Colorado Water
Dazed and confused coverage of water issues in Colorado















































































































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Thursday, May 24, 2007
 

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According to the Durango Herald several groups, including the Archuletta County Board of Commissioners, have filed an appeals to the Forest Service's decision to allow oil and gas drilling in the HD Mountains. From the article, "A coalition of local environmental groups, the Archuleta County Board of Commissioners and others filed an appeal Monday challenging the U.S. Forest Service's move to approve new gas wells in the HD Mountains. 'We are concerned that the Forest Service's decision will not protect the health, safety and welfare of Archuleta County residents from potentially adverse impacts of gas development near the Fruitland outcrop,' said Bob Moomaw, chairman of the Board of Commissioners. A second appeal was filed on behalf of Petrox Energy Corporation of Plano, Texas, one of the six leaseholders in the area under consideration. Petrox representatives could not be reached for comment after business hours Tuesday. On April 5, the Forest Service approved drilling as many as 30 gas wells in the Archuleta County section of the Fruitland outcrop...

"One of the local appellants, Bill Vance, raises hay and grain on 80 of his 360 acres that are surrounded by the HD Mountains. 'My biggest concern is that a drop in the water table will cause my domestic water wells to dry up, as well as the springs that supply water for irrigation and livestock,' Vance said.

"The appeal asserts that the Forest Service violated management standards in its forest plan, that the decision would harm air quality, violating EPA standards set to protect Mesa Verde National Park and the Weminuche Wilderness, and that the Forest Service did not adequately prove mitigation measures were feasible and realistic. Earthjustice, an environmental law firm, represents the local appellants. The Forest Service has 45 days to respond. Also among the appellants are hunting outfitter Mike Murphy and Fort Lewis College professor emeritus of archaeology Jim Judge. Drilling along the outcrop in La Plata County led to hazardous levels of methane gas in some homes along the Pine River Valley north of Bayfield in the early 1990s, resulting in the demolition of at least four homes, according to a news release from the appellants."

Category: Colorado Water


6:24:20 AM    

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From the Boulder County Business Report, "The city of Boulder's Water Resources Advisory Board is recommending changes to the city's new water-budget rate structure, including revamping commercial and industrial charges and offering credits to water uses eligible for adjustments that would be retroactive to January. The changes were proposed at a water advisory board meeting May 21 attended by Ned Williams, director of Boulder's Public Works for Utilities...

"The city's new water billing method went into effect Jan. 1 and charges a higher rate per gallon as more water is used. The new structure has become a controversial issue among business owners, landlords and residents. The water advisory board is recommending that rule changes be made to the water budgets as soon as practical to provide for monthly variations in commercial, industrial and institutional water budgets, allow for variation in commercial/industrial/institutional irrigation use for accounts not having irrigation meters, and that the city provide retroactive credits to all users that receive adjustments to their budgets calculated from the beginning of January...

"Advisory board member Jim Knopf said the recommended changes will address the lack of water budgets for city owned right-of-ways (such as sidewalk to curb landscaping); a flaw in the implementation of water budgets for commercial and industrial customers; errors in the use of aerial photography to develop water budgets; a lack of retroactivity in some billing adjustments; and limited communication about some aspects of new water rate system. Of particular concern to some commercial and industrial water users, he said, were water budgets based on yearly use divided by 12, rather than allowing for seasonal ups and downs in water use where some months require more water...

"During a presentation to the business leaders group Boulder Tomorrow on May 17, Williams stressed that people who think the water rate system is treating them unfairly can appeal to have their case reviewed by the city. Williams said the city has received 1,182 appeals from property owners to date and has processed all but 95 of them. Williams added that 89 percent of the appeals for adjustment have been approved, with the two largest types of property adjustment being for irrigable areas, 57 percent, and household size, 17 percent."

Category: Colorado Water


6:11:00 AM    

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From the Greeley Tribune (free registration required), "An amendment has been made to a U.S. House resolution to conform with a bill regarding the recovery of ground water. The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., was amended by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Wednesday to conform to Sen. Ken Salazar's 'More Water, More Energy, Less Waste Act of 2007.' The legislation requires the Bureau of Reclamation to move forward with testing new technology that could potentially help recover millions of gallons of groundwater every day...

"The bill, as amended, would examine the viability of recovering 'produced water' by requiring the commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, the director of the U.S. Geological Survey, and the director of the Bureau of Land Management to evaluate the feasibility of recovering and cleaning 'produced water' for use in irrigation and other purposes, all while protecting and conserving the water quality and natural surroundings. It also would require those agencies to study ways to increase the efficiency of energy production by reducing the quantity of produced water that must be treated or re-injected. The measure also would create a grant program to provide a maximum 50 percent federal match of up to $1 million to construct, but not operate, test project sites. Those sites could be in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada or California. The quality and volume of the recovered 'produced water' would depend upon the technology to be tested under the bill. Having been approved by committee, the resolution now goes on for consideration by the full Senate and then back to the House."

Category: 2008 Presidential Election


6:01:02 AM    

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Here's a report from the second day of the Colorado Water Workshop in Gunnison, from the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. From the article, 'Rich Ingebretsen is trying to spread a message many Colorado River Basin water managers don't like: 'Lake Powell is going away.' His argument goes like this: Silt will clog Lake Powell, rendering it useless, and global warming is going to ravage the West with higher temperatures and inadequate precipitation so much that Lake Powell by even the Bureau of Reclamation's estimation will be empty 15 percent of the time and only 40 percent full most of the time. So, the Salt Lake City physician and founder of the Glen Canyon Institute argues, drain Lake Powell and turn it into 'Glen Canyon National Park.'[...]

"[Eric Kuhn, general manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District] said Ingebretsen vastly overstated the severity of global warming's future effects on Lake Powell. There's no doubt that temperatures will rise, but climate models can't predict future amounts of precipitation that will feed the river and Lake Powell, he said. But Ingebretsen is adamant. Inspired by childhood memories of Glen Canyon and parts of it, such as the famous Cathedral in the Desert, temporarily exposed in recent years because of the lake's record low pool levels, Ingebretsen is vocal about his vision of an irrelevant Glen Canyon Dam. Global warming, he said, will dramatically increase evaporation on the lake. Already more than 40 million acre-feet of water have vanished that way, he said. 'That's a lot of water to just not account for,' he said. 'You'll have more water if you store Powell water in (Lake) Mead,' which is nearing record low levels. Though Lake Powell worked well in the past, global warming will render the lake useless, he said, adding that a better way to manage the Colorado River is to allow reserves for both the river's Upper and Lower basins to be stored in Lake Mead."

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

Category: Colorado Water


5:54:22 AM    

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Funding has been approved to continue the work of establishing a 'vision' for the future of Fountain Creek, according to the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article, "A $75,000 grant that will ensure continued funding of the Fountain Creek Vision Task Force was approved Wednesday by the Colorado Water Conservation Board. The money will fund the Keystone Center's efforts to facilitate a vision statement and strategic plan among government agencies and landowners affected by Fountain Creek. The recommendation for the grant came through the Arkansas Basin Roundtable, a second collaborative effort to find agreement on controversial water issues...

"There are preliminary efforts toward setting up a watershed authority, although members of the task force aren't clear about what its role would be. The group has worked with a sense of urgency, as projects that could impact water quality and quantity are already planned in Fountain Creek. Two participants, Colorado Springs Utilities and the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, are moving ahead independently with a plan to hire a coordinator for Fountain Creek technical issues, contributing $300,000 annually. Those factors played a part in a recommendation to provide funding by CWCB staff...

"The CWCB also approved $120,000 from the same fund for a plan by the Round Mountain Water and Sanitation District to drill a well to provide water to Silver Cliff and Westcliffe in Custer County. The well is part of a larger plan the district has been working on to upgrade its water supply for current and future growth. Brown and Miskel both praised the Round Mountain project as the type of activity envisioned by state lawmakers last year when they approved using mineral severance taxes to fund projects recommended by grass-roots roundtables in each of the state's river basins...

Category: Colorado Water


5:42:14 AM    


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