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Tuesday, April 29, 2008
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From email from Reclamation (Kara Lamb): "Lower Blue flows below Green Mountain Dam are running at about 600 cfs. Yesterday morning (April 28) we bumped up releases from Green Mountain Dam to the Lower Blue by about 110 cfs. We are releasing water to make room for the coming run-off."
Category: Colorado Water
5:47:16 PM 
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From email from the Colorado River District (Jim Pokrandt): "Public invited to Gunnison State of the River meeting, Monday, May 12, 2008, 7-9 p.m., Delta-Montrose Electric Association Building, 11925 6300 Road, Montrose, CO."
"The public is invited to learn more about critical Gunnison Basin water issues when the Colorado River District holds its Gunnison State of the River meeting 7-9 p.m., Monday, May 12, 2008, at the Delta-Montrose Electric Association building, 11925 6300 Road, north of Montrose.
"The meeting will include a presentation of the history of the Black Canyon from Western State College history professor Duane Vandenbusche. Division 4 Engineer Wayne Schieldt will preview the water year. Other subjects to be covered include an update on the Black Canyon of the Gunnison federal reserved water right negotiation and a survey of Gunnison Basin water issues presented by Gunnison Basin Roundtable member John McClow.
"Dan Crabtree of the Bureau of Reclamation will present the latest information on Aspinall Unit reservoir operations and Marc Catlin of the Uncompahgre Water Users Association will talk about 2008 priorities for beneficiaries of this historic federal project. The Friends of the River Uncompahgre (FORU) will address their current project plans.
"For more information, contact Jim Pokrandt at the Colorado River District at (970) 945-8522 x 236 or e-mail edinfo@crwcd.org."
From email from Reclamation (Dan Crabtree): "Mark your calendars. Due to some scheduling conflicts, the August Aspinall Operations Meeting date has been changed to August 28th. The meeting will start at 1:00 p.m. at the Elk Creek Visitors Center at Blue Mesa Reservoir."
Category: Colorado Water
5:45:10 PM
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From The Telluride News: "On Saturday, the Nature Conservancy is holding its next San Miguel Watershed restoration workday to battle the invasives. Volunteers are instructed to meet at Society Conoco at 8:30 a.m., where the group will drive down to the work area on the lower San Miguel near Uruvan. Peter Mueller, who works for the Nature Conservancy, said the watershed project is nearing completion. The hope is that it can be finished up by next fall, he said. 'This is really the last stages of a million dollar effort to treat invasive trees in the watershed,' Mueller said. Mueller said the work will be with chain saws and lobbers, and volunteers will fell Russian Olives, Siberian elm and the insidious tamarisk, as well as treat the area with herbicide."
Category: Colorado Water
6:31:43 AM
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From The Telluride Daily News: "Some smart person -- possibly Simon Cowell -- said that water is the lifeblood of nature. And, if that's true, then rivers are the veins of the earth. And if that's true, then, on Sunday, Telluride is getting an angioplasty, a good cleaning out of its gunk-filled main vein, when volunteers meet at noon at Telluride Outside, ready to clear the San Miguel River of all the trash it's built up over the year. This is the second annual river cleanup sponsored by Sheep Mountain Alliance. They will begin in town park, and will continue down river as far as they can make it in one day. Pick up plastic. Pick up trash. Put in bag. Recycle stuff that can be recycled. Throw away stuff that can't.
Category: Colorado Water
6:25:43 AM
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From The Sky-Hi Daily News: "Almost half million dollars in state funding was received by the Town of Kremmling last week so it may begin to repair its crumbling water system. The Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) sent the town a check for $478,500 for the replacement of its main water transmission line. This is a 50-percent matching grant, with the town paying the other half...The project, which is scheduled to be done this year, will replace the main water transmission line from the town's water plant located more than two miles west of Kremmling to the town's western edge. As part of the project, the water line must be placed across both DeBerard Ditch and Muddy Creek. The project also includes a 125-foot bore under U.S. Highway 40."
Category: Colorado Water
6:20:06 AM
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From The Sky-Hi Daily News: "It's been more than two weeks since Hot Sulphur Springs residents were told that it was unsafe to drink the water. And in those two weeks, officials have worked to solve the problem, but faucets are still off limits to residents. For those waiting to hear from town hall, there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that it's not going to be a quick fix. That means the Colorado Department of Health's boil water order will not be lifted anytime soon. It may remain in effect for several more weeks. Water technicians working on the problem say that major repairs and new construction are absolutely necessary at the town's water plant. In addition, a large portion of the town's buried water pipes must eventually be dug up and replaced. The good news for Hot Sulphur Springs is that a dedicated and competent group of water engineers are now in charge of running and repairing the towns' water infrastructure. Town, county and state officials are also moving as quickly as possible to secure the funding for the needed repairs."
Category: Colorado Water
6:16:37 AM
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Here's some runoff news from The Aspen Daily Times. They wrtie:
On Friday, April 18 the river was flowing at 800 cubic feet per second. One week later the river had risen to 1,420 cfs. The river should keep right on rising as the snowpack in the Roaring Fork River basin is as high as it has been in 40 years, according to the National Resources Conservation Service. "The Roaring Fork is showing some of the highest snowpack percentages in the Colorado River basin," said Chris Pacheco, the assistant snow survey supervisor with NRCS. "You've got a lot of snow."[...]
The snow hasn't really started melting due to the recent relatively cool and wet weather. Consider, for example, that the Roaring Fork River just below Maroon and Castle creeks was still only running at 220 cfs on Friday. Local rafting companies don't run the Slaughterhouse section of the river in that area until it comes up to 600 or 700 cfs...
Pacheco said his agency expects the flow through the Roaring Fork River from April to July this year to be half again as high as average. The snowpack for the Roaring Fork River basin as of April 1 was at 148 percent of normal. Compare that to one of biggest runoff years in memory: 1984. On April 1, 1984, the local snowpack was at 139 percent. And by Friday, April 25, the snowpack in the Roaring Fork River basin had slightly increased from April 1, rising to 149 percent of average. The Bureau of Reclamation is also preparing for high water. Last week, the agency increased the amount of water coming out of Ruedi Reservoir. On Tuesday morning, releases from Ruedi were increased by 50 cfs and then bumped again Tuesday night by another 50 cfs. By Friday, the Fryingpan was running at 328 cfs.
From email from Reclamation (Dan Crabtree): "In order to maintain our efforts to control this year's anticipated large runoff, Reclamation will be increasing releases from Crystal Reservoir by an additional 500 cfs. This increase will occur on Tuesday April 29th and result in a total release of 4,150 cfs (maximum powerplant and by-pass) from Crystal Dam and a flow of about 3,600 cfs in the Black Canyon and Gunnison Gorge."
Category: Colorado Water
6:12:42 AM
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The environmental impact statement for the proposed Northern Integrated Supply Project is due on Wednesday, according to The Greeley Tribune. From the article:
The Environmental Impact Statement for the Northern Integrated Supply Project will be released Wednesday by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers...The Northern Integrated Supply Project -- NISP -- is a regional water supply project coordinated by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District on behalf of 15 northeastern Colorado communities and water providers. It is designed to provide those participants each year with 40,000 acre-feet of new, reliable municipal water supply.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Category: Colorado Water
5:58:11 AM
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Say hello to the Rocky Mountain Junior Kayak League. From their website: "The mission of Downstream Edge is to help you to become the paddler that you want to be. Only the best kayakers and instructors are employed here to develop you into a solid, confident boater. We believe that each person has different needs from their instructor, so at Downstream Edge we design a custom program for each customer to help you reach your kayaking goals.
"We also believe that in order to develop good kayakers, we must teach more than just paddling skills. All custom programs will incorporate safety and rescue skills, reading whitewater, on-river communication and organization, river leadership, trip logistics, fitness, and other important river running knowledge aimed at turning our customers into well rounded whitewater kayakers. It doesn't matter if you are a beginner or an expert, want to learn a new trick or just improve your skills, we can design a program that will help you reach your goals."
Here's an article about the league from The Denver Post. They write:
[Nick]Wigston and a group of Colorado's most talented kayakers want to share their skills and have established a statewide network of youth paddlers in the recently formed Rocky Mountain Junior Kayak League (www.downstreamedge.com). Intended for kids ages 10-18, the summer-long league is designed as an alternative outlet for those who seek something from life beyond soccer and softball.
"All kayakers seem to understand the idea that it's a character-building sport," said Wigston, who at age 6 learned from his father how to paddle a kayak on the rivers of north Georgia and the Carolinas. "Whether you decide to run a rapid or not to, you develop that judgment ability at an early age that you carry with you the rest of your life. You develop confidence in yourself to make your own decisions."
The youth league will span eight towns from Jackson, Wyo., to Durango. Wigston and his kayaking friends find it is the best way to share the perspective they have gleaned from others. Founded on fun, the league offers instruction in all aspects of the sport for every ability level.
"People like us, these are the sports we prefer to do," Wigston said. "As kids we wind up playing soccer and basketball because that's what everybody does. But it's not long before we realize how much we prefer things like kayaking and biking and other outdoor sports that are so gratifying.
Category: Colorado Water
5:54:18 AM
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© Copyright
2008
John Orr.
Last update:
5/1/08; 7:55:01 AM.
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