Coyote Gulch

Monday, August 4, 2008

La Plata/Archuleta Water District?

Here's a local update on the proposed La Plata Archuleta Water District, from The Pine River Times. From the article:

Arguments for and against a rural domestic water system were presented to Pine River Rotary Club members on July 23. Dick Lunceford has led the citizens task force to bring district formation to a vote on Aug. 12. He is a candidate to be on the district board of directors. He said he got involved with trying to create a rural water system after he drilled five water wells at his land on County Road 308. He said he finally got a good well, but it has gone from 10 gallons per minute down to 3 gpm, and it's full of selenium. "I have to treat it with reverse osmosis," he said.
"colorado water"
6:30:51 PM

Wastewater news

From The Pagosa Daily Post: "The Town Council will consider approval of a proposed 67percent increase in monthly wastewater bills at this Tuesday's monthly meeting, which convenes at 5pm at Town Hall. More accurately, the Council will ratify the increase, which is required by the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority (CWRPDA). The CWRPDA has made the increase a requirement for the $2 million loan it has offered the Town for the construction of a new wastewater facility on the site of the Town's aging treatment lagoons. The terms offered are attractive: 20 years at a rate of 1.857 percent. The price tag for the new waste treatment facility became less attractive this month. In June, Sanitation Department head Phil Starks warned the Council 'If the wastewater treatment plant does come in much higher, then the debt service will be much higher -- then the rates will be much higher.' The treatment plant came in $1 million higher two weeks ago. Preliminary estimates from project engineers were hiked from $4.3 million to $5.3 million two weeks ago. And this $5.3 million estimate is very tentative. The new wastewater plant in Bayfield, similar in design to the Pagosa plant but only two-thirds the size, began construction last week and is now expected to cost $7.1 million."

Click through and read the whole article.
"colorado water"
6:17:14 PM

Old Dillon Reservoir update

Here's an update on the expansion of Old Dillon Reservoir, from The Summit Daily News. From the article:

The water level at the Old Dillon Reservoir surprised observers by dropping nearly a foot within the first 24 hours after installation of a drainage siphon. Following its annual inspection last month, state engineers deemed one of the earthen dams containing the 10-acre reservoir unsafe and ordered the Town of Dillon to drain all the water stored there. When presented with the challenge of draining about 46 acre-feet of water as quickly and as efficiently as possible, Dillon town engineer Dan Burroughs suggested using a siphon mechanism to pull the water off passively.

With the assistance of Dillon-based RKR, Inc., town staff designed and constructed a siphon six inches in diameter and roughly 100 feet long. They placed one end about six feet under the surface of the reservoir and the other end extending down the existing outflow ditch. Once primed, both the siphon's valves were opened and water began flowing briskly downhill. "We didn't really anticipate how fast it would come out," Holgerson said. The water coursing through the siphon pipe runs about a quarter mile before it reaches the culvert under Interstate 70, eventually passing back into Salt Lick Creek on the Wildernest side of the highway.

Water originating from the Salt Lick Creek typically flowed through the Dillon Ditch -- and under the interstate -- at a rate of about 1 cubic feet per second, with the outflow ditch running at the same rate. Last week the town closed off the head gate to stop all inflow of water and installed the new siphon Wednesday. Within the first day, Burroughs estimated the outflow to be roughly 2.2 cfs. If the flow continues at its current pace, Holgerson expects the siphon to run another week or so at the most. Once the siphon slows down, the remaining water will most likely require mechanical pumping. At that point the town will evaluate the drainage and determine its next step. Dillon built the reservoir -- located on the ridge between the Dam Road and Interstate 70 -- in 1939 for use as its municipal water supply. Since the town relocated to its current site in the early 1960s, it's been managed primarily as a recreation area.

here.
"colorado water"
6:09:17 PM

Zebra mussel update

Here's a look at efforts to control zebra mussels up in northern Colorado, from The Loveland Reporter Herald. From the article:

[Gary Buffington director of Larimer County's Natural Resources Department] and other lake managers are doing everything they can -- including mandatory inspections at Boyd Lake in Loveland -- to halt the spread of the small shelled species that have devastated marine life in many lakes and clogged pipes and pumps on water projects and boats...

"They're a matter of great concern to us," said Jill Boyd, spokeswoman for the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, the public agency that oversees the pipes and pumps that bring water over the mountains to northeastern Colorado via the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. "It's really unclear if the mussels will survive and multiply in our reservoirs the way they did in the Great Lakes." Kara Lamb, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Reclamation, added, "We just don't know how they are going to behave in the West. We're just, unfortunately, starting to learn."

But park rangers aren't taking any chances, and the Division of Wildlife has instituted mandatory boat inspections at some lakes. Larimer County rangers are using education as their weapon -- informing and warning boaters of the dangers and the need to clean and dry their boats after each outing. Boyd Lake, ranked by state officials as at "very high" risk of invasion, has taken prevention a step further. Specially hired inspectors examine every boat, between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., before it launches on the water. Most boaters are pleasant and most boats clean, but not all, said Carol Bruce, one of Boyd's inspectors. The first boat that inspectors turned away was a Division of Wildlife vessel with standing water, wet sand and weeds from another reservoir.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
5:51:41 PM

Eastern Colorado drought

Here's an update on Denver's current drought, from The Rocky Mountain News. From the article:

The gauge at DIA recorded 3.28 inches of precipitation through July 31, more than 2 inches below the 5.34 inches recorded for the same period in 2002 [A record drought year]. On Sunday, the city recorded its 22nd straight day of highs above 90. At around noon, the mercury hit 96 degrees at Denver International Airport, the official reporting station for the city. On Sunday, Grand Junction recorded 50 straight days of 90 degrees or above.
"colorado water"
5:42:47 PM

Aurora wins 'outstanding collection system' award

From The Aurora Sentinel: 'The Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association named the wastewater division of Aurora Water, which encompasses the city's sewer system, the 'outstanding collection system' for 2007. The RMWEA, which partners with the Rocky Mountain American Water Works Association, recognizes water systems in Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico. The award, which recognizes customer service, maintenance procedures and preventing sanitary sewer overflows, marks the first formal recognition for Aurora's collection system."
"colorado water"
6:56:45 AM

Tamarisk control update

Here's a look at Weld County's efforts to control tamarisk, from the The Greeley Tribune. From the article:

Weld County unleashed a tiny army of Diorhabda elongata, also called the tamarisk leaf beetle, a couple weeks ago near Fort Lupton as a part of a weed-pulling event. The number released, between 25-50, means it was more ceremonial than anything. But the beetles are being used in bunches in places such as Grand Junction. They've shown so much promise, this year the state department of agriculture expanded the program to selected sites through the state, and in 2009, officials expect the beetle to be distributed throughout Colorado.

The beetles show just how hard it is to get a wee warrior approved and released, but they also show how effective they can be in controlling noxious weeds as well. It took 10 years of testing to discover the Diorhabda elongata's passion for tamarisks and learn that the tamarisk is all the beetle eats. That second point, of course, is important, said Dan Bean, director of the Pallisade Insectary for the Colorado Department of Agriculture. "The first challenge is ensuring that what you're releasing is safe," Bean said. "That's the very first thought. You could introduce a grasshopper that would eat tamarisks, but it would also eat everything else." Many times, as with this beetle, they have to bring the bug here from overseas because that's how many noxious weeds were established in Colorado. They were introduced from other places, usually overseas, and got out of control. Other times, that means places like Pallisade have to raise the warriors themselves. They have to keep them fed and clean and happy, as if they were raising toddlers (Bean actually prefers to compare it to a dairy farm). They even are one of the few agencies that devotes greenhouse space to raising weeds to feed the bugs during the long, cold winters when the plants all die off. "They don't take vacations or weekends off," said Bean, sounding like a harried parent describing his children. "The insect growing business is a lot harder than you might imagine." His agency seems to triple in the summer from seasonal employees hired to go out to fields and collect established populations of bugs so they can be released in other places. That's a lot easier than raising them by hand.

But getting those populations established is challenging. Aphthona flea beetles sometimes work to control leafy spurge, but they didn't seem to work too well in Colorado, Booton said. She was pretty high on Bindweed mites and moths until this hard winter seemed to weaken them. And her dream, finding a critter that could attack Russian olives, is years away, Bean said. Scientists know of about 20 that feed exclusively on the Russian olive, but it's a political issue as well because they aren't nearly as big of a problem in other areas as they are in Weld County (those trees, in fact, are much worse here than the hated tamarisks).

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
6:48:47 AM

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