Coyote Gulch

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Pagosa Springs: Water conservation plan

Here's Part III of The Pagosa Daily Post's series "Where has all the water gone?".

Here's a look at impact fees and the proposed Dry Gulch Reservoir, from The Pagosa Daily Post.

Here's an article about sewage fees and a new treatment plant for Pagosa Springs, from The Pagosa Daily Post.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
8:29:57 AM

Salida, Nestle and UAWCD working on augmentation
Salida, the Upper Arkansas River Water Conservancy District and Nestlé have proposed a plan to allow Nestlé to lease augmentation water from Salida using the Upper Ark, according to The Mountain Mail. From the article:

No objections were raised Thursday when Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District directors, Salida representatives and personnel from Nestlé Waters North America agreed to work cooperatively. Nestlé and the representatives want to join forces with the district in an effort to lease approximately 200 acre-feet of water annually to Nestlé for the next 20 years. It would augment water Nestlé intends to bottle from a natural spring near Nathrop...

Interim city administrator Mike Copp said the city is seeking a cooperative agreement with Nestlé and the conservancy district. "I would like to see us hammer out an approach that's beneficial to everyone," Copp said. City excess water isn't available for use by Nestlé. The cooperative agreement would use the district augmentation plan to allow water use by Nestlé. "Generally in our role we'd be using our augmentation plan and storage throughout the basin," district general manager Terry Scanga said. "Nestlé can't legally use city water without a decree." The city augmentation plan doesn't allow water to be used outside the city. By using the UAWCD blanket augmentation plan, the water would be available for use by Nestlé. "Basically it makes it simpler to go through (the district)," Scanga said. "Our storage will be essential for this to work and help the city realize some revenue."

Council member Jay Moore estimated the city uses approximately 50 percent of its water credits annually and has excess water to lease to Nestlé. In previous discussions, representatives of the company indicated interest in paying about $1,000 per acre foot. District directors previously agreed to work with Nestlé if the company replaces water in the system at the point of depletion.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
8:22:59 AM

Lamar freezes water and sewer rates

From The Lamar Ledger: "Amid rising prices one group has said, 'enough.' The Lamar City Council approved resolution 08-08-02 Monday evening, freezing a previously approved rate hike for water and waste water service. The rate freeze will hold fees at their current level through July 1, 2009. Under a previously approved rate schedule, the water and waste water fees were slated to increase eight percent as of January 1, 2009. The increase was the last of three eight percent increases, each taking effect at the start of the new year. The council cited rising fuel and food prices as determining reasons for the delay of the increase."
"colorado water"
8:14:45 AM

Mark Sponsler: It was a multi-million bushel event

Here's a report on August precipitation in eastern Colorado, from The Northern Colorado Business Report. From the article:

Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that Northern Colorado was so dry that Gov. Bill Ritter decided to add Weld County to a list of 22 Colorado counties seeking federal drought relief? Crops in the region were starting to look, well, stressed by the unrelenting heat and dry conditions that had been defining the sizzling Summer of 2008. Then came the rains of Aug. 14-17, a three-day-plus period of lovely, drenching, soaking moisture that may have been a lifesaver for many farmers who were watching their corn, sugar beets and other water-dependent crops beginning to wither. "It was a multi-million bushel event," said Mark Sponsler, CEO of Greeley-based Colorado Corn. "With the heat and dryness before that, things were looking very difficult."[...]

Nolan Doesken, a state climatologist based at Colorado State University, said the rainfall varied considerably across the region with the least falling near the foothills and the most falling farther east in Weld County. And the rain changed previous conditions in the area "quite a lot," Doesken said. "For our immediate area it was more than two and a half inches, more than we usually get in all of August." Doesken said rainfall in Northern Colorado ranged from about two inches in the Loveland area to more than four inches north of Greeley. Wellington and Fort Collins also received in the four-inch range, he said. Prior to the Aug. 14-17 rain, the area had been about three and a half inches below normal precipitation for the May-through-July period, Doesken said. He said the storm - and several cooler days that followed - "single-handedly" pulled the region out of a downward slide toward a serious and costly summer drought that had been a depressing expectation for many.
"colorado water"
8:05:35 AM

Mark Pifher to head Aurora Water

From The Aurora Sentinel: "Mark Pifher will move up from his city post as deputy director for water resources to a new duty as director of Aurora Water, city officials announced Friday, Aug. 29. Pifher, who started at the Aurora Water department in 2005, will assume his new duties immediately. Pifher will replace former director Peter Binney, who stepped down in March to take a post at the engineering, consulting and construction company Black & Veatch, based in Overland Park, Kansas. As the new director, Pifher will manage 415 employees and an operating budget of $109 million. He will also oversee one of Binney's most well-known legacies, the $750-million Prairie Waters project, which is slated to debut in 2010."
"colorado water"
7:58:14 AM

Southern Delivery System

It looks like Pueblo County doesn't agree with Colorado Springs over waiving the county's 1041 permit requirements, according to The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

Pueblo County turned down a request on Thursday by Colorado Springs to bypass a hotly contested land-use review for its proposed water supply pipeline project. Pueblo County Planning Director Kim Headley notified Colorado Springs and its partners in the Southern Delivery System that several components of the project fall under county regulations adopted in 2005 under the 1974 HB1041. The county requires a permit for the project. Although Colorado Springs acknowledged in its 2004 agreement with the city of Pueblo and the Pueblo Board of Water Works that it must apply for the 1041 permit, it has fought against the permit for three years after Pueblo County revised its regulations.

Earlier this year, Colorado Springs applied for a finding of no significant impact, although court action has not reached a conclusion. However, the city anticipated it would have to obtain a permit. In July, after about eight hours of meetings over three months, Colorado Springs broke off meetings with Pueblo County attempting to reach a finding of no significant impact.

Last week, Colorado Springs submitted 10 boxes of documents and a check for $50,000 to the county as its application for a 1041 permit. In a letter to Pueblo County, SDS Project Director John Fredell acknowledged that a finding of no significant impact was unlikely. "This offered us an opportunity to provide background information on the SDS to Pueblo County before we were ready to file our 1041 application," Fredell said. "We decided to submit a 1041 permit application prior to receiving a decision on the FONSI to keep the project on track. We look forward to working with Pueblo County on the application."

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
7:39:41 AM

Gustav: Category 3 and gaining strength

Gustav has blown up into a category 3 hurricane overnight. Right now forecasters are predicting a landfall in Louisiana early Tuesday morning. 3 more days to suck power from the Gulf. We've lost track of the article we read recently about Loop Current eddies. Apparently there is one near the predicted path of Gustav which may contribute to it's strengthening.

From The National Hurricane Center:

DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE CONTINUED TO INCREASE AND ARE NOW NEAR 120 MPH...195 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. GUSTAV IS A DANGEROUS CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE. GUSTAV IS EXPECTED TO PASS OVER WESTERN CUBA AS A MAJOR HURRICANE...AND COULD REACH CATEGORY FOUR STATUS BEFORE MAKING LANDFALL THERE. ADDITIONAL STRENGTHENING IS POSSIBLE OVER THE SOUTHERN GULF OF MEXICO.

GUSTAV IS A LARGE TROPICAL CYCLONE. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 60 MILES...95 KM...FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 160 MILES...260 KM.

THE MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE BASED ON REPORTS FROM BOTH AIR FORCE AND NOAA RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT IS 955 MB...28.20 INCHES.

Coyote Gulch urges everyone in the predicted path to get out of it's way. Now. Today.

As Gustav bears down on the Gulf Coast here's a look back at Katrina along with advice for those that choose to live along the Gulf, from Grist.
"cc"
7:18:10 AM

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