Coyote Gulch

Saturday, October 25, 2008

San Miguel River tamarisk removal winds down

We were driving along the San Miguel River just yesterday and today we find this story about the tamarisk removal project along the river from the Nature Conservancy. From the article:

For the first time, a western river infested with tamarisk is now essentially tamarisk-free. An eight-year effort to control this invasive tree that is clogging river banks across the West is coming to a successful close along southwestern Colorado's San Miguel River. "The impact of these woody invasives is huge -- they rob waterways of their health and make recreational access cumbersome," says The Nature Conservancy's Peter Mueller, who directs the North San Juan Mountain Program in Colorado. Tamarisk is estimated to have infested more than 100,000 acres of land in Colorado and more than 1.6 million acres across the West.

We think the article is a bit too optimistic -- but we hope we're wrong. Great work all around. We're wondering about the maintenance plan.
"colorado water"
11:09:05 AM

Coyote Gulch semi-outage

We're on an intermittently very slow and unreliable network at the Holiday Inn in Cortez. Posting may be slow this weekend.

9:16:35 AM

Alamosa unveils new treatment plant

Alamosa is showing off their shiny new treatment plant this week, according to the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

The city flung its doors open Wednesday to give the public a glimpse at its new $10.4 million water treatment plant. The plant, now fully operational, was built to bring the city into compliance with federal drinking water standards for arsenic and also makes it easier for the city to chlorinate its water supply. The city had to build the plant after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revised its drinking water standards for arsenic down to 10 parts per billion from 30 ppb in 2004...

..the new plant has reduced arsenic levels in the city's water to 5 ppb, said Public Works Director Don Koskelin. The plant removes the arsenic by mixing the water with ferric chloride. The ferric chloride attracts the arsenic. Then the mixture is removed from the water supply. The plant receives water from six wells that tap the deepest level of the San Luis Valley's two groundwater aquifers.

Although state health officials confirmed the aquifers were contamination free during the salmonella outbreak that sickened hundreds last spring, Alamosa started to chlorinate its water to make sure it remained clean once it reached the city's pipes. Koskelin said the plant makes doing that so much easier. Before completion of the plant, the city was pumping in chlorine near each of the wells and had difficulty synchronizing the two pumping systems. The city now injects chlorine at a rate of 1.7 milligrams per liter at the plant. Koskelin said the city plans to lower the level of chlorination in the system down to between 0.5 m/l and 1 m/l.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.
"colorado water"
8:55:52 AM

McCain: Renegotiate the Colorado River Compact

Best line from yesterday from a politician: "I thank you for the water, keep sending it down to Arizona. I will not renegotiate the Colorado River Compact. Colorado will keep its water, and that will not change." -- John McCain somewhere in Colorado yesterday, from Politico.
"2008 pres"
8:47:47 AM

Energy policy: Electrical generation

Population growth and energy development are both putting pressure on Colorado's remaining water. Here's a look at the water requirements for electrical generation from the New York Times From the article:

Scientific American has a thoughtful article this month about the trade-offs between energy and water. Many big power plants -- nuclear, coal, biomass and of course, hydroelectric -- use lots of water. Conversely, making water drinkable, and piping it into big cities, can require plenty of electricity. This potentially forces a choice between the two...

I spoke about the water-energy dilemma with Tim Farmer of Xcel Energy, a big Midwestern utility. Xcel is more than doubling the size of a coal plant near Pueblo, Colorado, by adding a low-water unit, called Comanche 3, that makes use of an air-cooled condenser, which helps to limit the amount of water needed to cool things down overall. "We live in a semi-arid climate in Eastern Colorado, and we have years where the drought is severe," said Mr. Farmer, who is the project director for the Comanche 3 unit. In 2002, he said, there was such a severe drought that Xcel was nearly forced to shut down its two existing Comanche units - prompting it to go to the low-water system for its expansion. The technology is expensive, however, and Mr. Farmer reckoned that building a low-water system can cost as much as three or four times that of an ordinary system, even if it uses just half the water. The higher price is due in large part to the cost of commodities in the air-cooling condenser. He knows of eight other systems that, like Comanche 3, that combine wet cooling with air-cooled condensers.

A number of other systems, with even more severe water restrictions, utilize the less-efficient method of "dry-cooling," which uses less than 10 percent of the water required for a wet-cooled plant, according to the World Nuclear Association, but consumes a lot of power with the use of large fans.
"cc"
8:37:27 AM

Developer may pull out of Lowry Bombing Range deal for lack of sustainable water

The proposed development at the old Lowry Bombing range is in trouble. The developer says that they've been unable to obtain a sustainable water supply so they plan to pull out by the end of the year unless a supply can be found by then. We're wondering what happened to the deal with Pure Cycle for Fort Lyons Canal water they obtained a couple of years ago? Here's the report from the AP via Examiner/Denver. They write:

A developer that planned to build thousands of homes on the former Lowry Bombing and Gunnery Range said it may pull out if it can't find enough sustainable water for the project by Dec. 31.

At stake is hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue the project was expected to generate for public schools. The project was planned on 3,800 acres that the state decided to lease out of its 26,000 acres held in trust for public education. State officials had estimated the deal would raise more than $334 million for K-12 schools for the next 20 years.

Lend Lease Lowry Range LLC said Friday it notified the Colorado State Land Board that it would terminate its development agreement if it can't obtain needed water rights by the end of the year.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
8:18:41 AM

Amendment 52

From the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: "Mesa County's last batch of state lawmakers, including Sen. Ron Teck, R-Grand Junction, and Rep. Gayle Berry, R-Grand Junction, rallied Friday against a plan to divert severance tax revenues to Interstate 70 improvements...Local leaders on water issues also decried the amendment, including Dale Tooker, manager of the Clifton Water District, who said the measure will dry up funding for the Colorado Water Conservation Board and other water projects. Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, one of Amendment 52's lead proponents, cited Amendment 52's support from former Congressman Scott McInnis, R-Colo., as a counterpoint to the news conference. "Scott McInnis has done more on Western Slope water issues than all of us combined," he said. Penry added that the news conference simply underlines the do-nothing approach that has permeated transportation funding reform for years."

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
8:09:03 AM

Southern Delivery System: Pueblo County 1041 application complete

From the Pueblo Chieftain: "Pueblo County staff has determined that an application submitted by Colorado Springs for the Southern Delivery System is complete, but that does not mean it will approve it. The county also could request additional information, according to a letter sent Friday to SDS Project Director John Fredell from Pueblo County Planning Director Kim Headley. Colorado Springs also has paid Pueblo County $291,000, the estimated cost of processing a land-use application for Southern Delivery System under rules adopted under 1974's HB1041. The legislation allows cities and counties to regulate projects of statewide interest."

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
7:33:03 AM

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