Thursday, April 19, 2007

CRWCD directors meeting Here's an update on Tuesday's meeting of the Colorado River Water Conservation District from the Summit Daily News (free registration required). From the article, "On Tuesday, directors of the district met in Glenwood Springs and considered substantive changes to some of its key policies. The river district, formed in 1937 and headquartered in Glenwood Springs, is charged with protecting water as well as holding and developing water rights for western Colorado. The policy revisions will be adopted at the district's quarterly meeting in July. Among the policies considered by the board were for water quality and recreational water uses. While the river district supports minimal water quality regulation, it opposes regulations that put an undue burden on ranchers and farmers... "Specifically, the policy opposes nonpoint source water pollution regulations for ranchers and farmers. Nonpoint source pollution comes from more than a single source. 'The concern has been that agriculture (could be) blanketed with requirements to meet water quality standards ... to the same extent as wastewater treatment plants,' [Chris] Treese said. "The board of directors also wrestled with new language for its recreational water use policy. Recreational in-channel diversions (RICDs) for such uses as whitewater kayaking parks, were a hot topic in the 2006 legislative session. Senate Bill 37 defined RICDs and passed because of compromise among people on both sides of the issue. It sets a standard for and limits the size of water appropriations for that use. Directors said they wanted to be clear in the language of the policy that while they don't encourage anyone to come forward with an application for an RICD water right, they do encourage such applications to be balanced." Category: Colorado Water 6:31:37 AM     Fry-Ark space for Aurora? From the Pueblo Chieftain, "The Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District board voted 7-0 Wednesday to look at all legal avenues to challenge the Bureau of Reclamation's proposed contract with Aurora, but won't file a suit unless a contract is actually issued... "Simpson noted there are only about 7,500 acre-feet in Aurora's Turquoise and Twin Lakes accounts, which would not be enough to take the entire 10,000 acre-feet provided for in the contract. He explained Aurora could not use its Homestake Project space in Turquoise to store Arkansas Valley water... "Simpson said Aurora would likely use physical exchanges associated with those water rights whenever practical, and would use the contract exchanges with Reclamation in blocks throughout the year." Category: Colorado Water 6:11:17 AM     Water supply outlook Officials around the state are cautiously optimistic that the drought is over, according to the Rocky Mountain News. From the article, "Colorado's drought is over, but still...Water officials gathered at a monthly state water supply meeting Wednesday were loathe to actually say those words, even as they conceded a key drought index shows - for the first time since 2002 - that it's true.Instead, water watchers spent much of the meeting urging caution despite a bright outlook for Front Range supplies... "Even so, compared with most recent years, some things do look good: "- Snowpack began to slip away fast during a warm March, but the melt-off has slowed dramatically during a cool, stormy April. And forecasters predict the rest of April and part of May will bring more storms, reducing water demand from homeowners and farmers. "- Reservoirs across the state are in good shape. An official with Denver Water, serving 1.2 million residents in the metro area, said the utility expects all its reservoirs to fill this spring. Statewide, reservoir levels are at 103 percent of their average level. "- While high streamflows in March had some worried, state climatologist Nolan Doesken noted that it beats the alternative: snow evaporating or getting sucked into parched soils. The bulging streams mean soil moisture is good and reservoirs can catch the runoff, he said... "Despite all the good news, experts at the meeting raised numerous warning flags, including predictions that the fast-fading snowpack in the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado could quickly reintroduce drought conditions there. The region benefited from a bounty of snow early in the 'water year' that begins in October, but the moisture has plummeted since then... "Not all the news is good on the Front Range either. Aurora, struggling with water supplies since the 2002 drought, has reservoirs at a combined level of 66 percent of average, low enough to likely trigger watering restrictions this summer." Here's another article from the Denver Business Journal. They write, "Denver Water's summer watering program begins May 1 and runs through Aug. 30. While this year's rules aren't as strict as the drought restrictions of 2002 through 2004, they are mandatory, and failure to comply can result in fines, the agency said. As in 2006, the 2007 water use rules are: Lawn watering is limited to three days per week, selected at customer's discretion, and only as much as the landscape needs; No watering from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Applying more water than is reasonably necessary to establish and maintain a healthy landscape is not allowed; No watering landscaped areas during rain or high wind; Applying water intended for irrigation to an impervious surface, such as a street, parking lot, alley, sidewalk or driveway is prohibited; Allowing water to pool or flow across the ground or into any drainage way, such as gutters, streets, alleys or storm drains, is prohibited; Customers are required to repair leaking or damaged irrigation components within 10 days after notice." Category: Colorado Water 6:04:26 AM     Regional Watershed Supply Project Aaron Million is still on tour explaining his proposed pipeline project -- the Regional Watershed Supply Project. The latest stop was in Glenwood Springs according to the Post Independent (free registration required). From the article, "A man with a big plan met with the directors of the Colorado River Water Conservation District Wednesday to promote his idea for a 400-mile pipeline to carry water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming and Utah to eastern Colorado... "Million said once the pipeline is completed, operation would be turned over to a public water conservancy group. He also said permitting is expected to take three years and construction two years. Flaming Gorge and the Green River are an ideal source for such a project because the Green has water that is not spoken for, Million said. 'We looked at the Green River Basin as a region with water supply opportunities,' he told river district directors Wednesday. 'The Green River Basin is a large, under-utilized system.' Million said the project would take the pressure off the Colorado River Basin, which already provides hundreds of thousands of acre feet of water to the thirsty Front Range and downstream states. 'We think (the project) will increase supply to the main stem of the Colorado,' he said. Further, if the project doesn't happen, Million said, there will be a move 'to buy Shoshone water rights and other senior rights on the West Slope.' The Shoshone water right, held by Xcel Energy, is one of the oldest rights on the Colorado River and is used to operate the Glenwood Canyon Hydroelectric Plant... "Million's claims met with decided skepticism Wednesday. The directors were concerned that the project could exhaust what water the state of Colorado is entitled to under the 1922 and 1948 Colorado River interstate compacts. The compacts require the upper Colorado River Basin states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico to supply a fixed amount of water annually to the lower basin states of California, Nevada and Arizona. 'Our main concern is that 165,000 acre feet, is it available under the 1922 and 1948 compacts?' said river district general manager Eric Kuhn. The Colorado Water Conservation Board is currently trying to determine just how much water Colorado is using and what remains available after compact obligations are met. 'It will put existing water users at risk if we run into a couple of dry years,' said river district attorney Peter Fleming. 'We don't know how much water the Colorado River has left to develop.'" Category: Colorado Water 5:47:30 AM     PACDEX From the Kansas City Infozine, "Scientists using one of the nation's newest and most capable research aircraft are launching a far-reaching field project this month to study plumes of airborne dust and pollutants that originate in Asia and journey to North America. The plumes are among the largest such events on Earth, so great in scope that scientists believe they might affect clouds and weather across thousands of miles while interacting with the Sun's radiation and playing a role in global climate. "Known as PACDEX (Pacific Dust Experiment), the project will be led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. NCAR's main sponsor, the National Science Foundation (NSF), will provide most of the funding. The first mission will be launched in late April, depending on weather patterns in Asia. It will continue for two months... "To study the changes in the plumes as they move through the atmosphere from Japan to the western United States, the PACDEX team will deploy the NSF HIAPER, a modified Gulfstream-V aircraft, which is operated and maintained by NCAR. This newly configured plane has a range of about 6,000 miles and can cruise from just a few hundred feet above Earth's surface to over 50,000 feet. These features enable scientists to study the plumes across thousands of miles and at different levels of the atmosphere... "While many particles in the plumes, such as sulfates, cool the planet by blocking solar radiation from reaching Earth, some particles such as black carbon absorb sunlight as well and therefore may amplify the effects of global warming. PACDEX will help scientists refine computer models of greenhouse gas emissions and improve forecasts of future climate change, both for the entire globe and for specific regions that are especially affected by dust and pollutants. 'PACDEX will open a window into what happens to the atmosphere as these massive plumes cross the Pacific Ocean and affect clouds, precipitation, and the amount of sunlight that reaches Earth,' explains NCAR scientist Jeff Stith, a principal investigator on the project. 'We want to determine how the various particles of dust and pollutants influence clouds and climate, and how far downwind those effects occur.'[...] "The plumes can alter global temperatures by interacting with large-scale, mid-latitude cloud systems over the Pacific that reflect enormous amounts of sunlight and help regulate global climate. The plumes also may affect regional precipitation patterns because water vapor molecules adhere to microscopic particles of dust and pollutants to form water droplets or ice particles that eventually grow and fall out of the clouds as rain or snow. In addition, the dust and pollutants reduce the amount of light reaching Earth, contributing to a phenomenon known as global dimming that can affect both temperatures and precipitation... "U.S. organizations include NCAR, Scripps, NASA, NOAA, Arizona State University, Colorado State University, Naval Research Laboratory, Oregon State University, University of Alaska, University of Colorado, and the University of Iowa. Asian organizations include the Japanese National Institute for Environmental Studies, Lanzhou University and Peking University in China, and Seoul National University in Korea." Category: Colorado Water 5:34:02 AM

© Copyright 2007 John Orr. Last update: 5/1/07; 9:45:45 AM.