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Friday, June 6, 2008
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Durango's water tests amongst the best in the U.S., according to The Durango Herald. From the article:
The city of Durango released its annual consumer confidence report for drinking water Wednesday, and for at least the 30th year in a row the city's municipal water is among the cleanest in America. "Our primary water source is pulled from the Weminuche Wilderness," said Robert Ludwig, superintendent of the Durango water-treatment plant. "Not many people have an ultra-pure watershed for their drinking water source," he said. Ludwig said the Durango plant serves about 26,000 people, which includes full-and part-time residents as well as seasonal tourists. Each water provider in Colorado must submit an annual report to the state board of health by July 1...
Durango has never had a chemical violation. Total trihalomethanes? Check. Haloacetic acids? They come in at less than one-sixth the maximum contaminant level allowed by the state. Levels for copper, lead, fluoride and nitrate are also far below the state maximum. And Ludwig said despite recent findings of mercury in area fish, Durango's drinking water is and always has been completely mercury-free. About 80 percent of Durango's water comes from the Florida River below Lemon Reservoir, with the balance drawn from the Animas River during summer months. Ludwig said the only possible sources of contamination are the residual effects of mining in Silverton and agricultural uses along the Florida River, all of which Ludwig said are negated by the water-treatment plant.
Category: Colorado Water
6:21:13 AM 
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Northeastern Colorado is slipping back into drought conditions, according to The Sterling Journal Advocate. From the article:
That frequent and unwelcome visitor -- drought -- was back in force in northeast Colorado during the month of May. The Sterling area received a scant one-sixth of average rainfall for the month. More precipitation will likely fall here in the current rains, June 4 and 5, than fell in the entire previous month. May rains teased the Sterling area repeatedly, but seldom managed to reach the ground. Total precipitation for the entire month of May averaged just 0.45 of an inch for the Sterling area, compared to the 30-year average of 2.77 inches. Historically, May is the wettest month in this part of the High Plains. For the year so far, precipitation at Sterling has averaged 2.41 inches. The 30-year average for January through May is 5.44 inches, so 2008 stands at just 44 percent of the yearly average. This may not bode well for the summer growing season. Precipitation has been below average since the beginning of February. This means the soil moisture is depleted in areas that do not receive irrigation water. May also brought a number of days of extremely high winds, which dried out soil and growing crops and caused numerous incidents of property damaged. Despite the high winds, Logan County so far has not experienced any major tornadoes, such as the one that devastated the town of Windsor on May 22...
As is often the case when the area is experiencing a dry period, the rain that does fall is spotty. Crook, for example, reported 2.24 inches of precipitation in May, bringing the total for that area to 5.13 inches for the year. In general, areas in Logan County that are south and east of Sterling received more precipitation than the city did, while those to the northwest received less. Farther away, in northern Washington County the Akron Research Station reported receiving slightly less than 60 percent of normal precipitation for the year.
Because the weather is so dry, irrigation water is being drawn from some northeast Colorado reservoirs at a faster rate than usual. North Sterling Reservoir, which was 100 percent full in early April, is now down to 79 percent. Prewitt Reservoir, which has not yet released any water for irrigation, is down to 82 percent. Jim Yahn, who manages both reservoirs, said Prewitt is shrinking from evaporation and from water seeping into the ground. Snowmelt has not raised the water level in the South Platte River to allow refilling the reservoirs, Yahn said. Rapidly melting snow has caused rivers on the Western Slope and the Arkansas Valley to flood, but not the Platte. Yahn noted, though, that everything can change. If Denver and the foothills would receive several days of heavy rain, enough water might come down the South Platte River to refill both North Sterling and Prewitt reservoirs. This on-and-off drought the region has experienced starting in 2002 seems to be an every-other-year occurrence, Yahn said. After the 2002 drought, 2003 was much wetter. Then in 2004, and again in 2006, drought struck again. If that weather pattern continues, which it seems to be doing, 2008 will be another year of drought, as well as reduced water in the reservoirs for irrigation -- and recreation.
Category: Colorado Water
6:14:40 AM
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Sewer rates keep going up and up owing to stricter EPA and state standards, population growth and the need to repair and replace aging infrastructure. Here's an update on sewer rates in Littleton, from The Littleton Independent. From the article:
The disagreement that filled council chambers April 15 when the Littleton City Council voted to raise sewer rates for those outside of city limits has yet to die down. Legislation has been proposed and lawyers have been consulted. The council decision, which passed on a 4-3 vote, called for a 20-percent raise in annual sewer fees for those outside of city limits, mainly unincorporated Jefferson County, while keeping rates for city residents unchanged. Littleton Mayor Doug Clark justified the raise based on census data stating an average of 2.76 people live in each dwelling unit outside the city, compared to 2.24 inside, a 23.2 percent difference. The assumption is that every one of these people is using their toilets, thus providing more sewage to treat outside the city.
Pat Fitzgerald, manager of Platte Canyon Water and Sanitation District, said the occupancy rate doesn't prove anything to justify raising only those rates outside the city. In fact, he sees it as a way for the city council to get its treatment plant expansion funded in a faster way. "One of our concerns was we had reached an understanding with the previous city council that the city residents were not fully paying their cost for collection system operation and maintenance - the internal pipes that serve only Littleton residents," Fitzgerald said. "Over the past five years that was being corrected, which is why increases were larger inside the city than outside. Our concern now is that the city has reversed that position and is now going back to a cost system." Clark said the idea of charging more for outside residents is a tactic seen throughout municipalities in Colorado that serve those outside their boundaries. And, he sees logic in this. "We have loans that the city is obligated to repay. It's just the citizens of Littleton that are to pay off the expansion of the plant. That's a risk the Littleton citizens took," he said. "These sewer districts voluntarily decided to connect to us. They sign a contract that we can set the rates at whatever we want. The very first rate increase that happens, they threaten to sue us." While that lawsuit was confirmed by Fitzgerald as still being an option, he declined to comment on the progress of this measure...
A coalition of the eight water and sanitation districts affected - Platte Canyon, Southwest Metropolitan, Roxborough, Ken-Caryl, Grant, Meadowbrook-Fairview, Bow Mar and Columbine - have formed a coalition to battle the raise. Collectively, they sent a letter on May 13 to the City of Littleton asking for their participation in a "jointly funded, comprehensive rate study to establish guidelines and parameters for future service charges and tap fees." The letter did not ask for a response until June 15, and Public Works Director Charlie Blosten said the city is still working on how to proceed.
The city funded such a study in 2006 with the Red Oak consulting firm, applying the suggested rates to the 2006 and 2007 sewer rates, Clark said. The letter to the city stated, "[this study] has been so extensively criticized by various parties that city council members refuse to rely on its analysis, conclusions and recommendations as a basis for setting rates and fees." Indeed, there have been hours of discussion among council members evaluating the methodology used by Red Oak. For 2008 the study proposed a 6-percent increase in rates across the board. However, Blosten said a review of sewer fund revenues and expenditures earlier this year showed an adjustment needed to be made from their projections, and a 4-percent increase was proposed by city staff. This proposal was rejected by council, in favor of the ordinance that passed.
Category: Colorado Water
6:08:39 AM
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Here's some runoff news for Boulder Creek, from TheDenverChannel.com. From the article: "Boulder Creek is beginning to swell, but so far there are no serious flooding concerns. The creek is now flowing at about 300 cubic feet per second. It averages somewhere above 200 cubic feet per second this time of year."
Category: Colorado Water
5:58:59 AM
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Here's an update on efforts to restore Grand Lake's water clarity, from The Sky-Hi Daily News. From the article:
...this June morning, it's chilly; the opening season of Secchi disc measuring. The boat gets lined up just right using coordinates [Pat Raney] has known for more than a decade: the red-roofed cabin on the north shore; the house behind the trees on the south shore; and the small, gray cabin near the canal. When all lined up, she grabs her water-clarity tool named after an Italian man from the 1800s, a spindle of measuring tape with a black and white "Frisbee" attached to it, a Secchi disc. Slowly, Raney lowers the disc into the depths of Grand Lake until she can no longer see it, then records the measurement: "9 feet, 2 inches," she says. She then lowers it a couple more feet: "9 feet, 4 inches," she reports. Raney then calculates the average between the two. Viola [sic], the water clarity on June 4, 2008, in the middle of Grand Lake was 9 feet, 3 inches.
For years such data has been collected and sent directly to the Colorado Department of Health and Environment. Nowadays, the information is sent to the Colorado Lake and Reservoir Management Association, where it is processed for the Colorado Volunteer Lake Monitoring program, a system aspiring to be similar to the River Watch program where data is entered by volunteers, then quality-controlled by River Watch staff. "Ultimately, we want this information on a Web server that will be available to everyone," said Katherine Morris, Grand County's water quality specialist...
Lately, measuring water quality has become an expanding program as Grand County recruits more volunteers to collect data. Working with other agencies and organizations to diagnose the overall health of Grand Lake, the county and others also have the aim of establishing a water quality standard for the natural lake, the first standard of its kind. Working parallel with that goal is the notion of improving Grand Lake's clarity by working with the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District and the Bureau of Reclamation to tweak water-pumping operations during times of high algae-bloom in late summer. Morris is in the process of recruiting volunteers committed to taking measurements through this and subsequent summers on not only the Three Lakes in the Grand Lake area, but other lakes such as Wolford, Williams Fork, Willow Creek -- even non-Colorado Big-Thompson lakes such as Columbine and Monarch lakes, to assess lake health in all area lakes...
For a year, those groups, the county and the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments have been attempting to secure a water quality standard for the lake. Monday, June 9, is the final hearing on the matter at Grand Junction City Hall, and the public is encouraged to attend -- even testify. Grand Lakers and the county believe language in a Senate document written in 1937 authorizing the construction of the Colorado Big-Thompson Project protects Grand Lake from any impacts associated with water being pumped through it on its way to Northeastern Colorado communities and farms. Data published in September 1941 notes water clarity in Grand Lake at 30. 2 feet, a far cry from the average 10.2 feet taken from data collected 1990 to 2006 by not only Raney and company, but the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Water Quality Control Division...
Sarah Clements of the Grand County Information Network, an organization that compiles water data, reported that measurements taken last summer showed clarity as shallow as 4.48 feet. During the drawdown last year, when pumping ceased to kill off lakebed weeds in a drained Shadow Mountain Reservoir, clarity in Grand Lake improved to a recorded 18.5 feet. The Bureau is looking in to making changes in pumping operations to "optimize clarity," according to Morris, and is looking at ways that can be done in accordance with power generation that occurs throughout the C-BT system...
If the state Water Quality Control Division finds in the upcoming hearing that 4 meters, or 13.2 feet is a reasonable standard for Grand Lake, that value will be a target that Northern will need to achieve in spite of operations. Grand County's stance is that the scenic attraction of the lake is impaired. So far, Northern has opposed the proposed standard, according to documents online concerning the Water Quality hearings.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Category: Colorado Water
5:54:40 AM
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It looks like fisherman have won one for a change. Here's a report on the efforts to keep water flowing through the Wray fish hatchery, from The Rocky Mountain News. From the article:
The Gordian knot that threatened to strangle an important state hatchery and lock out pheasant hunters because of high corn prices relaxed last week when the Colorado Division of Wildlife dropped a legal fight to defend its senior water rights in part of Yuma County. Naturally, this being semi-arid Colorado, the conflict would be complicated and all about water - in particular the once-great underground lake known as the Ogallala Aquifer. In short, Ogallala's ancient pool is finite and shrinking but in high demand. These days, the aquifer's biggest customers are big farms that have accelerated corn production to profit from demand for ethanol. Corn needs plenty of water. And in Yuma County, nearly all water must come from wells. As the wells slurp up water, the prairie's few streams shrivel.
One victim is Chief Creek, the primary water supply for Wray State Fish Hatchery. In 30 years, the creek's flow has dwindled by two-thirds, and it is still dropping. With help from a shallow well, the wildlife division ekes out flows of 4 to 6 cubic feet per second. Barely more than a seep, the creek is responsible for producing nearly 40 percent of all Colorado's warm-water fish. Bluegills, black crappie, walleyes and catfish come from the Wray hatchery. Lake-strain smallmouth bass, the state's newest superstars, spawn there. If the "surface" were to drop out from under the creek, the division's senior surface water rights would be meaningless. The Wray hatchery would die. To defend its water, the division joined two irrigation companies with similar surface water rights in a legal battle against the well-drinking large farms. The Laird and Pioneer ditch companies, which still are in the fight, could shut down hundreds of aquifer-reducing irrigation wells if they win.
To spite the wildlife division for its role in the litigation, a number of Yuma County farmers threatened to lock out pheasant hunters by refusing to participate in the division's Walk-In Access program. The lockout would have stripped 25,000 acres from the 220,000-acre statewide public access program. Presumably, the lockout threat goes away, now that the wildlife agency has pulled out of the fight. The division stood down because it has worked out other ways of preserving its water supply for at least another 25 years...
Agreeing to secure about $4 million for alternative water sources for the hatchery are Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, and Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma. The wildlife division will use the money to build a pump-back project, which will carry water two miles uphill to the hatchery from the North Fork of the Republican River. "Then to minimize the water we'd need to pump, we'll conserve water by lining 10 unlined ponds (to prevent seepage)," McNeill said. Lining the ponds would cost the division about $2 million. The city of Wray also has offered the use of some of its wells to augment water for the hatchery. "The whole idea is to find a way to stabilize our water supply at that hatchery for 25 or 30 years," McNeill said. "We're not looking at an infinite life expectancy."
More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.
Category: Colorado Water
5:40:18 AM
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From The Grand Junction Free Press: "The public is invited to celebrate rivers Wednesday with music, food and discussion on river corridor protection at a Waterfront Celebration in Palisade. Western Colorado Congress, Mesa Land Trust, Grand Valley Audubon Society, Palisade Brewery, Grand Valley Peace & Justice, WeCAN, Mesa County Water Association and the Tamarisk Coalition will host the event from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at Riverbend Park. Tickets are $7 for members of agencies sponsoring the event that register early and $10 for everyone else. The event will kick off with a panel discussion from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Panelists include Mesa State College's Dr. Russell Walker, the Riverfront Foundation's Brian Mahoney, Rob Bleiberg of Mesa Land Trust and Mesa County Long Range Senior Planner Michael Warren...A group discussion will follow panelist presentations. From 7 to 8:30, the festivities start with food, drink and music. For more information or to register, call Hannah Holm at 623-3841 or e-mail Hannah@wccongress.org."
Here's a recap of Wednesday night's meeting of the Colorado Basin Roudtable from The Grand Junction Free Press. From the article:
Wednesday evening, water users and the public gathered for a Colorado River Basin roundtable discussion to talk about the future for western Colorado's water. A state-sponsored water availability study will be completed for the Colorado River Basin by 2010, with initial results coming next year, said Jim Pokrandt, communications manager for the Colorado River District. The state needs to create a vision where Front Range residents water their bluegrass while Western Slope residents don't even flinch, said John Redifer, discussion moderator. "If you really want to prepare for the future, for me, it comes down to storage," said Steve Ryken, a member of the roundtable.
Jim Carter, vice chairman of the roundtable, said if the water usage becomes market-driven, "most of the water would be moved over to the East Slope."[...]
Eventually, all members the state's roundtables will discuss the future needs of the entire state, said Pokrandt. Everyone's "all shaking hands and making nice, but we've all got a sharpened stiletto behind our backs," getting ready to meet, he said. "They know we've got the water."
Category: Colorado Water
5:23:44 AM
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© Copyright
2008
John Orr.
Last update:
7/1/08; 7:57:06 AM.
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