Thursday, December 7, 2006

EPA and Superfund remedies beSpacific: "EPA Has Improved Five-Year Review Process for Superfund Remedies, But Further Steps Needed, Report No. 2007-P-00006 [PDF - 50 pages] [At a Glance PDF], December 5, 2006. Category: Colorado Water 6:11:57 AM     Evangelicals and the envrironment Environmentalism is getting a boost from clergy around the world. Here's an article about Anglican Bishop James Jones from the Rocky Mountain News. They write, "Christians should consider global warming as great an evil as slavery, says Anglican Bishop James Jones, of Liverpool, England, who is in Colorado at the invitation of St. John's Episcopal Cathedral in Denver. 'We look back and ask, how could people have done that, tolerated slavery? The question is, will they be saying to us in 200 years time, did they know they were ruining the planet?' Jones said in an interview Wednesday. Jones, known as a champion of environmentalism in Britain and as author of Jesus and the Earth, spoke Tuesday night at St. Stephen and Grace Episcopal Church in Colorado Springs and was scheduled to speak Wednesday night at the cathedral. His visits are part of a movement aimed at getting conservative evangelicals passionate about environmental concerns." Category: 2008 Presidential Election 5:54:43 AM     Chips Barry: To find the water we must work together Chips Barry was howling with the Denver City Club yesterday, according to the Denver Daily News. From the article, "Front Range communities are facing a 90,000 acre-foot gap in water supply by 2030, said Hamlet 'Chips' Barry, III, manager of Denver Water. Barry spoke to the Denver City Club yesterday, not necessarily urging people to change their water use habits but pointing out the difficulties and challenges that lie ahead if water conservation isn[base ']t made a prime topic of conversation. 'We have at least a 90,000 acre-foot gap that will occur by 2030, and it may get bigger,' he said. The figures Barry cited were taken from before the drought began in 2002. He said there are approximately 1.2 million Denver Water customers throughout Denver, using approximately 285,000 acre-feet of water per year. The city brings in, on average, 375,000 acre-feet of water per year, which leaves an approximate surplus of 90,000 acre-feet under current circumstances. But the total water demand for Denver and its suburbs is 445,000 acre-feet of water per year, said Barry. That breaks down to a shortage of 70,000 acre-feet in the long-run." Category: Colorado Water 5:41:07 AM     Water top election issue for the rainy side of Colorado Here's an article about the intersection of water issues and politics in western Colorado from the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. From the article, "Water was by far the most important issue to Western Slope voters in the 2006 gubernatorial race, according to poll results released Wednesday by Colorado Conservation Voters. The results of the post-election poll revealed Western Slope voters trusted Gov.-elect Bill Ritter by a 25-point margin over Bob Beauprez on water issues. Carrie Doyle, executive director of the nonpartisan Colorado Conservation Voters, said the poll results showed that when it came time to vote, the Western Slope had the environmental issues that effect their lives most in mind... "The poll showed that sportsmen across the state split 52 percent to 37 percent in favor of Ritter. Only hunters themselves showed a preference for Beauprez over Ritter, favoring the outgoing Congressman by an eight-point margin. Fishermen favored Ritter by an eight-point margin." Category: Denver November 2006 Election 5:34:58 AM     Upper Black Squirrel Creek management Recently the Colorado State Supreme Court upheld water court ruling against the Cherokee Metropolitan District for out of basin tranfers for their customers east of Colorado Springs. Here's an update on the story from the Pueblo Chieftain. They write, "A decision to limit water exports from a groundwater basin east of Colorado Springs has put some El Paso County subdivisions on hold and opened the possibility of water imports from other areas into the rapidly growing area. In response, a groundwater management district vows to continue fighting irresponsible growth east of Colorado Springs... "The Upper Black Squirrel Creek management district successfully argued a 1999 agreement limited use of the northern wells to emergency and backup supplies for Cherokee. 'This is an important first step in the conservation of our groundwater resource,' said Kathy Hare, of Falcon, president of the groundwater district. 'Maybe somebody in the county - after they saw how hard this is hitting Cherokee and the developers - is getting the idea there is a real water problem in El Paso County,' Hare said. She faulted El Paso County commissioners for approving subdivisions that have no demonstrated water supply. 'Someone needs to say, enough with the growth, until you can show you[base ']ve got a water supply,' Hare said. 'We have to fight county commissioners who say water is not a problem and approve these sites. We're left to fight the court battles.' Water rights in the Upper Black Squirrel Creek are not tributary to other surface supplies, but dependent on surface water for recharge. Residential development and a shift in agriculture to water-intensive sod farming have been drawing down the water table in the basin since the 1960s. A 1999 study by engineer Forrest Leaf predicted the rate of development would leave the aquifer unusable in 20-25 years, Hare said." More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 5:28:44 AM     New evidence of flowing water on Mars Water is essential for life as we know it. While Coyote Gulch usually focuses on Colorado water issues we can't pass up the news that new evidence of flowing water has be found on Mars. From the article, "NASA photographs have revealed bright new deposits seen in two gullies on Mars that suggest water carried sediment through them sometime during the past seven years. 'These observations give the strongest evidence to date that water still flows occasionally on the surface of Mars, said Dr. Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program, Washington. Liquid water, as opposed to the water ice and water vapor known to exist at Mars, is considered necessary for life. The new findings heighten intrigue about the potential for microbial life on Mars. The Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor provided the new evidence of the deposits in images taken in 2004 and 2005... "The atmosphere of Mars is so thin and the temperature so cold that liquid water cannot persist at the surface. It would rapidly evaporate or freeze. Researchers propose that water could remain liquid long enough, after breaking out from an underground source, to carry debris downslope before totally freezing. The two fresh deposits are each several hundred meters, or yards, long. "The light tone of the deposits could be from surface frost continuously replenished by ice within the body of the deposit. Another possibility is a salty crust, which would be a sign of water's effects in concentrating the salts. If the deposits had resulted from dry dust slipping down the slope, they would likely be dark, based on the dark tones of dust freshly disturbed by rover tracks, dust devils and fresh craters on Mars. "Mars Global Surveyor has discovered tens of thousands of gullies on slopes inside craters and other depressions on Mars. Most gullies are at latitudes of 30 degrees or higher. Malin and his team first reported the discovery of the gullies in 2000. To look for changes that might indicate present-day flow of water, his camera team repeatedly imaged hundreds of the sites. One pair of images showed a gully that appeared after mid-2002. That site was on a sand dune, and the gully-cutting process was interpreted as a dry flow of sand." Thanks to 2020 Hindsight for the link. Category: Colorado Water 5:15:15 AM

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