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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
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AP: "No one had to twist Robert Redford's arm to get him to narrate an IMAX film about a Grand Canyon river trip...The issues affecting the river, a source of water for some 27 million people in seven states, are addressed in a viewer-friendly way in "Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk 3D," which opens nationwide Friday. The film, directed by Greg MacGillivray, follows environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and anthropologist Wade Davis -- each accompanied by their respective daughters, Kick Kennedy and Tara Davis -- as they explore the river with the expertise of Native American guide Shana Watahomigie."
Category: Colorado Water
6:04:05 PM 
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Here's Part III of their series on climate change and its effects on Northern Colorado from The Craig Daily Press. From the article:
As our public and private lands are mined for oil and gas, we are asked to endanger a sustainable economy and environmentally healthy future. We also are distracted from discussing and building a sustainable economic base. After mining and resource extraction, reclamation of the land may not replace enough of the same topsoil to provide nutrients supportive of anything deeper-rooted than grasses. Reclamation may be underfunded or not priority funded. What happens to Northwest Colorado after we allow the liquidation and marketing, as soon as possible, of our natural resources, giving profits to corporations that far exceed our royalties or tax intake, while also giving us additional present and future service, health and infrastructure costs? What happens when other natural resources, used to sustain us with hunting, tourism, agriculture, fishing, recreation, historical sites and research, are less healthy, less productive?
Do we need to learn how Northwest Colorado must be alert to protect our own carbon dioxide-reducing sagebrush steppe ecosystems, after hurricanes such as Katrina and Rita? Those hurricanes killed or damaged about 320 million trees -- all now decaying or burnable in forest fires -- that will be releasing as much CO2 into the air currents over the United States as the rest of the nation's forests take out of the air in a year of photosynthesis. The role of the West's sagebrush acreage to remove and hold CO2 thus becomes more important. Do we need to learn that to make ethanol from corn requires lye, methane, likely pesticide use, and electricity, while to use renewable switchgrass to make ethanol will produce 4 to 6 times as much for the same energy input? Does the reality of an event occurring in the oceans from global warming instruct our understanding of our ecosystems? The Earth's oceans, having absorbed about 50 percent of human-caused CO2 overproduction, have thus now a decrease in the amount of carbonate ions available for shell-building organisms (such as krill) that are at the base of all fish and sea mammal food chains. Finally, do we need to find and study the climate change data produced in 2007 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change composed of 2,000 scientists from 100 countries, or will we instead give our allegiance to the reports of Exxon/Mobil, the largest private company in human history, holder of $300 billion in profits from our natural resources since the 1989 Exxon/Valdez oil spill (for which they have yet to pay any damages), and a founder of its own climate study group - Global Climate Coalitions? Exxon/Mobil's former CEO, Lee Raymond, liked to say often, "Science as a certainty is an oxymoron."
Category: Climate Change News
7:03:53 AM
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Reclamation tested their water treatment plant this week and the good news is that it can process 2,100 gallons per minute according to The Colorado Springs Gazette. From the article:
There was encouraging news for Leadville this week, as a test of the water treatment plant at a blocked mine drainage tunnel showed it can handle twice its current capacity. Officials said the plant on Monday ran for several hours at 2,100 gallons per minute, the first time in more than a decade it treated that much contaminated mine water. "It's wonderful news. It's working," said Brad Littlepage, manager of the treatment plant, which is run by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The plant treats about 1,100 gallons per minute because of several collapses that have blocked the tunnel...
The treatment plant last ran at 2,100 gallons per minute in the mid-1990s. It may have to again, because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to drill a new well into the tunnel by May and run the water into the plant. "We just wanted to make sure that it could take that capacity, and it did," Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Peter Soeth said Tuesday. In the meantime, the EPA is trying to relieve the pressure in the mine pool by pumping 450 gallons per minute from another shaft across town. The noncontaminated water is being directed into the Arkansas. EPA spokeswoman Wendy Chipp said the agency will continue pumping there until it reaches contaminated water.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.
Category: Colorado Water
6:35:08 AM
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Here's a primer on water treatment for Pueblo's water supply from The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
The bad news is there could be worse things than trace pharmaceuticals in Pueblo's drinking water. The good is that they probably aren't there. The presence of trace amounts of pharmaceuticals and other "endocrine disruptors" - compounds found in pesticides, herbicides and hormones - has been a concern of water managers for decades, said Don Colalancia, water quality manager for the Pueblo Board of Water Works. Constant testing has found no evidence of the potentially dangerous compounds in Pueblo's drinking water, which is primarily treated to remove more immediately deadly things like bacteria, he added...
"The thing you're at risk for in drinking water is bacteria, which could kill you or make you sick almost immediately," Colalancia said. "They haven't demonstrated that any of these (endocrine disruptors) are harmful, even over the long run. A tiny bit may not have much of an effect." The quantities of substances in water can now be measured in parts per billion or parts per trillion, which has led to the discovery of endocrine disruptors, synthetic or natural compounds that mimic human or animal hormones, in the water supply. "They don't have any regulations on the amounts of these you get from foods, but the water supply is something you can regulate," Colalancia said. "Hormone concentrations in beef, chicken or milk are far more significant."
That's not to say the water board is complacent about looking for these compounds. Water samples are sent to laboratories to test for about 50 compounds which could show up in Pueblo's water once or twice a year. So far, no measurable quantities have been detected. The water board does not have certification or the equipment to test for all of the compounds in-house. But there are limits on what they can look for. "A laboratory has to know what to test for," Colalancia said. "We can't give them a list to test for 5,000 compounds." The types of water treatment used in Pueblo are primarily to kill bacteria, as well as meeting taste and odor criteria. As a side benefit, many of the potentially harmful compounds are removed along the way...
Water is first treated with powder-activated carbon and allowed to settle in a pre-sedimentation basin. This process takes organics out of the water, including any motor oil that may have spilled from boats on Lake Pueblo. From there, water is treated with chlorine and ammonia to disinfect it. Alum and polymers are then used to start coagulation and the water is put into settling basins. Finally, the water goes through filtration and fluoridation before being released into Pueblo's water system. There are other treatments which could be applied - ozone, ultraviolet light or membrane filtration, for instance - that would more completely purify water, but the benefits would be minuscule compared to the cost. Colalancia estimated each million gallons of treatment capacity would cost another $1 million for a plant that would remove everything that could conceivably be measured. The water board currently spends about $400,000 a year on chemicals. There are also expenses for equipment, maintenance and personnel.
Accordin to The Boulder Daily Camera trace pharmaceuticals have been found in Boulder Creek. From the article:
In 2003, the city of Boulder and the U.S. Geological Survey found small concentrations of prescription drugs, Tylenol and nicotine throughout the creek, but mostly in water samples that had been collected downstream of the Boulder wastewater treatment plant. Other studies have confirmed the presence of such contaminants in the creek. Studies in 2004 and 2006, led by David Norris, an integrative physiology professor at the University of Colorado, along with the USGS, discovered that fish just below the plant were changing sex, linking many drugs -- including birth-control and epilepsy medication -- as the culprits...
The city does not test drinking water for pharmaceuticals, but CU and the USGS have ongoing studies that look at a range of chemicals, including pharmaceuticals, in Boulder Creek and the city's wastewater treatment plant. The AP investigation reported "unspecified antibiotics" in Denver's drinking water. According to Steve Lohman, water quality manager for Denver Water, the AP report refers to trace amounts of tetracycline and sulfonated antibiotics, among others that fight bacterial infections, detected in Denver drinking water samples in 2005 in a study led by Colorado State University. Although recent studies have shown effects to wildlife and even human cells, local water-quality officials said risk to human health is not fully understood.
More coverage from The Boulder Daily Camera. They write:
A five-month Associated Press investigation has determined that trace amounts of many of the pharmaceuticals we take to stay healthy are seeping into drinking water supplies, and a growing body of research indicates that this could harm humans. But people aren't the only ones who consume that water. There is more and more evidence that some animals that live in or drink from streams and lakes are seriously affected.
Pharmaceuticals in the water are being blamed for severe reproductive problems in many types of fish: The endangered razorback sucker and male fathead minnow have been found with lower sperm counts and damaged sperm; some walleyes and male carp have become what are called feminized fish, producing egg yolk proteins typically made only by females. Meanwhile, female fish have developed male genital organs. Also, there are skewed sex ratios in some aquatic populations, and sexually abnormal bass that produce cells for both sperm and eggs. There are problems with other wildlife as well: kidney failure in vultures, impaired reproduction in mussels, inhibited growth in algae. "We have no reason to think that this is a unique situation," says Erik Orsak, an environmental contaminants specialist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, pulling off rubber gloves splattered with fish blood at Lake Mead. "We find pretty much anywhere we look, these compounds are ubiquitous."
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Category: Colorado Water
6:25:29 AM
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The state Senate killed HB 08-1030 this week, according to CBS4Denver.com. From the article:
The state Senate on Tuesday killed the last remaining bill aimed at giving some help to farmers with wells along the South Platte River. House Bill 1030 [Exempt Pre-1974 Well Depletions (pdf)] was defeated in a 20-15 vote with Republicans and Democrats on both sides of the issue. It would have let farmers off the hook for replacing water from their wells taken from the river before March 15, 1974. Without the bill, they're responsible for replacing the water taken before and after that date, when they were warned that they would have to replace well water that drew down the area's acquifer [sic].
Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, said it wasn't fair to other water users to change the rules now. Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, said that other water users would lose out if well pumpers didn't have to make up for the water they took. He said people in Summit County as well as Golden and Thornton were concerned about the bill, which he said was a "red flag" for him...
The bill was one of two that came out of a task force set up by Gov. Bill Ritter after wells along the South Platte from Brighton to Wiggins were shut down in a water rights dispute in 2006. The House killed the other proposal earlier.
More coverage from The Denver Post. They write:
The state Senate unexpectedly killed a bill Tuesday that would have given a boost to northern Colorado farmers whose water wells near the South Platte River were shut down by the state...
Sponsors said House Bill 1030, which came out of a governor's task force, would have forgiven a small amount of the water the farmers owe, to help them begin running their wells and watering their crops again. "This was just a little, tiny step we could have made that we thought could help some well owners without hurting the senior (rights owners)," said Sen. Greg Brophy, a Wray Republican who was one of the bill's chief sponsors. The bill passed the House last month 47-15 and saw no opposition Monday in passing the Senate on second reading. But it died on third reading, one step from the governor's desk. Sen. Gail Schwartz, a Snowmass Village Democrat who was one of the bill's sponsors, turned on it. Nine Democrats and 11 Republicans voted no, while 11 Democrats and four Republicans voted yes. Opponents said it was a bad idea that would have fundamentally altered the state's already complicated water law and hurt senior water-rights holders. "Water bills are not always Front Range versus West Slope," said Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne. " "But the water actions we take in one part of the state have an impact on other parts of the state...For a person on the cusp," said Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, "this would prevent them from using their water right for their crops, for their cattle or for their municipal use." Evan Dreyer, a spokesman for Gov. Bill Ritter, said the decision was disappointing.
"It continues to be an important issue for the governor," Dreyer said, "and we'll keep working at it."
Category: Colorado Water
6:11:47 AM
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© Copyright
2008
John Orr.
Last update:
4/1/08; 8:11:01 AM.
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