Thursday, August 17, 2006

Deslination This article from the San Diego City Beat has a nice primer on desalination. From the article, "There are two ways to get pure water from seawater-distillation and reverse osmosis. Distillation involves boiling contaminated water and capturing the rising steam, which is pure H2O. Because of the amount of energy required to boil water, distillation has never been a cost-effective way to produce drinking water on a regional scale. Reverse osmosis (RO) involves pushing water molecules over a membrane through which salt molecules cannot pass." Category: Colorado Water 7:28:36 AM     Grand Valley Lake? Coyote Gulch loves big dam projects. It looks like Grand Valley Lake isn't going to happen. According to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, "The proposed Grand Valley Lake isn't likely to be built, according to Colorado River Water Conservation District officials. The proposed reservoir, which supporters call the 'next great Western water project,' would sit atop East Orchard Mesa, contain 195,000 acre-feet of water and cost $580 million. Supporters say the reservoir would serve municipal and industrial water needs. But there is no need for such a reservoir to be built, River District spokesman Chris Treese told The Daily Sentinel's editorial board Wednesday. 'You have supply. Where is the demand?' he said. Grand Valley municipalities are served by their own utilities and the Ute Water Conservancy District, all of which, he said, have sufficient water rights and supplies with little need for additional water. The industrial demand and revenue source for such a project doesn't exist, he said." Category: Colorado Water 7:13:48 AM     Fountain Creek management Colorado Springs and the Lower Arkansas River Valley Conservancy District have taken a step or two backward in their negotiations over the management of Fountain Creek, the Southern Delivery System and the Preferred Options Storage Plan, according to the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article, "The president of the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District said Wednesday that Colorado Springs is dragging its heels to address problems on Fountain Creek and gave his most pessimistic assessment to date of ongoing negotiations. 'The reason things have not moved forward is that Colorado Springs has not gone forward on the agreement we've worked so hard on for the last 18 months,' said John Singletary, Lower Ark president. Colorado Springs and the Lower Ark - along with seven other entities - have been meeting since early 2005 on the Preferred Storage Options Plan, which would enlarge Lake Pueblo and Turquoise Lake and formalize the Bureau of Reclamation's authority to enter long-term contracts with Aurora. The Lower Ark - created by a vote in five counties in 2002 and not a part of earlier PSOP negotiations - had stepped in to express concerns about water quality and the economic viability of the region in the face of continued water transfers... "Colorado Springs also is seeking the Lower Ark's support for its Southern Delivery System, a plan to build a $1 billion pipeline from Lake Pueblo to deliver up to 78 million gallons of water per day. Singletary said the Lower Ark would support SDS only if Colorado Springs began working toward improving Fountain Creek water quality so that it is comparable to water released from Pueblo Dam... "A second issue is the creation of a stormwater enterprise in Colorado Springs. In November, the Colorado Springs City Council voted 7-2 to pass a resolution to create the enterprise, but has delayed implementation because of pressure within the community... "Singletary also said the Lower Ark district has supported the Arkansas Valley Conduit, despite continued grumbling that it is holding up PSOP negotiations. In fact, the Lower Ark District supports the request of the conduit committee to apply water from dried-up lands in Crowley County to the conduit. 'We shouldn't see any more Fry-Ark water at $9 an acre-foot going to Colorado Springs,' he said. 'The Fry-Ark Project was intended to help the lower valley.'" Category: Colorado Water 6:59:29 AM

© Copyright 2006 John Orr. Last update: 12/29/06; 12:04:38 PM.