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Saturday, December 15, 2007
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From The La Junta Tribune Democrat, "The Internal Revenue Service has offered settlements to conservation easement donors and the donors have 30 days to accept or reject the offers. Jay Winner, Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District general manager, presented the board with copies of the Tax Credit Task Force discussion paper and review of the IRS Settlement Offers for 2003 audits regarding conservation easements Wednesday."
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Category: Colorado Water
10:28:44 AM 
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Here's an update on the San Luis Valley confined aquifer rules case now awaiting a ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court, from The Valley Courier. They write:
Attorneys representing the state and Valley water users argued last week to the higher court on behalf of the state engineer's confined aquifer rules that had been upheld by Water Judge O. John Kuenhold. Attorney Allan Hale argued against the rules on behalf of the opposer Cotton Creek Circles, a 4,700-acre cattle ranch near Moffat watered by Cotton Creek that flows out of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. "The rules at issue are contrary to statute and violate the constitutional right to appropriate the waters of this state," Hale said. "The water court's judgment and decree approving the rules should be vacated and the case remanded to the state engineer with instructions to follow Colorado law." Hale argued that the state engineer in these rules was only addressing a part of the overappropriation problem by addressing only the confined aquifer at this point and not the wells in the unconfined aquifer.
The justices said they understood this as a staged program to protect surface water rights and Rio Grande Compact deliveries. Hale agreed but said, "The problem is is that if one looks at the rules the promise of doing something in the future rings very hollow to somebody who has to live by the rules such as a new appropriator." Hale specifically targeted the water management sub-districts by saying the relief they are supposed to bring has not been brought to fruition because only one sub-district has been brought forward for approval in the 21 months since the confined aquifer rules trial in the Valley.
Hale also maintained that the legislature went "too far" in setting the stage for these rules through House Bill 1011 and Senate Bill 222. Hale said the rules had two fundamental flaws: 1) requiring one-for-one replacement of water for new withdrawals from the confined aquifer which he said led to the practical effect of no new water withdrawals being possible; and 2) only regulating the confined aquifer. Hale also said the water court found there was about one billion acre feet of water in the confined aquifer. "Clearly all of the decrees in the San Luis Valley for wells in the confined aquifer are a fraction of the water stored in that aquifer," Hale said.
Assistant Attorney General Peter Ampe argued the state's case to the Colorado Supreme Court along with Rio Grande Water Users Association Attorney Bill Paddock. Ampe talked about the hydrology of the San Luis Valley and the history of rule making regarding the Rio Grande Basin going back to the state's moratoriums on new wells up through recent legislation setting up the Rio Grande Decision Support System and sub-districts. Ampe argued that the state's rules were valid and should be upheld by the higher court. He said they complied with legislators' intentions in House Bill 1011 and Senate Bill 222. Ampe also argued against Hale's argument that the state's rules should not be conducted in stages. Ampe said there was no reason the legislature could not take a stepwise careful approach to a problem. "There's no requirement that a legislature or rules solve every problem in the valley in one fell swoop. Here the legislature is very intentionally and very carefully proceeding slowly forward," Ampe said. "They do not want to cause the type of messes that we've had in other basins. Here the general assembly concluded and the court found a rational basis for that conclusion that proceeding first with rules regarding new appropriations in an overappropriated basin made the most sense." He added, "The legislature also provided various or encouraged other activities for water users rather than rules. That's the sub-districts. A sub-district has been approved. It is moving forward."
Paddock spoke about sustainability to the Colorado Supreme Court. He said he represented farmers who use both surface and groundwater and are vitally interested in the outcome of this case because it not only affects their livelihoods but the livelihoods of the generations to come. Paddock said focusing on the quantity of water under the Valley's surface is not where the focus should be placed. He said the focus should be placed on the effects of pumping that water on the surface streams, wetlands, water rights, the Rio Grande Compact, confined and unconfined aquifers even to the point of land subsidence which the water court acknowledged as much of a real possibility as has already occurred in California...
Paddock added, "The fundamental concept here is that we have a system that we are trying to put back into a sustainable basis."
Category: Colorado Water
10:20:52 AM
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From YourHub.com, "In accordance with Colorado House Bill 04-1365, Centennial Water & Sanitation District is releasing their Water Conservation Plan. The water conservation plan is a document that describes specific conservation measures that Centennial Water is currently implementing and conservation measures that will be evaluated for possible implementation in the future. The plan provides an overview of Centennial Water's facilities, water supply, service area and customer base. Also covered in the water conservation plan are Centennial Water's goals for conservation, the steps that the District used to develop the plan, and the role water conservation plays in water supply planning. The document also outlines the steps Centennial Water will use to annually review and evaluate measures for recommendation through the water conservation planning process."
Category: Colorado Water
9:59:02 AM
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From The Northern Colorado Business Journal, "A Division 1 Water Court judge has ruled against the North Sterling Irrigation District in a suit filed by the irrigation district to call out upstream junior water rights in the month of October.
"Judge Roger Klein ruled against the irrigation district and in favor of state water engineers after a five-day trial in September that sought to move up North Sterling's call for water storage. The judge ruled that North Sterling must abide by decisions made by the engineers to be allowed to call for water beginning Nov. 1 only if the irrigation district had already filled its reservoir for that water year."
More from the article:
Lining up with North Sterling in the lawsuit were the city of Boulder, Centennial Water and Sanitation District and the Pawnee Well Users Inc. Aligned with the engineers were the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District and its Groundwater and Well Augmentation Subdistricts, Western Mutual Ditch Co., Farmers Independent Ditch Co., Bijou Irrigation District and Bijou Irrigation Co., city of Aurora, Riverside Irrigation District and Riverside Reservoir and Land Co., Fort Morgan Reservoir and Irrigation Co. and the Jackson Lake Reservoir and Irrigation Co.
Category: Colorado Water
9:49:55 AM
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The Colorado Supreme Court has appointed 21 people to a task force to study streamlining the state's water courts, according to The Rocky Mountain News. From the article:
Any changes to the [priority, diversion point, water rights] must go through the state's seven regional water courts. As more communities tap the state's water resources for household, environmental and industrial uses, the number of water court cases have climbed, and the time to process court cases and the costs have climbed as well. The task force has 21 members appointed by Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey. The first meeting is scheduled for Dec. 20 from noon to 2 p.m. in the Supreme Court Conference room on the fifth floor of the Judicial Building at 2 E. 14th Ave.
More coverage from The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. They write:
Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey has appointed a 21-member committee, including local attorney Mark Hermundstad, to study ways to streamline Colorado water courts. The committee, composed of water attorneys, engineers, judges and others involved in the water courts, will report to Gov. Bill Ritter and the Legislature later this year on its findings. "One of the nice things about the water court process," Hermundstad said, "is it works pretty smoothly for most cases." He said he hopes the committee can speed up water court proceedings complex cases and "make things happen more quickly in emergency situations." The committee appointments follow a June report from the Denver University Water Futures Panel encouraging the state to streamline its water courts. Three members of the Water Futures Panel, including former Colorado Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Love Kourlis, were appointed to the water court committee.
Here's another article from The Summit Daily News. From the article:
Dwindling water supplies and growing demand have turned water transactions into costly ordeals that threaten to drive out smaller users, so a new panel that was announced Friday will look at ways to streamline the process. "Anybody can get into a water case," said Supreme Court Justice Greg Hobbs, who will be chairman of the panel. But "it can get dragged out and (that can make it) hard for some of these people to stay in the case." Hobbs said water cases have become increasingly complex as growing cities buy rights from farmers and ranchers and a prolonged drought has forced some agricultural users to shut off their wells. Issues the panel will consider include using special masters to help speed the process, assigning senior judges to help and looking for ways to reduce costs for small water users.
The Aspen Times weighs in. They write:
Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey said the panel will make its recommendations to her by August. She will give the report to Gov. Bill Ritter and legislators. She said the committee would "identify the issues most critical to the fairness and efficiency of the water court process." Mullarkey named Supreme Court Justice Greg Hobbs to chair the panel. Hobbs, a member of the court since 1996, is vice president of the Colorado Foundation for Water Education...Colorado has seven water courts, one for each of six major water basins and one for groundwater basins. Appeals from water courts go directly to the state Supreme Court.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Category: Colorado Water
9:04:30 AM
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Here's a recap of Friday's 2007 Ag Water Summit from The Greeley Tribune (free registration required). From the article:
A new statewide group is addressing how agriculture can face changing water demands and help find solutions to the problems those changes present. The Colorado Agricultural Water Alliance, which includes ag leaders from across the state representing all facets of the industry, intends to empower Colorado's agricultural producers to make the most informed and viable decisions regarding the state's water. One of the targets, if not the largest target in the state, is the South Platte River Basin, which includes the Front Range from Denver to the Wyoming border. The alliance, along with the Colorado Ag Council and Jefferson County Cooperative Extension, hosted the 2007 Ag Water Summit Friday. The summit drew about 175 people to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds to get an update on a white paper being developed about Colorado's water supply future and to discuss other issues facing agriculture and water. The paper, which is scheduled to be released to the public early in 2008, is being developed by Reagan Waskom of Colorado State University and Rick Brown with the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
Brown said agriculture water efficiency and conservation, while very contentious, will play a role in meeting future water needs, which are being driven by expected growth. Agriculture diverts 11.1 million acre feet of water annually and uses 86 percent of the state's water. In the South Platte Basin, which is expected to see a growth of nearly 2 million people by 2030, agriculture uses 77 percent of the water with municipalities and industry using the other 23 percent. The basin has the largest percentage of water going to municipalities and industry of any river basin in the state, Brown said...
Waskom said water conservation is nothing new to agriculture, noting that in 1956 there was no irrigated acreage in the South Platte under pivot systems. Now, about 39 percent of the acreage is under pivots, even though irrigated acreage has dropped by 150,000 acres in the same time period. Pivot systems use less water than does flood irrigation, which was typical when irrigated acreage was developed.
Category: Colorado Water
8:44:56 AM
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Say hello to Protect Our Wells the website for Denver Basin Aquifer Private Well Owners. From the website:
Protect Our Wells is a Colorado non-profit, citizen-based organization formed to advocate the interests of county residents with private wells into the Denver Basin Aquifers.
In El Paso County, the Denver Basin includes most of the northeastern part of the County east of the Front Range. Water from the four Denver Basin Aquifers - the Dawson, Denver, Arapahoe and Laramie-Fox Hills - supplies most of the water for the Tri-Lakes Area, all of the water for the Black Forest, and much of the water for the Falcon and northeastern El Paso County area. The City of Colorado Springs also owns and uses Denver Basin water. To the north, municipalities and private wells in eight other counties (Douglas, Elbert, Jefferson, Arapahoe, Denver, Weld, Adams, and Morgan) also draw groundwater from the Denver Basin.
The El Paso County Commissioners and some Metropolitan Water Districts have an intergovernmental agreement to participate in the El Paso County Water Authority. In June 2003, they released a report entitled "El Paso County Water Report" which suggests interim and long-term solutions for El Paso County's water supplies, including items addressing the use of Denver Basin groundwater. The excecutive summary and the full report are available.
We believe input from private well owners into the water planning process is essential, and that is the primary reason for the formation of Protect Our Wells.
Other reasons are to assemble data on the status of Denver Basin aquifers and to advocate conservation of this water as development occurs, to have a group that can work with local well owners and various levels of government, and which can help in water conservation education.
Disclaimer: They're linking to our report on the groundwater recharge conference last September in their news area. We don't get a lot of time to do original reporting so we think it's cool when we get a link. Thanks!.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here,
here and here.
Category: Colorado Water
8:35:23 AM
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Opponents of Powertech's proposed uranium mining operation in Weld County are assuring supporters that the mine can be stopped, according to The Longmont Daily Times-Call. From the article:
"Uranium mines have been stopped before," said Lilias Jones Jarding, a member of Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction. Jarding and Jackie Adolph, both active opponents to the proposed uranium mine between the towns of Wellington and Nunn, spoke during Friday's Loveland Kiwanis Club meeting...
Jarding, who has a Ph.D. in political science with an emphasis in environmental policy, said past studies have shown in-situ mining contaminates the environment and causes increased rates of cancer nearby. It also lowers property values, something she said is already happening to the area surrounding the proposed mine. "Some say property values have decreased 20 to 30 percent there," Jarding said. "But nothing has sold there, so it's a little hard to tell." She said the radioactivity coming from a uranium mine -- whether it's in-situ or traditional hard-rock -- would hurt livestock, contaminate underground water supplies and cause health problems, among other issues, if allowed to move forward..."Northern Colorado is trying to be seen as a renewable-energy hotbed," she said. "Clearly (a uranium mine) is not compatible with that."
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
8:18:47 AM
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© Copyright
2008
John Orr.
Last update:
1/1/08; 1:18:44 PM.
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