Thursday, June 8, 2006

Summitville cleanup benefitting from drought USA Water News: "Officials at the Summitville site, a former gold mine near the New Mexico line once described as Colorado's worst environmental disaster, say the state's lingering drought has helped the cleanup process. This winter's relatively low snowpack -- about 70 percent of average -- means that virtually all water runoff from the site can be treated to remove contaminants, said Austin Buckingham, site manager for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. It also allowed crews to start this year's treatment efforts earlier than last year, when some runoff from a snowpack 165 percent of average couldn't be treated, he said. It costs about $1.4 million per year to treat the contaminated water, and about $195 million has been spent so far cleaning up the Superfund site. The 1,440-acre Summitville site about 25 miles southwest of Del Norte sits at about 11,500 feet above sea level and had been mined by various methods since 1870. Most recently, miners heaped crushed ore into piles that were drenched with a cyanide mixture to leach gold from the rock. In 1992, a containment basin failed, sending water contaminated with heavy metals into nearby creeks that feed the Alamosa River. The pollution killed all life in 17 miles of the river system. Summitville Consolidated Mining Co. Inc., a subsidiary of Galactic Resources Ltd. of Canada, declared bankruptcy that year. The site's water-treatment plant has received about $400,000 in upgrades to make it safer and more efficient, but a new plant capable of handling all the runoff from high-snowpack years probably won't be possible, said Victor Ketellapper, site manager for the Environmental Protection Agency." Category: Colorado Water 7:45:50 PM     Huerfano County drought emergency Huerfano County has declared a drought emergency, according to the CBS4Denver.com. From the article, "Huerfano County commissioners have declared the southern Colorado county a disaster area due to lingering drought. In my mind it's not really a disaster but it could be,' commissioner Oress DeHerrera said this week. 'By declaring it, you put yourself in position to be able to get any assistance from the state for the county should a disaster happen.' A 100-acre wildfire was burning in the county near Gardner. Residents of four homes were evacuated because of the blaze in mixed conifer and pinon pine forest. DeHerrera said moisture levels are down all over, from the lack of snow on the Spanish Peaks to the dwindling Cuchara River water flow." Category: Colorado Water 6:33:15 AM     Lake Powell pipeline Here's an update on the Lake Powell Pipeline from the Cedar City Review. From the article, "The way was cleared last month when Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed the Lake Powell Pipeline Development Act into law. Where does Cedar City and the rest of Iron County go from here? Scott Wilson, the Iron County Water Conservancy manager, said there are literally thousands of steps to be accomplished between the signing of the Lake Powell Pipeline Act and the time that a pipeline actually links southern Utah with Lake Powell. The timeline for all of this to be accomplished is about 15 years. One of the first steps is resolving environmental issues. Iron County will be competing for water resources from Lake Powell. Wilson said the State of Utah has rights to approximately 360,000 to 370,000 acre-feet of presently unused water through the Lake Powell Compact. This amount is calculated on the basis of contributions to the Lake Powell reservoir from Utah's precipitation run-off. There are applications filed for 400,000 acre-feet... "The largest issue that looms ahead in the Lake Powell pipeline project is the cost. Wilson estimated Iron County's portion of the cost to be $125 to $130 million. He said he believes the financial resources to pay that price tag will be a combination of property taxes, impact fees and user fees. Harold Shirley, member of the State Board of Water Resources, said he believes the fees for new water hook-ups will finance the pipeline project's cost. He said he feels that even those who are in favor of the pipeline project are nervous about the cost. Wilson said there will be money spent just to get additional water infrastructure such as treatment, storage and transmission facilities in place. He explained that the Lake Powell water will need to be treated to make it fit for human consumption when it reaches Iron County. Then it will need to be stored for 'low-use' periods. There will also have to be facilities to move the water to the places where it is needed, such as Cedar City, Enoch and unincorporated areas of the county. Local realtor Larry Linn expressed mixed thoughts about the pipeline project. He said the current rate of development in the Cedar City and Enoch areas, with approximately 10,000 new homes being approved for construction, creates a definite need for more water resources. However, he said he feels that overdevelopment will leave Iron County in dire need of water and on full-time water rationing within the next three years, long before the pipeline water is available. Linn also expressed concern that Lake Powell is currently filled to only 50-percent capacity, and Utah is not the only state entitled to use Lake Powell water. Not only do California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico have claims to Lake Powell's resources, but the country of Mexico benefits from the flow of the Colorado River over the border... "He said with the current demand on Lake Powell water, and the fact that the pipeline project will take 15 years to complete, the water flowing to Iron County may not be as much as the county is expecting once the pipeline is ready to transfer water. He suggested that it might be more cost effective to transfer water from Lake Powell right now by tanker trucks." Category: Colorado Water 6:26:58 AM     Aurora watering restrictions Aurora is asking water customers to use 10% less water, according to the Rocky Mountain News. From the article, " Residents already limited to watering their lawns three days a week are being asked to further reduce their usage because city supplies are 3 billion gallons less than anticipated. Aurora Water wants its 73,000 customers to decrease their usage by at least 10 percent - an amount they believe will help them cope with the loss, blamed on hot weather conditions and a lack of rain and reduced snowmelt... "South Platte River supplies that make up half of Aurora's water supply have 'literally evaporated,' and the city will be lucky if reservoirs reach 70 percent of capacity by next month, [Melissa Elliott] said. The hotter-than-normal weather also resulted in residents using more water last month. Usage was up by 35 percent compared with the same month last year, Elliott said." Category: Colorado Water 6:13:46 AM

© Copyright 2006 John Orr. Last update: 12/29/06; 11:45:45 AM.