| |
|
Monday, August 25, 2008
|
|
Republican River update
Here's an update on the ongoing talks between Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas over the Republican River Compact, from The Yuma Pioneer. From the article:
Kansas will likely seek non-binding arbitration as the first step in solving compact compliance differences with Nebraska and Colorado. State water heads from all three states met in Lincoln last week for the annual Republican River Compact Administration meeting. Jasper Fanning, manager of the Upper Republican Natural Resources District, said the meeting proved uneventful in terms of solving any of the differences between the states...
A week prior to the compact meeting, Nebraska sent a research report to the two other states outlining flaws it believes exist in the accounting methods of the compact. Brian Dunningan, acting director of Nebraska's DNR, said these accounting differences could be significant when determining a state's use of water. Dunningan said Nebraska is not challenging the groundwater model itself. The model was adopted in the Republican River Compact Settlement as the primary tool for measuring water use. Instead, Dunnigan said Nebraska believes the accounting of the results of the model runs is not being figured accurately. The 100-page plus report outlines where Nebraska believes there are problems and offers solutions to properly address the accounting results. Assuming Kansas takes the two states to non-bonding arbitration, Dunnigan said this report will be a key tool for Nebraska in the arbitration process...
Thanks to the Water Information Program for the link. More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
6:16:12 PM 
|
|
Arkansas Basin watershed study and model moving ahead
From The La Junta Tribune-Democrat: "The Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District voted to continue funding Tim Gates from Colorado State University to perform studies in the Arkansas River Valley. Gates asked for $40,000 and received approval from the board to continue his studies on improving water recovery in the Arkansas River."
Thanks to the Water Information Program for the link. More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.
"colorado water"
5:58:42 PM
|
|
Reclamation Announces Additional Public Comment on Water Quality for SDS Draft EIS
From email from Reclamation (Kara Lamb):
Reclamation, under the National Environmental Policy Act, announces the opportunity to provide additional comment on the water quality analysis portion of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Southern Delivery System.
The original 60-day comment period for the Draft EIS was scheduled to end on April 26, 2008, but was extended to June 13, 2008. Comments received during this period expressed a concern about the section addressing water quality analysis. In order to address these comments, an additional water quality analysis is being prepared for the Draft EIS. This analysis will augment and reinforce the existing analysis for the Draft EIS.
Reclamation will continue to receive comments on the existing water quality portion of the Draft EIS while the additional analysis is performed. When completed, the additional analysis will be made available for public review and comment over a 45-day period.
The complete Southern Delivery System Draft EIS, Draft EIS Summary, and related documents are available at www.sdseis.com. For additional questions regarding the Draft EIS, or to request a copy of the Draft EIS Summary, please contact Kara Lamb at (970) 0962-4326 or klamb@gp.usbr.gov.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
5:29:26 PM
|
|
Harris Sherman: We are entering an era of trade-offs
Here's a recap of Harris Sherman's views from the summer meeting of the Colorado Water Congress. From the article:
The era of water development in Colorado is over, and the state's new task will be to manage the water resources it has. One small problem: No one has yet articulated what the future of the state looks like. "We have a new frontier of water challenges that needs to be evaluated," Colorado Department of Natural Resources Director Harris Sherman told the Colorado Water Congress last week at its annual summer convention. Sherman began a process to develop a vision for the next 50 years in Colorado water earlier this year with the Interbasin Compact Committee, a statewide panel fed by nine basin roundtables that was designed in 2005 to sort out state water issues. While the IBCC has tackled issues of needs assessment in individual basins, it has not been able to overcome lingering mistrust left by 150 years of water wars. Sherman said he hopes the group can at least agree on an approach to finding if there is an acceptable way to move water from one basin to another. The IBCC has met twice on the topic and will pick it up again next week in a meeting at Paonia...
Complicating the picture are what water users are most concerned about, Sherman said. Those concerns include:
The continuance of irrigated agriculture, both in the Arkansas and South Platte valleys and on the Western Slope. How cities will get the water they need. Whether land use and growth policies can be tailored to fit water supply. If the environment will be protected. Providing water for a burgeoning energy economy that includes clean coal technology, oil shale and biofuels. "We are entering an era of trade-offs," Sherman said.
"colorado water"
6:39:35 AM
|
|
Northern Integrated Supply Project
From The Fort Collins Coloradoan: "Sierra Club National Executive Director Carl Pope, in town for the three-day Peace Corps reunion, spoke Sunday morning to dozens of river supporters along the Poudre's banks near Old Town. He encouraged a long-term opposition to Northern Integrated Supply Project's Glade Reservoir plan. 'You've got to be in it for the long haul,' Pope said. 'People need to understand reservoirs do not provide a solution to water needs, they just provide the illusion that they will.' Pope's recognition is a sign of increasing national concern about the Poudre River issue, said coalition spokesman Gary Wockner...
"Pope said conservation and storage can be done without building dams and reservoirs. 'The lesson we need to learn is natural system management of water is a lot better than engineered management,' Pope said."
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
6:23:37 AM
|
|
Fryingpan recovers from Seven Castles Creek flood
Here's an update on the health of the Fryingpan River as a result of last year's flash flood in Seven Castles Creek, from The Aspen Times. From the article:
Nature proved once again this summer that humans should be wary of intervening to "repair" an ecosystem after a cataclysmic event, according to the Roaring Fork Conservancy. The latest lesson was provided on the Fryingpan River below its confluence with Seven Castles Creek. A cloudburst one year ago this month sent tons of thick red mud down the creek and into the river. The mud coated rocks and settled in the eddies of the lower 5 miles of the Fryingpan. Deposits of red silt could be found in the middle and lower Roaring Fork and even in the Colorado River, said Rick Lofaro, executive director of Roaring Fork Conservancy. So much material was deposited at the confluence that the Fryingpan River shifted its main channel...
The gamble that nature would provide the required flushing flow paid off in spades. The upper Fryingpan drainage received near-record snowfall last winter so the spring runoff was extraordinary. Releases from the Ruedi dam started earlier than usual and remained high into July. Lofaro said a flow of about 600 cubic feet per second rushing down the main channel of the river is what was needed -- and exactly what nature provided. Conditions, he said, were ideal. Looking at the confluence and the lower Fryingpan a year later, an observer sees "nature at work," Lofaro said. "The river is doing what it should." The river has established its new channel. The sediment deposited at the confluence provides a chance for cottonwood and willow trees to grow in the rich riparian habitat. The area has lost the war-torn look after a year of settling and erosion. Lofaro credited the various entities involved for the collective decision to hold off on the water release. "We were just smart enough to wait and see and not get in there and muck around," he said.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
6:18:26 AM
|
|
|
© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/14/09; 10:27:29 PM.
|
|
|
