the project, in proportion to the amount of water they're requesting from NISP. Windsor's share of water is 3,300 acre-feet, which comes to about $33 or $34 million. There are, Brouwer said, multiple ways to fund the project, including special bond financing, loans or up-front payment. Windsor's goal would be to make the new growth pay for the increased water cost, according to Director of Engineering Dennis Wagner. "We're hoping to transition from a cash-in-lieu type system to a direct water dedication," Wagner said... There are three formal hearings coming up. The first is June 16 at the Fort Collins Hilton Hotel, the second is June 17 at the Fort Collins Senior Center and the third is June 19 at the University of Northern Colorado's Student Center in Greeley. All three start at 6 p.m. Once the comment period ends, the Corps will study the comments and then make its final EIS study recommendation, hopefully by the end of the year, according to Werner. If the project is approved by the Corps as presented, construction on Glade could be completed by 2015 and on Galeton by 2021... Currently, water for Windsor is provided through the Colorado Big Thompson project, which was built in the 1940s to provide water for the region. Only about 10 percent of shares in the CBT remain. "We're projecting those shares will be gone in about eight years, and there will be no more water available in CBT except at a tremendous cost," Brouwer said. "That's about the time we're hoping Glade will be ready." According to the Corps' draft EIS, NISP will not increase Poudre dry periods, nor will it damage the aesthetics of the river's flow... During the EIS study, three alternatives to the proposal were identified: taking no action, building a reservoir near the Anheuser-Bush plant called Cactus Hill and continuing with the Galeton Reservoir or building either Glade or Cactus Hill and Galeton using agricultural transfers that would remove irrigation from an estimated 17,137 acres of agricultural lands... There is also concern among NISP participants that if NISP is not built, the cost of water will at least double. An acre-foot of NISP water will cost participants about $10,000. By way of comparison, the water cost for the CBT participants is about $15,000. "Without NISP, more than three-quarters of the participants will experience water shortages by 2010," Brouwer said. NISP is not designed to replace CBT; rather, water owners in NISP would be able to augment the water rights they already have in the CBT project... Although Brouwer cautioned against making guarantees, he said he was optimistic the Corps would agree with the original proposal for NISP. Windsor Mayor John Vazquez said he had signed a letter of support for the project and submitted it to the Army Corps for their consideration. The other participants in NISP are the Fort Collins-Loveland Water District, Left Hand Water District, Erie, Lafayette, Morgan County Quality Water District, Severance, Central Weld County Water District, Evans, Frederick, Firestone, Dacono, Fort Lupton, Fort Morgan and Eaton. The Weld County Commissioners are on board for NISP, according to The Greeley Tribune. From the article: The Weld County commissioners have unanimously lent their support of the Northern Integrated Supply Project, which would supply an additional 40,000 acre-feet of water to northern Colorado. Commissioners signed the a resolution of support on Wednesday... Commissioner Rob Masden called the project, commonly known as NISP, a "real win-win for Weld County" and said it will prevent the dry-up of a minimum of 45,000-60,000 acres of agricultural land in Weld and Larimer counties... Officials from the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, which is administering the project on behalf of 13 northern Colorado municipalities and water districts and two irrigation companies, said the entire project relies on the cooperation between those entities and agriculture. The commissioners, in their resolution urging the Army Corps of Engineers to issue a positive record of decision on the project, said the proposed Glade Reservoir would divert about 10 percent of the Poudre River flow of about 300,000 acre-feet, which are all under the requirement of maintaining in-stream flows through Laporte and Fort Collins. Commissioners further stated they are convinced the NISP participants have, "through their study of all reasonable alternatives, put forth the best alternative for water supply for their citizens." In addition, the project, the commissioners said, will not "adversely affect the recreational needs of Weld County citizens in their use of the Cache la Poudre Trail," as it passes through Weld, Windsor and Greeley. "And that doesn't include return flow the area will get from this project," Masden said. Conservatively, he said, it has been estimated there may be an additional 16,000 acre-feet of water available to agriculture once municipalities get first use on the water coming from Glade Reservoir. "That will go a long way toward preserving agriculture," he said... Public hearings on the Northern Integrated Supply Project hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are scheduled for 6 p.m. June 16 at the Fort Collins Hilton, 425 W. Prospect Road, at 6 p.m. June 17 at the Fort Collins Senior Center, 1200 Raintree Drive in Fort Collins, and at 7 p.m. June 19 at the University of Northern Colorado University Center, 2045 10th Ave., Greeley. More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here. "colorado water" 5:58:27 AM

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