Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Jefferson County groundwater district? From today's Rocky Mountain News, "Jefferson County commissioners on Tuesday rejected proposed groundwater assessment rules for new mountain homes because a requirement to monitor nearby wells during yield tests on new wells had been dropped... "The county's planning and zoning division had proposed the revised Mountain Groundwater Overlay District after a series of hearings last year on how to promote sustainable development and an adequate water supply for homes in the foothills and mountains. The district would include the land west of the Dakota Hogback above 6,400 feet, which is the county's fastest-growing area. About 100,000 people currently live in the proposed district... "The proposed rules would have required a pump test to see if an individual well had sufficient flows for each home. But the planning and zoning division removed a requirement that nearby wells also be monitored during the test to assess the impact of the new development. Patrick O'Connell of the planning division said that was because the monitoring test results didn't provide a complete picture of the water supply, which varies throughout the year and from year to year. Furthermore, they weren't cost-effective. He said the cost of the tests would vary from $500 for a single home to $150,000 for a subdivision with more than 200 homes... "The commissioners voted unanimously to return the proposed groundwater district rules to the planning division to review the value of hydrogeologic reports on nearby wells during flow tests." Category: Colorado Water 6:43:07 AM     Biosand filters are found to be effective From Science Daily, "U.S. scientists have found biosand household filtration devices can reduce the incidence of diarrhea, a major cause of death in developing nations. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Professor Mark Sobsey and researchers in the university's School of Public Health compared rates of diarrhea and the condition of drinking water in homes in two villages near Bonao, Dominican Republic. They monitored about 150 households without filters for four months, assessing the rate of illness. Then, about half the houses were given biosand filters -- concrete containers holding gravel and sand. All households were monitored for another six months. The team's initial analysis showed the filter reduced diarrheal disease by up to 40 percent." Category: Colorado Water 6:21:33 AM     WWF: World's Top Ten Rivers at Risk Here's a opinion piece on a new report from the WWF about the top 10 rivers at risk around the world, from the Arab News. They write, "There is a deadly dichotomy between the growing success of international campaigns to improve the survival, health and longevity of the world's poor and the rising struggle to feed, educate, house and find work for these same people. With ever more stomachs to fill and hands to employ, the environment faces continuous degradation, most prominently with the steady loss of rain forests, both plundered for timber and firewood and cleared to create new farmland of often short-lived fertility. However, as a new report [pdf] from the Geneva-based World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) makes clear, fresh water is also under threat as the world's rivers are increasingly dammed, diverted and obstructed for irrigation, power, industry and drinking. "The top ten threatened rivers include the legendary Nile, Yangtze and Ganges in Egypt, China and India respectively. Their mighty flows with seasonal flooding once sustained agriculture and fisheries on which great and powerful empires were built. But the rule of Pharaohs and emperors has been swept away by the imperatives of economic growth and profit. With less water allowed to flow along their full courses, the quality of water deteriorates, man-made pollutants dumped into the river concentrate to dangerous levels, fish and plant life is damaged, siltation occurs and an entire ecosystem that once sustained millions is, so we are warned, now being driven into potentially irrecoverable decline. In the United States, the once awesome Colorado River has been so dammed for power and sucked out by agriculturalists, industry and urban centers, that not a single drop of its water any longer flows into the sea. The rising concern over the world's most well-known rivers comes after decades when small flows have been reduced to mere trickles which dry up completely in hot summer months. This is happening throughout North America and Europe and is particularly notable in southern UK." Category: Colorado Water 6:12:41 AM     Snowpack: It's 'crazy warm' Here's an update about the snowpack from the Denver Post. From the article, "With little more than a month remaining for the Colorado high country snow season, a review of statewide water prospects reveals the sort of checkerboard pattern we've come to expect. Some water courses boast solid snowpacks; others lag at levels approaching real concern. In the troubled years since the turn of the century, overall conditions only occasionally have been better. Certainly they have been worse. With the exception of the southeast, where dangerously low reservoir levels gained barely a boost from the deadly blizzard that swept the region, Colorado impoundments generally will enter the runoff period in good shape... "As of Sunday, the Natural Resource Conservation Service reported a 103 percent snowpack for the South Platte, highest in the state. Most reservoirs in the system are either close to full or overflowing. 'Hopefully, we'll provide healthy flows throughout the summer,' said Dave Bennett, water resource planner with Denver Water. Bennett noted that system storage actually improved during the winter for the first time in history. Water currently is spilling over Elevenmile Dam and close to it at Cheesman Dam... "Antero Reservoir stands at 89 percent, poised to fill; both Strontia and Chatfield are brimming. At 69 percent, Aurora's Spinney Mountain Reservoir should approach filling. 'The unusual thing is the early melt,' Bennett said. 'We're having such an early runoff, it's amazing.' The Arkansas ranked as the only other river above average at 101 percent. The Colorado followed at 89 percent, but most other water courses lagged badly. Worst was the San Juan/Dolores with just a 62 percent pack. The Gunnison stood at 77 percent, the Yampa/White at 78 percent, and the Rio Grande at 79 percent - certainly not very encouraging. Two countercurrents make the water situation even more intriguing. Most reservoirs across the state will enter runoff with considerably higher than normal levels. In the southwest, Lemon Reservoir stood 173 percent of normal, Vallecito 143 and McPhee 108. Similar conditions exist in other basins where runoff prospects are slim." More snowpack news from the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. They write, "March is usually considered a 'powder month' for Colorado ski resorts. Not this year. Powderhorn Ski Resort has lost about 15 inches of snow in two weeks. Now, it's losing up to two inches each day. Over the same period, snowpack across the Western Slope has declined by about 15 percent, the National Weather Service reports. Streams are running high. Simply put, it's 'crazy warm' out there, said Chris Treese of the Colorado River Water Conservation District... "Snowpack conditions have declined significantly, particularly in the Gunnison River Basin, where on March 13, snowpack water content was 82 percent of normal with precipitation for the water year at 97 percent of normal. On Tuesday, snowpack water content was 74 percent of normal, while annual precipitation totaled 93 percent of normal. The Upper Colorado River Basin dropped from a snow-water equivalent 94 percent of normal on March 13 to 87 percent of normal on Tuesday. Plateau Creek east of Palisade may have broken a flow record Tuesday, which was set in 1995, said U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist Rick Crowfoot. The creek ran as high as 280 cubic feet per second Tuesday afternoon. The record average flow for March 20 is 232 cubic feet per second. Records have been kept for 68 years... "'Warm, dry springs are killers for water supply,' Bureau of Reclamation hydrologist Tom Ryan said. 'Everyone's out there enjoying the weather, but the water supply picture has gotten bleaker.' Flows into Lake Powell through July are projected to be 59 percent of average, he said. Lake Powell is now 48 percent full and likely will hover around 50 percent until next winter, when the lake will likely begin to drop again, Ryan said." Category: Colorado Water 5:55:42 AM     Fountain Creek management It seems that Fountain Creek is always in the news. Here's an article about augmentation plans and the use of Fountain Creek to transport augmentation water for well users from the Pueblo Chieftain. They write, "As El Paso County water users are squeezing more water from Fountain Creek, the state is tightening requirements for using that water in well augmentation plans... "The biggest impact comes from growth of communities along Fountain Creek that use surface water to augment stream flows depleted by wells. Wells put in before 1996 are required to provide annual augmentation plans to assure well pumping does not deplete the water supply in the Arkansas River. As more water rights in the valley are more fully developed and as the Southern Delivery System continues to be delayed, less water is available to meet augmentation requirements... "The pinch on Fountain Creek this year is occurring for a number of reasons: A court decision last year limited the amount of water the Cherokee Water District could claim from the Upper Black Squirrel Creek groundwater basin; In the future, the district plans to recycle flows within the basin, reducing their availability to Fountain Creek; Water rights owned by Cody Resources in the developed area near the World Arena must be more accurately measured or they cannot be used for augmentation; A court filing by Security on the Lock Ditch will change how that water fits into augmentation plans; Well use is a major source of water for Fountain and Security, which have filed applications in water court to make full use of groundwater should SDS continue to be delayed; While both communities get water from the Fountain Valley Pipeline, Security uses wells for two-thirds of its water supply, and Fountain gets half its water from wells. Category: Colorado Water 5:48:50 AM

© Copyright 2007 John Orr. Last update: 4/1/07; 9:50:00 AM.