Coyote Gulch

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Tamarisk education

From The Montrose Press: "As invasive species removal continues on the Gunnison River, work is also under way to inform the public. Educational efforts, involving events and signage, aim to teach the public about the detriment of noxious weeds on the riparian (riverside) and upland habitats, said Lynae Rogers, rangeland management specialist/weed coordinator. Tamarisk and other invasive species negatively affect native ecosystems, threatened and endangered species and water resources, she said. This educational component is part of a recently awarded 5 Star Grant that supports continued eradication. The project will take out invasive plants and restore native species to enhance the riverside habitat along 23 miles of the Gunnison River within the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area, according to the Uncompahgre Plateau Project. The target species are tamarisk, Russian knapweed and whitetop."

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
6:43:22 PM

Southern Delivery System

From The Colorado Springs Gazette: "'We are still taking water quality comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement and will continue to take comments indefinitely,' Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman Kara Lamb said. 'We are also performing an additional water quality analysis, which will augment the existing EIS.' Once the new analysis is completed, she said an additional 45-day public comment period will open for the new analysis only. Lamb said the extra steps came after the agency received nearly 400 public comments on the Southern Delivery System, which would pipe water from Pueblo Reservoir to northeast Colorado Springs. 'We received comments with significant data indicating that we should respond,' she said."

More from the article:

Among those was a statement from Pueblo Chieftain publisher Bob Rawlings, who expressed concern about pollution of Fountain Creek, which meets the Arkansas east of Pueblo. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, who's running for the Senate seat held by retiring Republican Wayne Allard, urged the bureau in late June to slow the review, citing Rawlings' comments. The public comment period closed June 13. "His (Rawlings') comments, and others, really underscore the depth of concern that exists about the project and how it might affect water users throughout the Arkansas River basin," Udall wrote. Udall's letter surprised and angered Springs officials.

Lamb wouldn't say whether the slowdown bodes ill for the project. "I think this is all good news," she said. "This is exactly what the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process is designed to do. It helps fine tune the analysis." She said the bureau's Record of Decision is still expected in early 2009.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
6:18:17 PM

The water cycle

Here's a nice instructional video, The Water Cycle by Mr. Davies. Thanks to Water Busters for the link. The next generation of engineers and scientists will love the film.

The water cycle is pretty simple. Liquid and gaseous water, gravity, condensation, precipitation, transpiration.
"colorado water"
5:57:12 PM

The American Southwest: Are We Running Dry?

"He created a water issue on which both of these candidates could agree, and that is that we should not open the Colorado River Compact." -- Sara Duncan, moderator of last week's U.S. Senate debate at the Colorado Water Congress.

McCain's out of touch comment won't die down. At a screening yesterday for a new film "The American Southwest: Are We Running Dry?" narrated by actress Jane Seymour to run on PBS this fall Democrats took the opportunity to pile on, according to The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

[Jane] Seymour was the main attraction at a Democratic National Convention reception to feature the film before some of the nation's leading Democrats, including New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md.

The film includes interviews with such Western lawmakers as U.S. Sens. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and Pete Domenici, R-N.M. "The only time many people understand the importance of water is when they don't have it," Salazar says in the film, produced by Jim Thebaut. "As we get into a water shortage situation, that's when people will awaken and start understanding the importance of water."[...]

Thebaut, who's produced other documentaries about global water needs, said his hope is to spark a discussion about water needs not only in the Southwest, but across the nation. "I focused on the spine of the water, and the fact that the Colorado is at the lowest level that it's ever been," he said. "I talk about public policy, then I talk about technology and then I talk about conservation, and how everyone has to get involved. It's a multidimensional approach to getting everybody stirred up. People have to recognize that this is like a train coming down the track, and nobody is even aware of it." The film focuses on the dwindling water supplies in the West, the drought that has plagued the region for several years, and the effects climate change has had on water supplies. At the same time, it calls for more water conservation measures, such as replacing water-hungry lawns with drought-tolerant plants, and a greater emphasis on finding alternative water sources, such as desalination plants along the West Coast...

While Thebaut's film avoids a partisan slant, Democrats in the room couldn't resist chastising the presumptive GOP candidate for president, Arizona Sen. John McCain, for his recent call for renegotiating the 1922 Colorado River Water Compact. "Senator McCain's insensitivity toward Western Water gives Democrats a fighting chance to win the White House," Richardson said. "The Colorado River pact is sacrosanct to all of us Westerners, so even for a president of the United States (opening the pact) is a senseless policy."

7:32:28 AM

Climax

From The Vail Daily: "State mining regulators said the reopening of the Climax Molybdenum Mine on Fremont Pass will eventually require a significant expansion of the tailings ponds in the Ten Mile Creek drainage, and a new water-treatment facility at the bottom of the ponds to purify the water before it flows back into the stream.

More from the article:

The initial $500 million project includes the restart of open-pit mining and a new milling facility to process the ore. Construction of the milling facility is under way. Production is expected to begin in 2010. Start-up activities at the mine are covered under the existing state permit. But the Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology expect Freeport to apply for a permit amendment in the near future, said state regulator Allen Sorenson. "They can't do what they want to do with their current permit. The size of the tailings disposal and the open-pit waste rock disposal ... are limited by the current permit ... they will need to be enlarged significantly," Sorenson said.

Summit County will also review some of the activities associates with the reopening of the mine. "We've had informal conversations with them the past couple of years," said Summit County planning director Jim Curnutte. "Any change to their state permit would get a review by the county," he said. The county would also review site plans for new water-treatment and sludge- densification facilities if they are needed, Curnutte said. More generally, the county will use its so-called 1041 powers to review any major changes at the mine as a "major industrial water project," Curnutte said, referring to a 1974 state law giving local governments the power to review certain areas of "state interest."

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
7:17:56 AM

Upper Ark scores $296,000 for satellite telemetry equipment to manage exchanges

Here's an update on the Reclamation challenge grant to be use for satellite telemetry devices for reservoirs and streams in the Upper Arkansas Basin to help manage exchanges, from The Mountain Mail. From the article:

Reservoirs, streams and augmentation stations within the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District will receive satellite measuring devices with help from a recent $296,724 challenge grant. Water district general manager Terry Scanga said the Bureau of Reclamation money will go toward installation of 15 stream and reservoir measuring devices throughout the district. Stations will be installed at six reservoirs, seven stream locations, and two augmentation stations, he said. The stations are the first phase of a plan to begin supervisory control and data acquisition within the water district. Upon completion, it will provide central monitoring and control of water flow from a single location.

"Acquisition stations will upload data to a satellite and in turn be transmitted to our server," Scanga, said. The principle is similar to the process control systems used in industrial enterprises. "Because water demands are so high, we have to move to these industrial processes," Scanga said. Future plans call for automated gate operation to eliminate time-consuming trips for manual operation. "A trip up to North Fork Reservoir," Scanga said, "takes hours to complete, plus the wear and tear on vehicles." The project carries an estimated total cost of $800,000. Additional money will come from the Water Supply Reserve Account, Regional Resource Planning Group and Arkansas Basin Roundtable.

Bureau of Reclamation grants go to water districts, Indian tribes, and other water management entities, to initiate water conservation and efficiency measures. Announcing recipients of recent grants, U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said, "These grants will help quench the West's thirst for water in eight states by providing money to 15 projects that will improve efficient use of existing water."

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
7:06:37 AM

Whitewater park for Palisade?

Palisade's water park is dependent on federal approvals. The feds are worried about the park's effect on the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program. The mayor of Palisade is frustrated that every time the town answers questions from the feds they are met with more questions. Situation normal. Here's a report from The Grand Junction Free Press. From the article:

Palisade Town Manager Tim Sarmo questions whether the federal government wants a whitewater kayak park in Palisade, with its continual requests for more information. Late last week, Sarmo fired a request of his own to the federal government: a U.S. Freedom of Information Act request of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. In it, Sarmo asked a long list of questions about funding and other details of the endangered fish recovery program.

The town needs a positive biological opinion from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will grant the town permission to build the whitewater park. The opinion is necessary because the park is proposed to be built in critical habitat for four endangered fish: Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, bonytail chub, and humpback chub. When the town of Palisade provides information to the Fish & Wildlife Service, the federal agency only requests more information, Sarmo said. "I am definitely frustrated," Sarmo said, particularly because the town is using information the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation relied on when it built the endangered fish ladder, just upstream of the proposed whitewater park. "We've been engaged in a 30-month consultation with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. We have spent large sums of money and we think they have enough information to issue a biological opinion," Sarmo said...

Sarmo questioned why the town can't drop 14-inch boulders in the river to build a whitewater kayak park, when a federal agency can build a fish ladder -- when the town used the same information the federal agency used.

In his letter, Sarmo asked for 14 specific pieces of information.

Sarmo asked how many of each species of endangered fish have passed through each fish ladder per year.

He asked the total number of endangered fish, per species, at the program's inception and today.

He wanted to know the total cost to build each fish ladder in the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program.

He asked the total number of federal employees by agency who are paid in whole or part by the recovery program or its participants. He also asked about lobbyists, consultants and others whose salaries are paid by federal dollars in the recovery program.

Sarmo asked for sums paid to consultant and lobbyist Tom Pitts.

Sarmo asked about the federal contingency plans if the Fish & Wildlife Service cannot demonstrate endangered species can pass through the fish ladder at the Price-Stubb dam on the Colorado River.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
6:56:06 AM

? for U.S. Senate?

Here's an excerpt of an interview with U.S. Representative Mark Udall, from The Sky-Hi Daily News. From the article:

[SHDN]: West Slope leaders have been upping their game in protecting Upper Colorado River basin water for fear trans-basin diversions will threaten the health of rivers and natural Grand Lake. What have you accomplished thus far to help West Slope water efforts and what do you plan to do on behalf of those efforts as U.S. Senator?
[Udall]: My efforts on water have been to "bridge the divide" -- working together to provide for the water needs of all of Colorado and not pit one region against another. In that spirit, I strongly opposed Referendum A, the 2003 ballot issue that would have given the state a $2 billion blank check to build water projects on the West Slope and transfer that water eastward without any protections or compensation for West Slope communities. In addition, I urged the Denver Water Department to work collaboratively with Grand County and others to address potential negative impacts to the Fraser River related to the Department's expansion of the Moffat Tunnel diversions, introduced legislation requiring the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to grant "cooperating agency" status under the National Environmental Policy Act to counties like Grand County affected by water diversion projects (H.R. 3465), and I urged the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to include all users of the Green Mountain Reservoir in any requirement to maintain a minimum level of water in that reservoir and not place all of that responsibility on the Western Slope users. I also voted for the final passage of the Animas La Plata water storage project near Durango to satisfy the water needs of the Ute Tribes and the communities of that region, and in all wilderness and public lands legislation I have worked on -- including the James Peak Wilderness, Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Spanish Peaks, and Colorado Canyon -- I have made sure that West Slope water rights have been protected. I plan to continue to work for all of Colorado to develop consensus-based solutions to water issues and make sure that we do not return to the water wars of the past.

This is also an area where Bob Schaffer and I are very different. Bob Schaffer supported the fundamentally flawed Referendum A in 2003, which nearly 85 percent of Grand County opposed. In fact, Referendum A was defeated in every single county in Colorado. Congressman Schaffer also backed a court decision that would have made water from the Blue Mesa Reservoir on the Gunnison River available for sale. Water is a precious resource on the Western Slope. We shouldn't be selling it to the highest bidder.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.
"colorado water"
6:37:34 AM

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