Coyote Gulch

 



















































































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  Friday, June 27, 2008


Larimer County waterfalls
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Here's a listing of waterfalls in Larimer County from The Loveland Reporter-Herald. Enjoy.

- Fern Falls, near Fern Lake on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park. A 2.6-mile hike on a continued incline results (after a short, steep climb up a hill) in a "grand view of the surrounding mountains."

- Alberta Falls, a 25-foot- high cascade near Glacier Creek on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park. The trail, less than a mile long, climbs slightly.

- Chasm Falls, along Fall River Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. The most highly visited falls in the park are a 0.1 mile hike from Fall River Road, which is closed until about July 1.

- Bridal Veil Falls. A 3-mile hike starts along the Cow Creek Trail in Rocky Mountain National Park.

- Rawah Wilderness, in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, boasts several waterfalls and beautiful lakes. The 13.1-mile Rawah Trail is rated "most difficult" with an elevation increase from 8,377 feet to 11,260 feet.

- Poudre Falls, on the north side of Colorado 14, 47 miles up the Poudre Canyon.

- Big South Trail, just west of Poudre Falls, has a few cascades. The 10.4-mile trail is rated "more difficult," the medium rating.

"colorado water"
6:38:25 AM     


EPA: Last ditch effort to find the main source of contamination of Chalk Creek
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Here's an article about the EPA's efforts to determine the source of pollution in Chalk Creek, from The Mountain Mail. From the article:

Yellow tailings streak the mountain near Iron Chest mine where a "last ditch effort" by Colorado and Environmental Protection Agency officials strives to identify hidden waterways through the mine and into Chalk Creek. About 20 members of different organizations throughout the state and the nation are involved in the project which started Wednesday morning. They want to discover which water conduits are being contaminated with zinc, contributing to contamination of Chalk Creek. The process involves pouring colored dyes into the top of collapsed mine stopes, chasing them with water, and tracing the dye path to the creek below...

"It's kind of guess work up here," [Gareth] Davies said. "We've got maps of the area, but the last time we attempted a dye trace up here it didn't come out of the mountain." The dye eventually showed up in Chalk Creek, but didn't make an appearance in any of the mine areas. Bruce Stover, a senior project manager for Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety, offered a bet it won't come out through the mine this time either. "I hope I'm wrong," Stover said, "but this is kind of our field lab. Techniques we've developed here have been successful at other mine sites around Colorado." The team placed several automated monitors inside the mine at varying levels in the mountain. They test water running through the mine for any indication of dyes injected at the top of the mountain. The Environmental Protection Agency has been working on the site since the 1980s and several members of the project team have been working at the site since 1996. "We're calling this an extended site inspection," Jean Mackenzie, EPA remedial project manager, said. "So basically, this is a last ditch effort to find the main source of contamination of Chalk Creek and if we don't find it this time, we probably never will."

"colorado water"
6:31:21 AM   
  


Wiggins project
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Here's an update on Wiggins' search for new water supplies from The Fort Morgan Times. From the article:

The minimum amount it would cost Wiggins to get Quality Water would be $8.2 million. The minimum for C-BT water would be $7.7 million, [Wiggins Town Administrator Bill Rogers] said, basing his numbers on what Quality Water and Fort Morgan told the Wiggins Town Council. Wiggins might not be able to even borrow $6 million, Rogers said. The only option that might be in the range the town can borrow is what he is calling the "Wiggins Project," which is a plan to buy 10 shares of Weldon Valley Ditch Co. water for augmentation and to pump that amount of water out of a well about eight miles from Wiggins, north of the Empire Reservoir and near the South Platte River, he said. The Wiggins Project cost is estimated at a little over $4 million. "I think the decision has already been made," Rogers said.

That did not mean the council has made a decision, but that the Wiggins Project is the only option the town can afford. The Wiggins council still has more than a month to decide on the 10 shares of water. A water attorney and water engineer Brent Nation are looking at whether or not the Wiggins Project would actually fill the needs of the town...

The Wiggins Project is not simple and it could mean searching for even more water than the 10 shares of Weldon Valley water, Rogers said. Buying 10 shares of water will not necessarily meet the need for Wiggins, because the town cannot expect to receive the entire amount of water. It can only access the amount of water the farm has historically used for crops, he said. That could be only 120 acre-feet, or about half of what the town needs, Rogers said. Former Wiggins Mayor Ron Uhrick said that number was based on 60 percent of the total water, but earlier quotes said only 40 percent...

Given the amount of water, the town would require some kind of mix of using current water and the Weldon Valley water or buy more. The price of buying more water is included in the estimate for the Wiggins Project, he said. Grants are not given for buying water, so the town cannot receive any help for that part of the cost, Rogers said. Some grants do help with building infrastructure, he said. One thing that is good about the Weldon Valley water, Rogers said, is that it has high senior water rights, which means it is unlikely to be cut off if there is a call on the river. "There would be other towns without water before we would," he said. A limit on the amount of water that can be pumped was mentioned, but Nation said the only limit on how much water can be pumped is the augmentation plan. The difficulties having augmentation plans approved, which were encountered by the Orphan Wells of Wiggins and the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, were also mentioned. It has taken years for approval. "How long is it going to be to get Wiggins approved?" Uhrick asked. The situations with the agricultural use and municipal use are not the same, Nation said. The ag districts sometimes delay the court date in order to pay all the fees involved, but Wiggins would be able to get on the court calendar quickly, he said. "Court dates are opening up all the time," Nation said. Time becomes available when there are delays or changes in other cases. Nation did say that it might cost more than the $100,000 estimated for the project's legal costs, depending on any objectors who might be fighting the change from ag water to municipal water...

Part of the cost is building an eight-mile, 12-inch to 14-inch pipeline, estimated at $1.69 million, although that is a high projection, Rogers said. That may not seem high for long, though, because the cost of pipeline becomes more expensive every week, he said. There was some question about how much it would cost to buy right of way for the pipeline between the well and the town. Public right of way can be had for free along Highway 144 and Highway 34 from the Colorado Department of Transportation, and the town can probably buy what it needs from private owners for $10,000, Rogers said. Uhrick said he's talked to officials of the Bijou-Kiowa Water District, who've told him that any water the town buys from any source will have to be treated, so it might be better to start with treating the water the town owns already. They also said the town should stay away from augmentation in the current atmosphere of water law. "We're better off to stay within the district," he said.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

"colorado water"
6:21:41 AM     


Nederland: Conserve water this weekeng
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From TheDenverChannel.com: "Despite fixes after a major water leak, Nederland town leaders have requested residents and business owners to limit their water use through the weekend. The town, located in the mountains west of Boulder, lost up to 80,000 gallons of water per day, said James Stevens, Town Administrator. Stevens said crews spent several days trying to identify the leak. By Thursday evening, town officials announced the leak had been repaired and the water plant was back on line as of 7:15 p.m."

"colorado water"
6:05:16 AM     



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