Coyote Gulch

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Dry Gulch Reservoir update
Here's Part IV of The Pagosa Daily Post's series Lots of Water Lots of Debt. Here are a couple of excerpts:

As we left the July 14 San Juan Water Conservancy District meeting in last Friday's article, board Secretary Jack DeLange was lecturing the audience about the dire necessity of purchasing the Dry Gulch property before land prices went through the ceiling -- and of planning ahead for a new reservoir that may take 20 years to build. Sitting in the small audience was Parelli President Mark Weiler, recently appointed to the Pagosa Springs Town Council and one of the community's government leaders speaking out for a re-assessment of the current plan by SJWCD and Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District to build a new 35,000 acre-foot reservoir in Dry Gulch...

The water districts seem intent upon stashing close to $140 million into a savings account over the next 20 years via the new Water Resource Fee, regardless of how such a fee may be affecting the local building industry. The fee is being assessed, not on all future reservoir users, but entirely on the first 20 percent of new users who move to Archuleta County over the next 20 years. Although PAWSD recently re-worked its fee schedule to be more fair to commercial projects, the fees levied on smaller residential homes appear to have actually increased. And with the building industry in a massive slump, the water districts are so far collecting less than 2 percent of what they originally expected for this year. With growth failing to happen and millions already paid for Dry Gulch land, PAWSD may soon be facing a cash flow crunch unless it greatly increases its monthly water fees charged to existing customers. The proposal Weiler handed out to the SJWCD -- and to the PAWSD board the following evening -- did not criticize the Dry Gulch project itself, but rather the funding approach the water districts have taken. Weiler referred to his proposal as the "HBO Method -- you're going to pay for it by the month."

Here are the links for Part II and Part III.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
7:00:32 AM

La Plata/Archuleta Water District?

Here's an update on the proposed La Plata-Archuletta Water District, from The Durango Herald. From the article:

Voting is set for Aug. 12 - the primary election - when residents in the proposed district face two questions. First, do they favor the creation of the La Plata Archuleta Water District? If they answer yes, they are asked to elect a five-member board of directors. Boundaries of the La Plata Archuleta Water District encompass about 400 square miles primarily in southeast La Plata County. But exclusions reduce the area actually to be served to less than 200 square miles, Lunceford said. Land excluded from the district includes incorporated Bayfield and Ignacio; federal, state and Southern Ute Indian Tribe holdings; and the property of gas companies and individuals who opted out of the district. Gas giant BP was the only gas company not to remove itself from the district. The southwest corner of Archuleta County would be included in the district later.

Lunceford said he expects the district to have 5,500 customers in 20 years. His calculation is based on natural growth and the conversion of 80 percent of well users to the new system. La Plata County commissioners approved the district service plan in October. Financing for initial infrastructure - a river diversion facility, a treatment plant, a storage reservoir and distribution lines - is expected to be financed with $18 million in general obligation bonds. The final cost is estimated at $85 million. The certified assessed valuation of property in the district in 2005 was $984 million. The order authorizing the election that was signed June 6 by 6th Judicial District Judge David Dickinson gave people interested in running for a board seat six days to apply. The short turnaround was necessary because the ballot had to be certified at least 60 days before the election, said Micki Wadhams, a paralegal with the Denver law firm of Collins Cockrel & Cole, which is managing the election. Although it wasn't required, a legal notice announcing the nomination period was published May 29 in The Durango Herald, she said.

Lunceford said there are three potential sources of water for the district, but it hasn't been decided which one will be used. The possible sources:

- The Colorado Water Court gave the district the right to a total of 22 cubic feet per second of water from the Animas, Pine, Piedra and Florida rivers. One cfs produces almost 2 acre-feet of water in 24 hours. An acre-foot of water satisfies the household needs of two families for a year.

- Members of the Pine River Irrigation District who call themselves the Voluntary Shareholders Pool want to lease their water to the new district. Any water they lease would be subtracted from the amount they can use for their own irrigation but wouldn't affect the water allocation of any other irrigator in the district.

A group that calls itself Opponents of the Gopher Hole Project has the matter tied up in water court. The next status hearing is scheduled for Sept. 12. Project opponents use the gopher-hole analogy to identify what they say is a valuable resource going down a drain.

- The Animas-La Plata Project, which will store 120,000 acre-feet of water in Ridges Basin southwest of Durango for two Ute Indian tribes and others.

The La Plata Archuleta Water District would have to strike a deal with an A-LP partner to acquire water.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
6:50:22 AM

Whitewater park for Palisade?

Here's an update on Palisade's proposed whitewater park, from The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. From the article:

Officials hoping to build a whitewater park in Palisade will arrange boulders in the river in the same shapes used upstream at the Price-Stubb Dam if they win approval for the project. Federal officials suggested that the city place the rocks in a chevron shape at various locations along the stretch of Colorado River near Riverbend Park, Town Administrator Tim Sarmo said...

Arranging boulders into chevron formations in the whitewater park downstream poses little difficulty, Sarmo said. The proposed park contains three drop structures, which create eddies and riffles in which kayakers can perform maneuvers and tricks. "I'm very optimistic we have met the standard," Sarmo said. "In fact, we've gone above and beyond." Officials with the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, however, have yet to approve Palisade's project, Sarmo said. If Palisade is to build its whitewater park, it will need to be in the river on Oct. 1, the earliest date any such work could be done, Sarmo said. The town's contractor is "ready to mobilize" to get the project under way, he said. The sides likely will have to renegotiate once the project is approved to take into account higher fuel costs and other changes, Sarmo said. Boulders were stockpiled near the whitewater park in 2007 in hopes that the project could have been completed last winter.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
6:38:37 AM

Moraine Park water system to be taken over by Granby?

Here's a recap of a meeting between Moraine Park residents and Granby to discuss their options regarding the leaky Moraine Park water system, from The Sky-Hi Daily News. From the article:

As many as a dozen of...Moraine Park neighbors attended a meeting hosted by the Colorado Department of Health and Environment in Granby Monday night. Also present were county, town of Granby, and Colorado Department of Local Affairs officials.

"Mr. [Paul] Geisendorfer is not in the position to operate his system in a way that we think is best to deliver safe water," said Tom Roan with Water Quality Control Division of the state health department. "We hope that we can get a new system owner that can operate this system." Moraine Park water users have had a bottled water order in place most of the summer due to the state's belief that the neighborhood's water is not safe to drink. According to the system's current licensed operator Todd Conger -- who Roan commented was not in place when the state issued Geisendorfer an injunction against the system and personal property -- the system is antiquated and patched together with inappropriate materials that are failing because of corrosion caused by the necessary use of chlorine...

The state health department first penalized Geisendorfer in 1999 for failure to monitor contaminants in the system, fed from five lakes through three wells. To date, after a series of penalties, Geisendorfer's fines amount to $375,000, minus interest accrued. "Geisendorfer has done a minimal amount of work to comply with the order," Roan said. "We have what I would characterize as marginal amount of compliance. That's what we had until the total system failure." Geisendorfer's recent offer to the state is to convey water rights to a successor to run the system in exchange for forgiveness of the penalties, according to Roan. The state is saying that such negotiations are "not out of the question."

Granby officials at the meeting, including Mayor Jynnifer Pierro, new Town Manager Wally Baird, Attorney Scott Krob and trustees Ed Raffety, Deborah Shaw and Elaine Henrekin, voiced that they were willing to work with Moraine Park homeowners if homeowners decide they want to patch into the town's water system. Asked if well-users in the community would be forced to tap into the town's system, Krob relayed that although system use is town code, in annexation agreements, concessions are made to benefit both parties. Department of Local Affairs Regional Manager Greg Winkler stated that the benefit of Moraine Park homeowners becoming part of the town would be that doors open to grants and state and federal loans, whereas a decision to form a special district would negate help available only to government entities. Geisendorfer has offered to convey 50 acre-feet per year of his water rights, which he says is "three times what (Moraine Park) is using now." Engineers say they don't know how much water the neighborhood consumes annually. But the county and town maintain that the source of the water system must also be conveyed to guarantee wells can be recharged. "It's all or nothing," Krob said. Mayor Pierro and Grand County Water Engineer David Taussig concurred.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
6:27:32 AM

Energy policy: Oil Shale

From The Denver Post: "The Bush administration wants to set the stage before leaving office for developing oil shale, rocky deposits in the western U.S. that could eventually yield 800 billion barrels of oil, according to government estimates. The Interior Department is set to propose regulations today for a program to sell oil-shale leases on federal lands, similar to leases sold now for oil and natural gas both onshore and off...The Bush administration decision comes as lawmakers in Colorado's congressional delegation wrestle over how rapidly oil-shale development should proceed."

More coverage from The Glenwood Springs Post Independent. They write:

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, Assistant Secretary C. Stephen Allred and Deputy Assistant Secretary Foster Wade are all expected to join in today's announcement. The finalization of regulations for a commercial oil shale program has become the focus of intense political controversy, especially between Colorado's congressional Democrats and Republicans, as gas prices have stormed past $4 a gallon. The possible development of oil shale is also expected to be a key issue on the Western Slope as the November election draws closer. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, and Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, all support a moratorium that prohibits the BLM from using federal funds to finalize commercial oil shale regulations in the government's 2008 fiscal year. That moratorium ends when the government's fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, and all three Democrats are looking to keep the moratorium in place. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., and Bob Schaffer, a Republican candidate running against Udall to replace Allard in the U.S. Senate, both oppose the moratorium.

While the moratorium prohibited the agency from finalizing oil shale regulations, the agency has still been drafting proposed rules for the possible commercial scale development of oil shale on federal lands.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"cc"
6:15:04 AM

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