Monday, April 10, 2006

Snowpack Snowfall in March helped increase the statewide snowpack over the southern mountains, according to the Pueblo Chieftain. They write, "Colorado's southern mountains finally received above-average snowfall during March, following one of the state's driest winters on record. But snowpack totals across the southern mountains continue to be well below the long-term average for April 1, according to the latest data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service SnoTel survey. The latest surveys show that snowpack totals in the Rio Grande Basin improved to 64 percent of average on April 1, up from only 40 percent of average on March 1. And the snowpack totals in the combined San Juan, Animas, Dolores and San Miguel basins improved to 68 percent of average on April 1, from only 46 percent of average on March 1. The southern tributaries of the Arkansas River also remain low - the Apishapa site registers only 21 percent of the average water content in its paltry snowpack - but the mainstream headwaters near Leadville still have more than 125 percent of average water content. Most of the sites in the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project collection area on the Western Slope also still show healthy snowpack well above average. Colorado's statewide snowpack now stands at 94 percent of average, an improvement over the 88 percent of average measured March 1, according to Edward Biggers, acting state conservationist with the NRCS." Category: Colorado Water 5:29:49 AM     HB 1352 The Pueblo Chieftain editorial staff is urging the state house to pass HB 1352 [Concerning an expansion of water judges's jurisdiction to address the effects of a water right adudication on water quaility] on third reading today. From the article, "Colorado water law currently allows water court judges to consider water quality in exchange, or point-of-diversion, transfer cases. The law does not, however, take into consideration potentially injurious effects on the quality of water when the court hears the original change-of-use case. HB1352 simply gives owners of other water rights the opportunity to raise water quality issues in the original change-of-use case. It's a reasonable, fair and equitable extension of current law. The bill recognizes Colorado Water Quality Control Commission standards as the reasonable basis of measuring water quality. It also provides an exception for change-of-use applications involving small farm-to-farm or town-to-town water transactions. Based on an evaluation of the evidence, the water court judge is allowed to include a term or condition that addresses decreases in water quality caused by the change if the quality would fall below the commission's standards in effect at the time of the decree." More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 5:23:29 AM

© Copyright 2006 John Orr. Last update: 12/29/06; 11:26:58 AM.