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Friday, December 30, 2005
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Las Vegas is contemplating building desalination plants on the Pacific Coast in exchange for Colorado River water, according to The Heartland Institute. They write, "Seemingly endless disputes among Southwestern states regarding the allocation of Colorado River water may be less intense in the future if some government officials in Las Vegas and southern Nevada have their way. To quench the water needs of rapid growth in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, water managers are looking into building one or more desalination plants on the California coast...Without direct access to the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Nevada Water Authority is looking into funding desalination projects in and for California. California, it is hoped, would in turn assign a corresponding amount of its Colorado River quota to Nevada...On the surface, the idea seems like a win-win situation for everyone involved. However, there are potential obstacles. Desalted water is significantly more expensive than water drawn from lakes, rivers, and underground aquifers. The premium can be anywhere from 40 percent to 100 percent, depending on local conditions and economic factors. Additionally, while many environmentalists applaud desalination plants for alleviating stresses on inland water sources, others oppose desalination plants for increasing the salt content of seawater in the plants' discharge areas."
Category: Colorado Water
9:12:16 AM 
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The Grand Mesa Water Task Force is pushing a new storage project on the Gunnison River, according to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. From the article, "A water conservation project that's been talked about for decades may finally get off the ground, thanks to modern technology and some old-fashioned cooperation. The proposed project of the Grand Mesa Water Task Force would include building two reservoirs with a hydroelectric plant between them and resurrecting an old pumping station on the Gunnison River. Delta County Commissioner Wayne Wolf said a recent draft of an engineering report commissioned by the task force shows the proposed projects can work and that enough water is available, but funding will have to be found. 'One of the things we wanted to make really sure of is that water rights were available,' Wolf said. 'The answer is: Yes, we can protect everybody's water rights and still develop some more water.' Under the current proposal, one reservoir would be built at Surface Creek at the U.S. Forest Service boundary, Wolf said, with another at Cactus Park, east of Cedaredge. Re-activating the pump on the Gunnison would serve the area served by the Fruit Growers Reservoir, he said. The awareness of the need for more water in the West began in 1933 with a study by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of the Interior, said task force coordinator Gerald Figueroa, and a subsequent federal study was shelved in 1982. Local efforts also failed because of infighting and 'misunderstandings,' he said, but long spells of dry weather prompted another look."
Category: Colorado Water
9:00:57 AM
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Here's an article from the Aspen Daily News detailing some of the issues around regulating storm runoff from oil and gas wells. They write, " A power struggle is under way in Colorado over who tracks the environmental impact of stormwater runoff from oil and gas sites, with the industry saying it should be the same agency that issues drilling permits and water quality regulators insisting they should do it. The conflict is the latest involving an industry that is booming throughout the Rockies and agencies, landowners and environmentalists worried about the fallout. The regulations at the core of the dispute took effect June 30 and cover stormwater runoff from small oil and gas construction sites - 1 to 5 acres. They don't apply once the well pad and roads are built, pipelines are installed and the gas and oil wells are pumping. That's when the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission takes over. Industry groups say that agency, not the state Water Quality Control Commission, should oversee efforts to prevent contamination and erosion from stormwater runoff into streams and creeks. Two trade groups, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association and the Colorado Petroleum Association, sued to block the stormwater regulations, claiming, among other things, that the recently enacted federal energy bill exempts the industry. They put the lawsuit on hold while state health officials considered the industry's complaints. Water quality regulators, though, recommended Thursday that they retain the authority for oil and gas development as well as other industries such as home building. The Water Quality Control Commission, a policy-making body, has scheduled a Jan. 9 hearing on the matter."
More information about the hearing here.
Category: Colorado Water
8:49:00 AM
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© Copyright
2006
John Orr.
Last update:
12/29/06; 10:55:56 AM.
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