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Saturday, April 26, 2008
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From The Yuma Pioneer: "The Republican River Compact Compliance Pipeline will not include the capability of generating hydroelectricity. The Republican River Water Conservation District Board of Directors voted not to include the hydropower capabilities, at the end of last Friday's rescheduled quarterly meeting in Yuma."
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Category: Colorado Water
10:36:41 AM 
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From The Yuma County Pioneer: "The Yuma City Council has agreed to enter into an intergovernmental agreement for the Yuma County Water Authority. A motion authorizing Mayor Gene Seward to finalize the agreement, with a fee rate of $1 per resident, passed on a 6-0 vote, during last week's regular meeting, April 15. Mayor Seward and councilmen Sergio Sanchez, Ralph Ebert, Shad Nau, Dan Baucke, and Tony Layson Jr. voted in favor. Councilman Fred Raish was absent, attending another meeting."
Category: Colorado Water
10:31:57 AM
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From The Wet Mountain Tribune: "Some 125 persons are expected to gather at Hermit Basin Lodge next week to chat about water issues. The 2008 Arkansas River Basin Water Forum titled 'Rolling Down the River' will take place Wednesday and Thursday, April 30-May 1. Hosting the event are the towns of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff, as well as the county commissioners and Chris Haga from the Round Mountain Water and Sanitation District. Haga told the Tribune representatives are coming from Trinidad, Rocky Ford, Lamar, Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Canon City, Salida, Leadville, Gunnison and elsewhere to network and share ideas about Colorado water law, as well as water use and conservation. RMW manager Josh Cichocki will also be in attendance."
Category: Colorado Water
10:26:40 AM
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From The Pueblo Chieftain: "A mining reclamation project that has involved federal and state agencies, prison inmates and a mining company received a U.S. Department of the Interior Cooperative Conservation Award this week. The Millsap Gulch project has cleaned up the nuisance left behind from the gold mining era. A huge pile of tailings, mostly fine sand, was piled in Millsap Gulch, two miles south of Victor, between 1893 and the 1930s. After two earthen dams collapsed, every downpour of rain would wash significant amounts of the silt onto the Bob and Helen Shoemaker ranch about 10 miles south of the gulch."
Category: Colorado Water
10:22:43 AM
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It looks like there is going to be a fight over the dough and solution for draining the Leadville mine pool. The Rocky Mountain News reports:
The Bush administration has balked at Sen. Ken Salazar's legislation to lock in a long-term strategy for averting a disaster at a plugged mine drainage tunnel in Leadville. The bill is inspired by concerns of residents and local officials that the 65-year-old mine tunnel could burst, flooding surrounding areas and contaminating the Arkansas River. It would clarify confusion about which federal agency is responsible and give the Bureau of Reclamation unambiguous power - and responsibility - for maintaining the flooded tunnels and preventing a future environmental disaster. The legislation also would authorize up to $40 million for remedies approved in 2003 by the Environmental Protection Agency, including construction of a bulkhead to isolate contaminated water, new wells and pipelines to take water to a treatment plant, and backfilling portions of the tunnel...
Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Robert Johnson told the subcommittee the Bush administration opposes the legislation, calling its proposed fixes premature. Johnson said his agency and the EPA are cooperating on water pumping this summer to alleviate short-term dangers. He said it's too early to say what long-term remedies are needed until a risk analysis, which is looking at the area's geology, groundwater flows and other issues, is finished.
More coverage from The Pueblo Chieftain. They write:
A bill that would provide both short- and long-term remedies to the blockage at the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel was discussed for the first time at a committee hearing Thursday. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Sub-committee on Water and Power heard testimony on a bill U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., introduced in February to address the blockage in the Leadville Tunnel and to avoid a potentially catastrophic release of water that could threaten nearby residents and cause environmental damage to the Arkansas River. The committee heard testimony from Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Robert Johnson and Susan Parker Bodine, a representative from the Environmental Protection Agency. Martha Rudolph, director of environmental programs for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, was also a witness and testified in support of the bill.
Salazar's bill will ensure that Reclamation has the necessary authority and funding to repair and maintain the Leadville Tunnel and for the long-term treatment of the mine drainage water at the bureau's water treatment plant.
The bill also:
Directs Reclamation to participate in the long-term remedy for the Leadville Tunnel that has been approved by the EPA and the state department of health.
Requires Reclamation to construct a bulkhead in the tunnel to isolate the contaminated pool, backfill a portion of the tunnel to segregate the mine pool from clean water entering the lower portions of the tunnel, install wells, pumps and a gravity pipeline to transport contaminated mine pool water to the Reclamation plant for treatment, and provide protection against a catastrophic failure of the tunnel.
Authorizes $40 million for long-term remedy.
Directs the secretary of the interior, in cooperation with the state and the EPA, to conduct a study to determine whether any blockages in the Leadville Tunnel have affected, or are affecting, water quality and aquatic life in the Arkansas River.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.
From The Leadville Chronicle: "Don't be alarmed if California Gulch turns flourescent next week: it's only a test. Early in the week of April 28, the Colorado Department of Health and the Environment, along with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the Colorado Mountain College, will be doing sampling and dye tracer tests in California Gulch. The tests are designed to help researchers determine how quickly water travels from the headwaters of California Gulch to the Arkansas River. They will be using a flourescent dye called rhodamine, which may be visible to passers-by. However, the dye is non-toxic, says CDPHE spokesperson Warren Smith. "
Category: Colorado Water
10:06:46 AM
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From The Environmental News Service: "Hundreds of Environmental Protection Agency scientists say they have been pressured by superiors to skew their findings, according to a survey released Wednesday by an advocacy group. The Union of Concerned Scientists said more than half of the nearly 1,600 EPA staff scientists who responded online to a detailed questionnaire reported they had experienced incidents of political interference in their work...Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., in a letter sent Wednesday to Johnson, called the survey results disturbing and said they "suggest a pattern of ignoring and manipulating science." He said he planned to pursue the issue at an upcoming hearing by his Oversight and Government Reform Committee where Johnson is scheduled to testify."
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
9:50:06 AM
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Here's a look at water rights The Fort Collins Coloradoan. From the article:
As Northern Colorado grows, farmers continue to sell off their most valuable cash crop: water rights. "In agriculture, the water that you have is part of your value," said Don Magnuson, co-owner of Ag Country Nutrition, a dairy feed farm near Ault and superintendent of New Cache La Poudre Irrigation Co. "The dirt isn't worth as much as the water, and that's always been true." Water rights, once largely owned by the farmers and ranchers who settled the area, have shifted to ditch companies who deliver.
When the Colorado-Big Thompson Project was completed in 1957, 85 percent of the water shares were owned by farmers and ranchers, said Brian Werner, a spokesman for the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District. That figure has declined to 36 percent. The project brings water from the state's Western Slope to the Front Range and plains for agriculture, municipalities and industry. Today, a C-BT water unit, typically about seven-tenths of an acre-foot, goes for about $9,500 to $10,000, Werner said. In 1957, the price was $1.50 to $2 a unit.
Cities such as Fort Collins that buy more water in anticipation of growing demand may then rent some of their water shares back to ditch companies or farmers. Fort Collins owns approximately $700 million in water shares and rents some of its unneeded shares back to some of the same irrigation companies that it first purchased the water from, such as Pleasant Valley and Lake Canals or Arthur Irrigation Co., said Dennis Bode, water resources manager for the city of Fort Collins utilities department.
Category: Colorado Water
9:42:16 AM
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Complex hydrology is holding up expansion of two reservoirs on Grand Mesa, according to The Delta County Independent. From the article:
A little understood local ecosystem consisting of peat bogs that are sometimes called "fens" and which are being championed by environmental groups have delayed the expansion of two Grand Mesa reservoirs. Public lands managers are now in the process of conducting a region-wide inventory of fens on the GMUG and in other national forests.
Dealing with the presence of fens is particularly tricky because, explains USFS range conservationist Gay Austin, not enough is known about fens to understand how their loss can be replaced, or mitigated, elsewhere in the forest. "We don't know how to restore fens," Austin told a meeting of the Delta-Montrose based Public Lands Partnership recently. Fens are found in various locations on the Grand Mesa and in other national forests. For years the peat material in them could be harvested by anyone with a Forest Service permit for the use. Chunks of peat material periodically break off from a main fen body at Kennicott Slough Reservoir on the Grand Mesa and have to be retrieved from the spillway area, explained USFS planner Carmine Lockwood. Environmental Protection Agency and Forest Service regulations give fens a protected status. They are considered to be a type of wetland. They have also been termed an "aquatic resource of national importance" (ARNI) by the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers.
But, says Austin of the Forest Service, it is the lack of understanding of how to restore peat bog fens, and not necessarily how they are classified, which accounts for their special regulatory status. Unlike a typical wetland, peat bogs may take thousands of years to develop in nature. The peat bog fen issue and the lack of understanding of what fens really are and how they work is also concern for the oil and gas industry, but mostly on private land. "There are many definitions of a fen," said Bruce Bertram, Delta County local government designee for oil and gas. "Some definitions are based on pH of the water they hold, some are based on size or other considerations...What environmental groups need to do," Bertram said, "is define something that is real, something that is actually out there in the field."
Locally, a proposed expansion of the Overland Reservoir above Paonia is being delayed because of the presence of peat bog fens in the expansion area. Tom Howe of the Overland Ditch and Reservoir Company board says that only six one-hundredths (.06) acres of fen ecosystem would be inundated by the reservoir expansion, and only for 10 days of the year. The GMUG has advised Overland to hold off on their expansion until an issue involving the EPA and Crops of Engineers and fens on the north side of Grand Mesa is resolved, Howe explained.
There, the expansion of Hunter Reservoir has had to go through an expansive and lengthy Environmental Impact Statement process. Hunter Reservoir provides domestic raw water supply for the Ute Water Conservancy District system that serves the Grand Valley. Lockwood of the Forest Service said there isn't a lot of interest in the draft environmental impact statement on Hunter Reservoir. "There's not a whole lot of public interest," in that report he said. "But, those people who are interested are very interested," he added.
The Overland Reservoir's owners see their expansion project as essential to maintaining water rights that will fill the expanded reservoir. According to a grant application made to the Gunnison Basin Roundtable committee a year ago, The Overland needs its expansion "to store 971 acre feet of agricultural water decreed to the Overland in 1902. The decree has been classified as 'conditional' and may be lost to the Overland and the state of Colorado if the capability is not found to store the water. The Overland has already begun a project to expand the existing reservoir and has secured a Colorado Water Conservation Board loan to move forward."
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Category: Colorado Water
9:12:29 AM
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Here's an update on Creede's efforts to get the EPA to help with cleanups of the Commodore Waste Rock Pile and the Nelson Tunnel, from The Denver Post. From the article:
"The city and the county have invited the EPA to come in because they can bring in a lot more resources," said Carishma Gokhale- Welch, director of the Willow Creek Reclamation Committee. Although wary of the EPA's reputation as a massive, inflexible federal bureaucracy, residents and officials found the agency has gone to great lengths to avoid being heavy-handed and to work with the community. "When I first heard about this, I, too, was concerned because I had heard so many things about working with Superfund sites and with the EPA," said town manager Clyde Dooley. "But basically, we feel real comfortable with what's happening." The agency has been stung by criticism of Superfund efforts in other historic mining towns like Leadville, where a massive cleanup effort has taken 25 years and burned through tens of millions of dollars, generating local antagonism. "We're trying to avoid anything that might repeat Leadville," said Peggy Linn, an EPA community-involvement coordinator. "You can accomplish a lot more . . . when you have community support."[...]
The biggest hurdle is a century-old mine-drainage tunnel that poisons Willow Creek, a tributary to the Rio Grande, with as much as 300 gallons per minute of acidic, metals-laden runoff. One possible solution -- a water-treatment plant -- would cost about $2 million to build, according to a 2006 study done by the committee. The plant would also require annual operating expenses that the town of fewer than 500 people couldn't cover...
Zeke Ward, the chairman of the committee, said the group also was worried about taking on the tunnel's legal liability. Ward supports stalled federal legislation to shield well-intentioned organizations from lawsuits if something goes wrong during a cleanup. "We were hopeful we could get 'good Samaritan' legislation," he said. "But there was no way the Willow Creek committee could take on that responsibility." Given that the tunnel drainage contributes as much as 75 percent of the heavy metals to the creek, residents finally dropped their resistance when EPA officials said they could take on the project under the umbrella of Superfund.
They have not yet determined what remedies would be applied, but there have been suggestions a water-treatment plant could be disguised to look like an old mine building and the adjacent Commodore waste-rock pile would not have to be removed.
That's important, because tourism has replaced mining as the major interest in the scenic valleys rimmed by 12,000-foot crags and dotted with historic mines with names like Holy Moses, Last Chance, Amethyst and the Commodore.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Category: Colorado Water
8:48:18 AM
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From The Glenwood Springs Post Independent: "Water quality sampling data from energy companies and other sources in the Southern Piceance Basin -- which covers most of Garfield County and parts of Mesa County -- will soon be compiled into a publicly accessible database. It is expected to be ready by the middle of next year. The 'web-accessible common data repository' will provide area residents, researchers, consultants and energy producers with the latest water-quality sampling data. It will be built and administered by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), according to a statement from the USGS and the West Divide Conservancy District. The new database got a big boost recently after the West Divide Water Conservancy District received a $300,000 Mineral Impact Fund grant from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs. The grant will cover about half of the project's total cost of $604,000. Contributions from area local governments, energy companies, the USGS and area water conservation districts will match the grant...
An overview of the water-quality database will be presented as part of a discussion of local water resources on Tuesday, April 29, at the Colorado Mountain College Auditorium, 3695 Airport Rd. in Rifle, and Thursday, May 1, at the Battlement Mesa Activity Center, 0398 Arroyo Dr. Both presentations will begin at 6:30 p.m. and are open to the public. The USGS will also have a booth at the Garfield County Energy Expo on April 30 from noon to 6 p.m. at the Garfield County Fairgrounds in Rifle."
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
8:34:20 AM
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Boat inspections start today at Pueblo Reservoir as part of Colorado's efforts to stop the infestation there, according to The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
Boats arriving at and leaving Lake Pueblo will be inspected beginning today in an attempt to contain zebra mussels at the lake. The state has added 20 rangers in order to provide inspections of all boats being launched at either the North or South marinas. A ranger also will patrol the shores of the lake to inspect shore-launched personal watercraft. "We are focused on containing the zebra mussels at Lake Pueblo," Brad Henley, assistant manager of Lake Pueblo State Park, told about 50 people gathered at a news conference to unveil the program. Boaters will be given a time stamp as well, and any boat that has been on the water longer than 24 hours will be considered high risk.
The state also will begin an education program, handing out brochures explaining the problem with zebra mussels and the need to keep them from spreading to other lakes in the state. "By the end of the summer, people are going to get tired of hearing clean, drain and dry," Henley said, explaining the steps that are necessary to make sure zebra mussels are not transported by boats. While the inspections could add time and mean long lines at the boat ramps, State Parks' goal is to make sure the public understands the need for controlling the zebra mussels, which have cost other states billions of dollars since they were first introduced to the Great Lakes region in 1988...
The mussels begin breeding when water temperatures reach 52-54 degrees, about 10 degrees warmer than Friday's water temperature, Krieger said. While the mussels can spread to other bodies of water through releases of water downstream and by being carried by birds, boats are the most common way they are spread from lake to lake, Krieger said. Ranger Dennis McBrayer demonstrated how boats will be inspected, first the outer hull and then inside the boat, with particular attention to live wells and other areas that gather water. Wet tow ropes and bait buckets must also be dried before the boat is launched in another lake. In June, a boat wash, with recycled water heated to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, will arrive at the lake to wash boats which have mussels or are considered high risk. A car wash or home water heater probably would not be hot enough to kill the mussels, Henley said. The state will avoid using chemicals to kill the mussels for now, because of the problem of disposal, Henley added. A research program, which includes several agencies, will also continue. The current program is being funded by a $1 million grant from the Colorado Water Conservation Board. The state Legislature is rapidly moving SB226, sponsored by State Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, and state Reps. Buffie McFadyen and Dorothy Butcher, both Pueblo Democrats. The bill passed the Senate 33-0 Friday, and now goes to the House. The bill provides $7.2 million beginning in July and $4 million for subsequent years to contain zebra mussels...
Mike French, regional manager for State Parks, said the state is looking at raising boat fees to cover costs, but no decision has been made. The state has 109,000 boat permits, but it's not known how many of those use Lake Pueblo, since the permits are like license tags and are good anywhere in the state. Several boaters attended Friday's press conference. One woman asked whether boaters from Pueblo would have problems using other lakes around the state. Henley said that should not be a problem, but said there will be inspections at several other lakes as well. He stressed the importance of cleaning, draining and drying boats after leaving any lake in the state.
Meanwhile, Alan Hamel of the Pueblo Board of Water Works briefly discussed the potential impacts of zebra mussels for the seven municipal water providers who take water directly from the dam.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Category: Colorado Water
8:29:05 AM
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Here's a recap of this week's board meeting for the Lower Arkansas Water Conservancy District, from The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
The Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District board voted this week to provide another $50,000 for a water quality study by Colorado State University-Pueblo. The board also voted to make an additional $50,000 available if other partners are found. "If not, then we need to tell them this could be the end," said Melissa Esquibel, Pueblo County director. The Lower Ark has provided $300,000 for a three-year study that looks at metals and bacteria, and their effect on plant and animal life in Fountain Creek. The first appropriation was made in 2006 and included money for the purchase of an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry machine that can quickly measure trace elements in water, plant or tissue samples. The information is valuable to the Lower Ark district, which tries to protect water quality in the Arkansas River...
The study has also uncovered specific conditions along Fountain Creek, such as the discovery of leaking sewer pipes at Manitou Springs last year by using genetic markers that identified the source of E. coli bacteria as human. The study also benefits students at CSU-Pueblo by giving them field experience in gathering samples...
Del Nimmo, research coordinator of the study, said there are possibilities for funding, adding that CSU-Pueblo has contributed both money for equipment and staff time to the project so far. "The stakeholders have been out there, but things have been moving slowly," Nimmo said. The city of Pueblo is now considering a $75,000 request as well as a grant through the Environmental Protection Agency to test for selenium. Requests have been made from Pueblo County and the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments as well, Nimmo said.
Meanwhile, the Lower Ark is moving ahead on a project to create a Fountain Creek master plan, designed to improve water quality in the creek while controlling flood waters. The two-year, $600,000 project is being done in cooperation with Colorado Springs. So far, the plan is moving toward improving wetlands in the creek to contain floods. "In no way am I ruling out a dam, but if that effort fails, we need to continue to address flooding on Fountain Creek," General Manager Jay Winner said. Part of the master plan is to build two demonstration projects, one near Pinon and the other south of Colorado Springs. THK landscape architects are designing the projects and the newly formed Fountain Creek Foundation is raising funds, with the goal of $4.75 million by the end of 2009 and construction at the Pueblo site beginning in 2010. "This will be built knowing that it's going to flood," Winner said. In the longer term, the flood plain can be improved by wetlands, which would slow down flows and cleanse water. "In a flood, 43 miles of wetlands can hold back a lot of water," Winner said.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Category: Colorado Water
8:15:56 AM
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Reclamation has scheduled a hearing on Colorado Springs' proposed Southern Delivery System, according to The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
The Bureau of Reclamation has scheduled a meeting next month in Pueblo for comments on the proposed Southern Delivery System. The bureau will hear comments on the draft EIS from 6 to 8 p.m. at the May 29 meeting scheduled at the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center. "The intent of the meeting is to listen to and record comments made by the public," said Kara Lamb, public information officer for the bureau. "Reclamation will not be responding to comments or answering questions at this meeting." Members of the public wanting to speak at the meeting will have the opportunity to register between 5:30 and 6 p.m. Statements will be limited to a maximum of 3 minutes per participant. There will be a third-party moderator to facilitate the process and a court reporter to document the comments.
- To provide a comment, mail, fax or e-mail to the attention of Kara Lamb at: Bureau of Reclamation 11056 W. County Road 18E Loveland, CO 80537 (fax) 970-663-3212 (e-mail) klamb@gp.usbr.gov
- Comments must be provided in writing no later than June 13.
- For more information, contact Kara Lamb at 970-962-4326.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Category: Colorado Water
8:00:14 AM
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From The Durango Herald: "The head of the Southwestern Water Conservation District is joining the state's most powerful water board. Bruce Whitehead of Hesperus won unanimous approval from the Senate Agriculture Committee on Wednesday to join the Colorado Water Conservation Board. He still needs approval from the full Senate, a formality. Whitehead replaces Don Schwindt of Cortez. The CWCB serves as the state's main body for water policy. It deals with recreational water rights and interstate river compact issues. It also makes loans to local water boards to build projects. And it's the only entity allowed to hold water rights to preserve the environment of rivers. 'There are lots of folks competing for a limited resource, and all of them are valid needs within the state,' Whitehead said."
Category: Colorado Water
7:57:34 AM
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Here's a recap of a recent Crested Butte Town Council meeting along with their proposed new watershed ordinance, from The Crested Butte News. From the article:
The Crested Butte Town Council saw support for adopting the revised version of its protective watershed ordinance during its regular meeting on Monday, April 21. Approximately 20 members of the public appeared at the meeting, bearing placards and encouraging words for the passage of Ordinance No. 6, Series 2008.
The ordinance will allow the town to take advantage of a state statute that permits towns to prohibit and mitigate impacts to their water supply within a five-mile area. The town first adopted a protective watershed ordinance in 1978 and revised it in 1996. The town has been working on this version for the past year, during which time it adopted a temporary moratorium preventing development within the town's watershed in August 2007. The ordinance essentially requires a permit for land use change activity within the town's watershed, with varying degrees of overview depending on the project. Town of Crested Butte attorney John Belkin has spent the last month tweaking the ordinance, with the help of area water experts...
The Town Council heard from several people in support of the ordinance and received two petitions in support, one signed by residents and another signed by teachers and students at the private Crested Butte Academy. The Town Council continued its public hearing on the ordinance to Monday, May 5.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Meanwhile May 6th is the election day for Crested Butte's water board, according to The Crested Butte News. From the article:
Turning on the faucet to get running water is a one-person job, but controlling the water supply and sewer needs for thousands of citizens takes the efforts of more than a dozen people, including a five-person board of directors that oversees monthly operations of the Mt. Crested Butte Water and Sanitation District. An election for the Mt. Crested Butte Water and Sanitation District board of directors will take place on Tuesday, May 6 at the district's offices, located at the entrance to Mt. Crested Butte. The Mt. Crested Butte Water and Sanitation District serves approximately 1,500 customers, including the entire town of Mt. Crested Butte and the Meridian Lake subdivision. The district provides sewer service and water supply tap fees for homes and buildings, and is responsible for treating wastewater before it is discharged into Woods Creek, which feeds into the Slate River. The district's board of directors, who serve four-year terms and attend regular monthly meetings, currently includes William Cavanaugh, David Eleeson, Sandra Mabry, Chuck McGinnis and Bill Racek. Eleeson, McGinnis and Cavanaugh's terms will be up in May, and all three have chosen to run for re-election. Meridian Lake resident Melanie Rees is also a candidate for the district election this year.
Category: Colorado Water
7:55:00 AM
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From The Steamboat Pilot & Today: "Oak Creek's three new board members will get their full immersion into the town's pending infrastructure projects Thursday. The Town Board will hear a presentation from engineer John Connell of Jacobs Carter Burgess, with an update on Oak Creek's ongoing wastewater treatment plant and collection line rehabilitation projects. Connell will be there in part to update the board's new members on the history and future of the projects, Mayor J. Elliott said. Work is set to begin at the wastewater treatment plant in July, though the town has yet to enter the bid process for the project. Although the Town Board hoped to get renovations of its water and wastewater plants completed this year, the water plant upgrades have been pushed back to 2009."
The Fairplay Flume asked each candidate for the Fairplay Sanitaion Board a set of questions. Click through for the answers from yesterday's online edition.
Category: Colorado Water
7:54:03 AM
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Here's some runoff news from The Longmont Daily Times Call. From the article:
The Colorado mountains are poised to unleash more runoff than they have in 11 years. Streams in Washington and Oregon are forecast to carry up to 50 percent more water than usual. Lake Powell, stretching more than 100 miles across Utah and Arizona, is expected to rise 50 feet from its current depleted state...
The reason was an unusually strong jet stream - it was on steroids," [Doug] LeComte likes to say - that pushed this past winter's storms across more of the West than expected. Cold weather helped by allowing the snow to build up instead of melting away rapidly, Perkins said. The results are showing up at some 3,000 snow measuring sites in 12 states monitored by the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service...
The measurements gathered by [Joe] Messina and [Frank] Pacheco in the Pike National Forest, about 40 miles southwest of Denver, became part of a monthly Snow Survey report that showed Colorado's snowpack was 23 percent above average statewide, and as much as 41 percent above average in some places. It had been even higher a month before - 35 percent above average statewide - before dry weather in March. "This is the best year we've got for runoff (in Colorado) in 11 years," said Mike Gillespie, the Snow Survey supervisor in Denver.
Deeper water in Lake Powell and other reservoirs also helps the federal Bureau of Reclamation's hydroelectric plants run more efficiently, and they're projected to crank out 400 million more kilowatt-hours this year than last, an increase of up to 8 percent and enough to power 33,000 homes for a year, spokeswoman Lisa Iams said.
Here's some snowpack news from The Longmont Daily Times Call. From the article:
The final snowpack survey of the year Friday on Longs Peak shows that area to be at 96 percent of the 30-year average for that location -- wetter than soil conservationist Don Graffis thought it would be. "I thought it was going to be 90 percent," said Graffis, who has been taking readings on Longs Peak for more than a decade with the federal National Resources Conservation Service.
Statewide snowpack totals will be released May 5, but based on early results, it appears Colorado streams, rivers and reservoirs will be reaping the results of a strong year for snow in most of the state. Five of the state's eight river basins are at 114 percent or more of the statewide 30-year average, based on the period from 1970 to 2000. As of Friday, the South Platte River Basin, which supplies most of Longmont's water, was at 101 percent of its 30-year average...
At this time last year, the snowpack total at Longs Peak was 118 percent of the 30-year average for the area. This year's 96 percent falls short of that, but it's way ahead of 2006, when the final reading of the winter found Longs Peak at less than 50 percent of its 30-year average.
There may be a spill at Crystal Dam, according to The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. From the article:
Given that runoff forecasts are predictions tied to the whims of nature, every sign points to a spill this spring at Crystal Dam. When, how much and for how long simply can't yet be answered, said Coll Stanton, hydrologist with the Bureau of Reclamation in Grand Junction. Speaking at Thursday's Aspinall Unit operations meeting, Stanton said, "If the forecast (holds) right, we'll have (a spill) somewhere."
The April 1 forecast called for 1.06 million acre-feet of water to flow into Blue Mesa Reservoir this spring, and room has to be made for all that water. "If we don't do any early releases, at the end of June we will go into a spill situation at Crystal," Stanton said. "We don't want all that water hitting us by surprise."
A representative of Trout Unlimited asked for a double-peak release, one early and one later after the North Fork goes down. But early releases could flood Delta if they coincide with high flows in the North Fork, which historically peaks around mid-May. "That's the No. 1 concern I see," Stanton said. "If the spill comes out at the end of June, Delta will be much better off." Dan Kowalski of the Colorado Division of Wildlife asked that any releases come after mid-May to protect rainbow trout in the Gunnison.
The National Weather Service is calling for above-average temperatures and below-average precipitation over the next three months, said John Lhotak of the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center in Salt Lake City. March temperatures were below normal, Lhotak said, "and we've been holding onto the snow longer." He reported the snowpack in the upper Gunnison Basin remains at 130 percent of average. Thursday's forecast from the National Weather Service called for up to 5 inches of snow in the mountains around Crested Butte.
Category: Colorado Water
7:53:09 AM
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From Fort Collins Now: "Residents in Evans may have to re-set their sprinkler systems. Watering restrictions are now in effect for the summer. Under the new watering schedule, houses with addresses ending in even numbers or 0 may water on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday while residences ending with odd-numbered addresses may water on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Properties used for commercial purposes as well as multi-family, apartment, government and nonprofit properties are allowed to water on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. According to the city's Web site, lawns are not allowed to be watered from noon until 5 p.m., and residents must still adhere to the watering restrictions that are already in place. According to the Web site, there are exceptions to the new schedule. Trees, shrubs, flower and vegetable gardens can be watered at any time -- so long as residents water by hand or use drip irrigation, low volume bubblers or microsprays. Also, seeded or sodded lawns less than three months old can be watered on any day. Residents can still wash their cars, but they must use a restrictive nozzle hose and bucket and keep runoff to a minimum. For more information, call (970) 475-1103."
Category: Colorado Water
7:52:22 AM
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2008
John Orr.
Last update:
5/1/08; 7:52:13 AM.
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