Friday, June 20, 2008

New FEMA flood risk analysis for Colorado Here's an article about a revamped flood plain effort by FEMA, from The Rocky Mountain News. They write: Seven Front Range counties, including five in metro Denver, are classified as high-risk flood zones, according to a new analysis by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The ranking doesn't mean flooding is imminent. It means the metro area has high numbers of people living along water ways and in flood plains, officials said. It also means that homeowners may have to pay more for flood insurance, and that building restrictions in flood zones could increase. The Colorado project is part of a national post-Katrina effort to flood-proof communities... The analysis comes as part of a $40.8 million, five-year project to examine and map, county by county, where Colorado's flood risks are, whether levees and dams are adequate, and how to make sure homeowners and businesses have adequate protection and insurance. The counties FEMA has identified as flood hot spots are: Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, El Paso, Jefferson and Larimer. "People need to know whether they are in a flood plain," said Nancy Steinberger, a regional hydraulic engineer for FEMA who is overseeing the mapping and assessment work in Colorado. "They also need to see the nearest place where they could evacuate and where the nearest high ground is, in case streets are flooded," she said. FEMA is also working with the Corps of Engineers to determine which Corps-constructed levees, dikes and dams are unsafe. Two in Colorado -- one near Creede and one just outside Granada -- were deemed "in need of immediate repair." Now work is under way to fix the structures and to ensure communities are adequately protected... The tiny community of Grenada had no cash on hand to fix the dike that protected it from the flood waters of Wolf Creek, but it was able to secure $131,000 in state grant money to do the work. "The Corps of Engineers built the levy, but we were responsible for maintaining it," said Grenada Mayor Jerene DeBono. "They came down last year and said they would withdraw their backing of the project if we didn't fix it. That would have meant the town residents would have had a hard time getting flood insurance." Insurance costs are high as well. Homes in some high risk areas, such as those along South Boulder Creek, must pay as much as $2,700 a year for flood insurance, in addition to homeowner's insurance, according to the FEMA web site www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart... FEMA, as part of a new effort to more accurately map where flood zones lie, is assessing state-by-state, and county-by-county, which communities are at risk for flooding. The agency uses eight factors to determine a region's ranking: 1. Population (2000 census) 2. Change in population from 1990 to 2000 (to identify areas that are growing) 3. Number of housing units 4. Flood insurance policies 5. Single loss claims 6. Repetitive loss claims 7. Repetitive loss properties 8. Federally declared flood-related disasters Category: Colorado Water 6:30:33 AM     Runoff Here's some runoff news from The Cañon City Daily Record. From the article: Water levels on the Arkansas River that had slightly receded in the past week are on the rise once again, prompting the National Weather Service to issue another flood warning for the Cañon City area...According to the NWS, the river was at 9.1 feet at 7:15 a.m. today. The flood stage is 9 feet. The forecast is for continued rising waters to reach a crest of 9.3 feet by early this evening, and then begin receding. Additional snow melt also means the water is running faster. Colorado State Parks, Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area, reported the river running at 3,310 cubic feet per second at the Numbers section of the river at 10 a.m. this morning, while Parkdale was at 4,050 cubic feet per second. The AHRA recommends commercial rafters stay away from those areas when the water reaches those rates. If the Arkansas River reaches a flood crest of 9.4 feet, that will match the previous historical crest of 9.4 feet recorded in Cañon City on June 10, 1987. Category: Colorado Water 6:21:36 AM     Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel update From The Rocky Mountain News: "The [U.S.] House passed a bill directing the secretary of the Interior, who oversees the Bureau of Reclamation, to immediately take responsibility for fixing the problems at the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Colorado Springs Republican, and Rep. Mark Udall, a Democrat from Eldorado Springs, now goes to the Senate, where Sen. Ken Salazar is working on similar legislation." More from the article: The plan calls for erecting a bulkhead to isolate contaminated water and build wells and pipelines to send the water to a treatment plant. The Bureau of Reclamation also will manage the pool of water behind the bulkhead to reduce the potential for a tunnel breakdown in case of overwhelming water pressure... The Environmental Protection Agency has constructed a pipeline behind a blockage to divert water to a treatment plant as part of the short-term relief. Lake County Commissioner Michael Hickman said the Bureau of Reclamation began accepting water this week in the EPA pipeline. "We'll probably get daily updates on that as far as how the pumping's going," he said. "We're past the snow runoff. The peak has come and gone, and we haven't had any ramifications from that." More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here. Category: Colorado Water 6:16:28 AM     Lake Powell water level at 58% From The Arizona Central: "Colorado's snowy winter is paying off for vacationers in Arizona and Utah. Lake Powell's water level has risen so much this year that the Castle Rock Cut has opened for the first time in five years. The cut is a half-mile-long, 80-foot-wide shortcut for boaters that chops 12 miles - and about two hours - off the trip from Wahweap Marina to the popular destinations of Rainbow Bridge National Monument, Padre Bay and Warm Creek Bay. The shortcut also will save on fuel, which costs about $5.30 a gallon at Wahweap. The shortcut opened June 10 and is expected to stay open at least through 2009, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the lake...The lake has risen about a foot per day since mid-May and is expected to rise an additional 20 feet this summer. This means that many of the lake's winding side canyons now are accessible to houseboats, powerboats and kayaks. Castle Rock Cut was last open in 2003. Several years of drought drastically lowered the water level, and even with this year's big snowmelt, the lake is about 58 percent full, the Bureau of Reclamation says." Category: Colorado Water 6:10:55 AM     Southern Delivery System: Trout Unlimited blasts SDEIS Colorado Trout Unlimited has weighed in on Colorado Springs' proposed Southern Delivery System, according to The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article: Speaking on behalf of Trout Unlimited's 150,000 national and 10,000 Colorado members, Drew Peternell said the bureau's draft environmental impact statement for the proposed Southern Delivery System is flawed because one stated purpose and need is to develop Colorado Springs Water Rights. "Development of water rights is not a legitimate purpose for the bureau to issue contracts for the project," Peternell's letter states. "Justifying SDS on a need to develop existing water rights would be analogous to justifying construction of a coal-fired power plant - not on demand for the energy - but on a purported 'need' to burn available coal resources." Trout Unlimited's letter goes on to point out how this flaw in the purpose and need statement carried over into other areas of evaluation. "Developing a water delivery project simply for the sake of putting water to use does not fit within the bureau's authorities and is illogical, from a public policy perspective, in an arid state with limited water resources." The bureau failed to develop alternatives that did not develop Colorado Springs water rights, limited consideration of components based on how much it would cost the applicants and failed to fully consider how Colorado Springs could achieve water savings through increased conservation. In several public presentations, Colorado Springs, the primary sponsor for SDS, has stated its per capita use is among the lowest on the Front Range. However, Trout Unlimited points out that systemwide water use by Colorado Springs is nearly 200 gallons per capita daily, compared with a Front Range average of 130-188 gallons per capita daily. Similar information was included in the Sierra Club's comments. Colorado Springs reuses some of its return flows for public irrigation and power plant cooling. Trout Unlimited said the draft EIS should have studied technologies that allow the safe reuse of water and mentions Aurora's Prairie Waters Project as a concrete example of cutting-edge water recycling that was completely ignored by Reclamation in the draft EIS... As to actual impacts, Peternell said the draft EIS looked at a period of water conditions, 1982-2004, when considerably more water was in the Arkansas River than the historical record that is available. The report averages flow years, making "dry years" appear wetter and "wet years" drier than they actually may be. The bureau ignored the common method of water planners for grouping years. Peternell also criticized the bureau for evaluating only the averages, and ignoring extreme conditions on selected reaches of the river... The reaches of most concern to Trout Unlimited are: The Western Slope, where diversions could increase 4-5 percent. The Upper Arkansas, where flows could increase above a limit of 250-400 cubic feet per second from Aug. 15 to May 15 in the voluntary flow program. Lake Creek, where flows would be elevated during spawning season in September and October. The Arkansas River below Pueblo Dam and above the Fountain Creek confluence, where there can be rapid changes in diversions, detrimental to fish, even under the 2004 intergovernmental agreement that created a flow management program. Trout Unlimited suggests possible minimum operating standards for all reaches of the river, which are not in the draft EIS, and incorporating those standards into an adaptive management plan, which is in the draft EIS. This would be to ensure that the effects of SDS are not compounded by other water projects Colorado Springs and its partners are involved in. The comments also chastise the bureau for putting low scores on the value of fish... The draft EIS makes no distinction between native species - cutthroat trout, longnose sucker, white sucker and longnose dace - and introduced trout species. "Clearly a loss of any of the native species should be considered a major effect," Peternell wrote. The draft EIS characterizes a 25 percent loss of fish biomass as minor, and a 50 percent loss as moderate. "These are extremely loose criteria," Peternell wrote. "Losses of this magnitude should be considered severe." More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 5:59:54 AM     Northern Integrated Supply Project According to The Fort Collins Coloradoan turnout last night in Greeley for the public meeting on the proposed Northern Integrated Supply Project tilted towards those in support of the project, unlike the speakers and attendees in Fort Collins on Monday and Tuesday. From the article: Speakers in support of the project outnumbered opponents two to one Thursday in Greeley in contrast to two Fort Collins hearings that were dominated by critics of the project, which would include Glade Reservoir. Supporters included representatives of communities that would participate in the project who touted the need for NISP's water to meet the needs of future population growth. Others said the project's water would help keep local agriculture viable. Dave Long, a Weld County commissioner, said more water storage is needed for the county to grow food for the country and the world... At roughly 100 people, attendance at the University of Northern Colorado student center was significantly less than the hearings in Fort Collins. But emotions on NISP still ran high... Clair Orr, a farmer from Kersey, said agriculture is dying as cities "buy and dry" increasing amounts of farmland for its water. Farmers are struggling to make a living, he said. Orr said that he is more interested in helping people than wildlife and that producing food should take precedence over other issues. "It's incumbent upon us to build projects along these tributaries ... because we should be good stewards of the resources we've got," he said... Opponents of Glade called for extending the comment period on the draft EIS at least another 90 days for further study. But supporters said every 90-day delay of a decision costs Northern Water and participants $1 million. More coverage of the meeting from The Greeley Tribune. They write: The hearing, hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the University of Northern Colorado Thursday night, drew about 200 people to comment. Monday and Tuesday, an estimated 600 people attended similar meetings in Fort Collins... Sean Conway, Sen. Wayne Allard's chief of staff and candidate for Weld commissioner, said that without the project an estimated 60 to 100 square miles of farmland could dry up as cities turn to agriculture to provide for their future water needs. "That would result in an environmental disaster of epidemic proportions," Conway said, noting people only have to go to Crowley County in southern Colorado to see what happens when agricultural water is removed from an area to supply city needs... Written comments on the environmental impact statement on the Northern Integrated Supply Project may be sent to Chandler J. Peter, Denver Regulatory Office, 9307 S. Wadsworth Boulevard, Littleton, CO 80128-6901. Comments must be received by June 29. More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here. Category: Colorado Water 5:46:55 AM

© Copyright 2008 John Orr. Last update: 7/1/08; 8:06:42 AM.