Monday, September 1, 2008

Two new reservoirs for Lucky Jack Mine? From The Crested Butte News: "U.S. Energy Corporation has filed its "résumé" of conditional water rights. The company has plans for a major molybdenum mine on Mt. Emmons west of Crested Butte. In a full-page legal notice published in the August 15 Crested Butte News, the mining company outlines all of its water and what it is doing to keep the water rights current for its proposed Lucky Jack project." More from the article: "Water is a crucial resource for the molybdenum mining and milling process, and appropriation of these conditional water rights was an initial step in the overall development of the project," the legal notice stated. The notice describes water rights in the Slate River and Carbon Creek, along with dams resulting in an Elk Creek Reservoir and a Carbon Creek Reservoir. The dam for Carbon Creek would be 115 feet high and 990 feet long and would hold 1,000 acre-feet of water. The Elk Creek reservoir would be 220 feet high and 960 feet long with a total capacity of 1,600 acre-feet. In order to fill those reservoirs, U.S. Energy would take water out of Carbon Creek, Elk Creek, and the Slate River. Thanks to the Water Information Program for the link. More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 4:58:11 PM     Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel update Here's an update on the situation at the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel, from The Leadville Chronicle. From the article: After months of planning to avert a perceived disaster at the LMDT due to high water levels backed up behind a collapse in the tunnel, the end is in sight. The BOR has drilled a hole into the tunnel, placed a pump inside it, and now sends more than 1,000 gallons per minute from the tunnel to a treatment plant before releasing the water into the Arkansas River. A permanent pump has been in place for over three weeks now, pumping water from behind the collapse in the tunnel. With resoration efforts to the pump site and surrounding area well underway, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, it would seem. But apparently, if that light should flicker, there is no Plan B. "We have been really focused on managing this current problem. It will be at least six to 12 months before we can analyze the work we've put into this thing, evaluate it with any real clarity," said Stan Christensen of the EPA. "We won't know for a long time if what we've done is adequate or not," said Bill Murphy of the BOR... Although it has been said many times in the past several months that this solution, facilitated by the BOR and EPA, is not a sure-fire one, nor a fast acting one-in fact, it is often questioned whether there is a problem at all-this point of a plan B seems a little overdue. Even with the BOR's treatment facility working at full capacity since June, when the initial pump was installed, experts have predicted that it will be at least December before all factors can be considered well enough to determine the effectiveness of the pumping solution... With the release of the BOR's Risk Assessment in July, stating that there is no danger of a disaster or flooding at the LMDT, many fears have been quelled. But the Board of County Comissioners (BOCC) has not been so easily convinced. The BOCC has not yet lifted the state of emergency that it declared in February in response to the increasing concerns from the BOR, EPA and other federal and state agencies for the potentially disastrous consequences of an elevated mine pool. The commissioners have stated that they are awaiting a response from the EPA before doing so. The EPA has yet to formally respond to the BOR's risk assessment, and the EPA has a corps of engineers examining the BOR's findings. The corps of engineers is expected to release a report on the LMDT risk to the EPA by Aug. 27 and the EPA will release a response of its own, based on that report, to the public in early September. Meanwhile, the BOR is following through on several reccommendations made by independent engineers who worked on its risk assessment to better prepare for an emergency-one it finds highly inprobable. It isn't clear to anyone, even the BOR, it seems, whether to take the LMDT situation seriously anymore. But just in case, everyone is. Thanks to the The Water Information Program for the link. More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here. Category: Colorado Water 4:46:25 PM     Aspinall operations meeting Here's a recap of last week's Aspinall Unit operations meeting, from The Montrose Daily Press. From the article: Inflow into Blue Mesa Reservoir this year fell short of what forecasters expected after record winter weather, but provided insight into developing better predictions for the future. A combination of elements, natural and man-made, contributed to an over-forecast of about 10 percent in 2008. As of Thursday, Blue Mesa was 88 percent full, according to the Bureau of Reclamation Web site. While the outcome disappointed some, there wasn't a big effect on users because the year still brought considerable water, said Dan Crabtree, Bureau of Reclamation water resources group chief. Blue Mesa Reservoir water levels have fallen short of what forecasters have predicted this year. Currently the reservoir is 88 percent full. "If were having a dry or normal season and we missed it by 10 percent, we'd be more concerned about it," said Crabtree. "All (that happened) is that we didn't fill Blue Mesa as far as we wanted and the rafters didn't have as much water in the season as they would have liked." Snow and precipitation account for upwards of 90 percent of the year to year variability in runoff, according to Tom Pagano, water supply forecaster with the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. Soil moisture and evaporation also play roles in forecasts and outcomes. Pagano gave a presentation this past week at the Bureau of Reclamation meeting in Gunnison. April and May precipitation, which helps boost snowmelt, did not measure up to those in years past, Pagano said. The dry and warm spring weather may have also contributed to some evaporation, Pagano said. A slow start to the winter season, back in October and November, also didn't bring the precipitation that helps encourage runoff. "Usually there's a little bit of rain that primes the soils to help your runoff and that didn't really happen this year," he said... Pagano and others are looking into the gaps of their data network and have been scoping out new sites from which to measure snow pack and precipitation data. Category: Colorado Water 10:08:40 AM     Restoration project on the Eagle River From The Vail Daily: "Restoration work is being done on a stretch of the Eagle River running through Minturn that was badly damaged by early development in town. As homes and businesses were built near the water's edge decades ago, the river was reshaped and deformed. High river banks were created that couldn't hold plant roots, which caused erosion. Wildlife habitat was destroyed as the river widened." More from the article: The restoration area is roughly from the I-70 westbound bridge to the Bellum Bridge in Minturn, about 1.6 miles. The big idea is to make it more natural looking, a place where wildlife and plants could actually thrive they way they are supposed to. Right now, the river pretty wide and shallow, which isn't a good thing, Blauch said. Restoration will involve strategically placing boulders and cobbles in the river, which will create a variety of homes for fish. There will be some fast moving shallow areas, and some slow moving pools. On the river bank, workers will begin planting cottonwoods, willow, spruce and a variety of shrubs and grasses. In some areas, workers will be actually extending the river bank... Restoration work began this past week and will finish in mid-October. Blauch said you'll see a lot of heavy construction equipment down by the river, and from time to time, you'll see some cloudy water in the river -- an unavoidable side effect of doing restoration work. Category: Colorado Water 10:01:27 AM     Rainwater harvesting Here's a look at rainwater harvesting, from The AP via The Boulder Daily Camera. From the article: Concern over drought and wasted resources, and stricter water conservation laws have revitalized the practice of capturing rainwater during storms and stockpiling it for use in drier times. A fixture of building design in the Roman empire and in outposts along the American frontier, rainwater harvesting is making a comeback in states including Texas, North Carolina, and California. "We call it 'the movement that's taking the nation by storm,'" said Robyn Hadley, spokeswoman for the Austin, Texas-based American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association, whose membership has jumped by more than 40 percent this year. Colorado legislators attempted to enable some rainwater harvesting this spring with SB 08-119. Collecting rainwater is not legal in Colorado because rainwater is considered tributary to surface water and therefore subject to prior appropriation. More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 9:55:32 AM     Draft EIS released for Windy Gap Firming Project Here's a look at the proposed Chimney Hollow Reservoir and the Windy Gap Firming Project, from The Fort Collins Coloradoan. From the article: The proposed Chimney Hollow Reservoir would shore up water supplies for thirsty Front Range cities but inundate a scenic valley west of Carter Lake. The reservoir proposal -- also known as the Windy Gap Firming Project -- also would reduce flows on the Colorado and Fraser rivers and have significant environmental impacts on the Western Slope, according to a draft Environmental Impact Statement on the project released last week by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The document, which took five years and $5 million to produce, looks at five alternatives for the project, including taking no action. The alternative preferred by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District and participating municipalities and water districts is Chimney Hollow. The reservoir would hold 90,000 acre feet of water, a little less than Carter Lake. An acre foot is enough water to meet the needs of one or two urban families. The goal of the project is to supply participating entities with up to 30,000 acre feet of water a year that currently cannot be stored in Granby Reservoir on the Western Slope, said Jeff Drager, project manager for Northern Water. Water would be brought to the Eastern Slope primarily through existing facilities that are part of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, although a new pipeline would be built to carry water to the site. The project would cost about $270 million, Drager said. Other alter-natives reviewed in the draft EIS would require building two reservoirs and extensive pumping facilities... If the project is approved, reservoir construction could begin in 2013, Drager said. It could be open for recreation in 2015 or 2016. More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here. Category: Colorado Water 9:39:35 AM     Tom Clark to chair Colorado Municipal League's Water and Wastewater Issues Committee From The Sky-Hi Daily News: "Tom Clark, mayor of Kremmling, was recently selected by Colorado Municipal League Board President Doug Linkhart to chair the League's Water and Wastewater Issues Committee. Clark has served as the mayor of Kremmling since 2002. He is currently the chair of the Grand County Water Information Network, and an at-large member on the Colorado Basin Roundtable. Clark serves on the executive committee of the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments and is a member of the Water Quality and Quantity Committee. Clark is also involved with the Colorado State Forest Service which promotes healthy forest management." More from the article: CML's Statewide Municipal Water and Wastewater Issues Committee was established by the CML Board in December 2004 and consists of over 60 representatives of municipalities around the state. The committee is charged with: - Identifying issues and developing consensus positions of statewide municipal interest as they relate to water and wastewater policies. - Identifying potential impacts of statewide municipal interest of a downstream call affecting the Colorado River Copact and other interstate river compacts. Category: Colorado Water 9:34:04 AM     Pre-1922 water rights water bank for western Colorado? Should western slope interests pool their pre-1922 water rights as a hedge against a Colorado River Compact call? Here's an look at the issue, from The Summit Daily News. From the article: Colorado water users could avoid drought shortages by pooling resources to buy or lease senior water rights and hold them in a new Western Slope "water bank," according to officials with the Colorado River Water Conservation District. Those collective water rights, established prior to a 1922 interstate agreement, would be an insurance policy against downstream demand from California, Arizona and Nevada, said Jim Pokrandt, education specialist with the river district. "It would be an aggregation of pre-1922 water rights that could be used in case of a compact call," Pokrandt said, explaining the potential for downstream states to "call" on their water rights at the expense of Colorado's water users... Under the 1922 interstate contract, Colorado is obligated to deliver an average of 7.5 million acre feet of Colorado river water downstream annually. In a worst-case scenario, Colorado water users could be forced to cut some of their existing uses if the downstream states demand their full allotment. Water rights established before the compact was signed are not subject to the agreement. Stored in a water bank, those senior rights could be used to provide water for Western Slope municipalities -- even if the downstream demands cut into Colorado's allotment of water, said Boulder water attorney Glenn Porzak... A significant amount of water would have to be amassed to make a dent, Porzak said, speculating that it might be possible to put together a 100,000 acre-foot portfolio. Rather than buying the water outright, towns and other water providers and users could agree to leases that would kick in during dry periods, when the potential for a compact call looms greatest. That would fit with the river district's vision for a water bank, which is intended to be buffer against shortages in a crisis situation, according to a recent edition of the district's newsletter... Banking senior water rights is not a new idea in and of itself. Porzak said there already are water users in Eagle and Summit counties who are buying up pre-1922 water rights to hedge against future shortages. But the river district's vision is for a collective arrangement that would provide some security across the West Slope. "Their idea would go one step farther. It's a great idea, but the devil is in the details," Porzak said. Amassing those pre-compact rights could trigger competition by Front Range utilities like Denver Water and the Northern Water Conservancy District, as they go after the same senior rights, he explained. A downstream call on water allocated by the compact would likely spur Front Range water users to go after Western Slope water, regardless of seniority. Given political realities, it's unlikely that water use on the Front Range would be cut in a drought, even of those municipal rights are junior to West Slope agricultural uses. More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 9:27:33 AM     McCain: Renegotiate the Colorado River Compact Here's a look at John McCain's gaffe over the renegotiating the Colorado River Compact and a look at the realities of water in the basin, from The Colorado Springs Business Journal. From the article: During an interview with the Pueblo Chieftain's Charles Ashby, Sen. John McCain said that he supported the "renegotiation" of the 1922 interstate compact, which governs the distribution of the waters of the Colorado River among the seven states that border the river. McCain was clear about the reasons: population growth in the lower basin states, specifically Arizona, Nevada, and California... During that same week, Colorado water managers, lawyers and developers at the annual meeting of the Colorado Water Congress, signed a statement strongly condemning McCain's position... But whether it was a calculated statement, or an inadvertent slip of the tongue, McCain brought up an uncomfortable and, at least among non-politicians, an undisputed truth: Colorado has the water and the lower basin states have the people. To the extent that there is available, unappropriated water in the Colorado River basin, it belongs to Colorado and the upper basin states. Along with McCain's home state of Arizona, California and Nevada have struggled as booming populations and regional droughts have exacerbated the impact of stagnant or diminishing water resources. Renegotiation of the compact might substantially benefit Arizona and its neighbors, and might also damage the interests of the upper basin states. But as Western Water Assessment Director Brad Udall said last year, Colorado and Arizona may be fighting over phantom water. The drought, Udall said, had resulted in the loss of 30 million acre feet from storage in Lake Mead and Lake Powell, meaning that any unappropriated water exists only on paper. And while last year's wet winter has improved storage in both reservoirs, the underlying situation is unchanged. During the Democratic National Convention in Denver this week, Colorado Rep. John Salazar and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano offered very different perspectives about the continuing regional water wars. "Water is the lifeblood of Colorado," Salazar said. "That's a bipartisan coalition. Without water, we don't have an economy, there's no more room to develop. (Renegotiating the compact) would devastate this state." Napolitano's position was more nuanced, and she cited the fact that the compact has already been revised. "I don't think that Sen. McCain was aware of this, but we just redid the Colorado River compact in 2007," she said. "That was signed. The Colorado River is not the most important source (of Arizona's water). There are lots of pieces to the water puzzle other than the compact. There's recharge, growth management techniques, re-use -- just ways that we use water more efficiently." However, "redoing" the compact is not the same as renegotiating it. The agreement to which the governor referred had been negotiated during a six-year period between the seven signatories to the compact and the federal government. It does not alter the original terms and conditions of the compact, but provides a mechanism for the equitable division of the river's flows during a declared drought... Arizona was the last state to ratify the compact, which it did 22 years after the other signatories. Subsequently, Arizona fought California in a protracted legal battle over water for the Central Arizona Project, which ended after 11 years with a resounding Arizona victory. During much of the last century, California used far more water than its compact allotment. The upper basin states had neither users nor storage for the surplus, so it flowed downstream. Since California had the means to transport the water and put it to "beneficial use," mainly for agriculture, it became theirs. The other compact signatories realized that California's overuse could threaten their interests. Nevada and Arizona, arid states that were virtually unpopulated when the compact was created, joined with their natural foes in the upper basin to support measures to curb California's consumption. Led by then-Secretary of the Interior (and former Colorado attorney general) Gail Norton, the federal government forced California to abide by the terms of the compact, and successfully brokered the drought protection agreement to which Napolitano referred. But despite the efforts of Democrats in Denver to paper over the dispute, and present a united front, this year's campaign already has an unavoidable subtext. Politicians and water managers throughout the West are well aware that the Bush administration has strongly supported upper basin states, particularly when their interests clashed with those of California. Vice President Cheney is a Wyoming native and represented that state in congress. Norton was followed as secretary of the interior by Dirk Kempthorne, a former Idaho governor whose sympathies are naturally with the Mountain West. Convention delegate and Greeley City Councilwoman Pam Shaddock summarized the dilemma faced by elected officials across the west. "In desert communities, water is our life blood," she said. "We can't grow without it, and we've been the fastest-growing county in the country for three of the last five years. We have to have water for all the smaller communities in Weld County -- it's a subject that's always there. We're looking at storage projects, at water from the Green and the Yampa [sigma]" Reminded that the Green and the Yampa are tributary to the Colorado, and that there may not be developable water in the Colorado River basin, Shaddock nodded. "I know," she said, "but we have to have the water, whether it's there or not." 9:10:07 AM     Gustav Gustav has weakened to a category two hurricane and is making landfall this morning in Louisiana. Good luck to y'all. Category: Climate Change News 8:48:57 AM

© Copyright 2008 John Orr. Last update: 10/1/08; 6:29:40 AM.