Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Holiday blizzard 2006 Click on the thumbnail to see the satellite and radar view of Denver's beautiful snowstorm at 10:00 or so this morning. Category: Colorado Water 5:58:43 PM     Big snowstorm for Denver (and Colorado) Looking out this morning we're seeing blowing snow here in Denver. We're due for a big dumping, according to the forecasters. Lovely, beautiful wet snow. Category: Colorado Water 6:38:27 AM     Prairie Waters project Officials from the City of Aurora were up in northern Colorado pitching their Prairie Waters Project yesterday, according to the Longmont Daily Times-Call. From the article, "Aurora leaders will meet with the Weld County Planning Commission today to review part of an $850 million proposal to pull at least 10,000 acre-feet of water from the South Platte River each year and pipe it 34 miles to Aurora. The Prairie Waters Project will allow Aurora to recapture water it currently releases into the South Platte River Basin after it is used by the city. The city draws water primarily from the Colorado and Arkansas river basins but maintains the right to the water after it is released into the South Platte, said Scott Ingvoldstad, a public involvement coordinator for the city. The city would drill alluvial wells into sand and gravel beds near the South Platte River just west of Brighton and pipe the water to a purification facility at Aurora Reservoir, he said." Category: Colorado Water 6:30:18 AM     It doesn't generate any wet water The Colorado River Basin Roundtable voted against contributing to Palisade's proposed whitewater park in DeBeque canyon, according to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. From the article, "The Colorado River Basin Roundtable rejected a request that the organization pump $100,000 into the project, which is being headed up by Palisade. The roundtable is one of several representing river basins around the state. They were organized by the Legislature to draft efforts resolve Colorado's longstanding water problems. The Colorado basin roundtable can recommend spending up to $500,000 annually this year and the next, and Palisade was one of several organizations hoping for some of that money. The whitewater park, though, promised to keep no water in the river, or put new water into it in the sense of keeping water in the channel instead of having it diverted by the Front Range. 'It doesn't generate any wet water,' said Dick Proctor, manager of the Grand Valley Water Users Association, referring to the difference. In any case, the proposal likely wouldn't pass muster with the Colorado Water Conservation Board, said John Redifer of Grand Junction, chairman of the water conservation board, which would have final say on the spending. Even though he's from the Grand Valley, Redifer said he doubted he could support spending roundtable money on the whitewater park because it wouldn't meet the intent of the law that established the organizations... "Palisade and private backers are working to raise money for the whitewater park, which they hope to have built as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation constructs a fish passage for endangered species at the existing Price-Stubb Dam. The dam has closed off the upper reaches of the river to the Colorado pikeminnow for nearly a century and the dam is the last remaining structure preventing the pikeminnow and similarly endangered razorback sucker from swimming in their historic range. The bureau has listed the whitewater park and fish passage as its preferred method for constructing the project." More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 6:17:33 AM     Feds to appeal Black Canyon decision? Things are not settled yet over on the Gunnison River. It seems that the Feds are signaling that they may appeal the recent decision voiding their deal with Colorado over in-stream flows through Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, according to CBS4Denver.com. From the article, "The government is likely to appeal a federal judge's September ruling throwing out agreements governing minimum and maximum flows of the Gunnison River through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The Justice Department on Monday filed a notice of appeal of the ruling, in which U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer said the agreement was "nonsensical" because it ignored the public's right to be involved in the decision to give up the park's older water right. Agency spokeswoman Cynthia Magnuson said the appeal likely would be filed by early January with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver... "In their lawsuit, environmental groups argued that the river flowing through the spectacular gorges of the 14-mile-long park needed both a minimum and a peak flow in order to maintain the park's ecosystem. In a 2003 agreement, Colorado and the Interior Department set a minimum flow rate, but peak flows could be diverted to other uses. Under the agreement, the National Park Service gave up its 1933 water right to the river, allowing peak flows to be diverted for agricultural, municipal and utility uses. Interior Department officials said the agreement balanced the needs of the park with the federal Aspinall Unit, a three-dam hydropower and water-storage system above the canyon." More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 6:09:14 AM

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