Saturday, October 18, 2008

Beaver ponds and song bird symbiosis From Science Blog: "The songbird has a friend in the beaver. According to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the busy beaver's signature dams provide critical habitat for a variety of migratory songbirds, particularly in the semi-arid interior of the West. "The study, which appears in the October 2008 issue of the journal Western North American Naturalist, says that through dam building, beavers create ponds and stimulate growth of diverse streamside vegetation critical for birds, including many migratory songbirds in decline. The study found that the more dams beavers build, the more abundant and diverse local songbirds become." Category: Colorado Water 9:28:58 AM     Water bank for western Colorado? Here's a look at the potential squeeze of Uncompahgre Valley water users who may get caught between a call on the Colorado River by the lower basin states and Front Range water users, from the Telluride Watch. Click through to read the whole article. Here are a couple of excerpts: Increasing demand for Western Slope water to supply a burgeoning Front Range population could put the squeeze on Ouray County water users, according to Andy Mueller, Ouray attorney and vice-president of the Colorado River Water Conservation District Board of Directors. That is, if ranchers and local officials don't take a more aggressive approach to managing their water rights. Mueller warned that impacts could be felt sooner rather than later if a severe drought of one or two years' duration was to occur. Speaking to the Ouray County Board of Commissioners at their Sept. 22 meeting, Mueller provided an eye-opening report on potential water shortage scenarios and presented some ideas about how to protect water rights, including the creation of a water bank. As participants in a water banking system, ranchers could voluntarily lease their water, thereby preventing their water rights from being condemned by the state due to non-use. The water bank idea was presented recently at the Colorado River District's annual water seminar in Grand Junction. Category: Colorado Water 9:22:44 AM     Jackson Gulch and McPhee reservoirs status Here's the end of the year report for Jackson Gulch and McPhee reservoirs, from the Cortez Journal. They write: The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released the September-end status of local reservoirs Jackson Gulch and McPhee. Jackson Gulch Reservoir live content stood at 3,975 acre-feet with a 9,948 acre-feet maximum capacity and a 4,576 acre-feet average (1971-2000) end-of-month content. At Jackson Gulch, a daily maximum/minimum of 54/26 cubic-feet-per-second was released into the Mancos River, but 44 acre-feet were released for municipal purposes. McPhee Reservoir live content stood at 290,794 acre-feet, with a 381,051 acre-feet maximum capacity and a 296,397 average (1986-2000) end-of-month content. At McPhee, 3,314 acre-feet were released into the Dolores River, and 29,367 acre-feet were released for transbasin purposes. At McPhee, a daily maximum/minimum of 81/39 cubic-feet-per-second was released into the Dolores River. Category: Colorado Water 9:16:02 AM     Colorado's Oil Shale: Its origin, resource importance, and potential exploitation From email from Gigi Richard (Mesa State): The Natural Resources of the West: Energy seminar series continues... Colorado's Oil Shale: Its origin, resource importance, and potential exploitation Dr. Rex Cole, Professor of Geology, Mesa State College Monday 20 October, 4-5:30 p.m., Saccomanno Lecture Hall (SL 110), Mesa State College, Grand Junction, CO Seminars are FREE and open to the public. No registration necessary. A schedule of all of the seminars in the series can be found at: http://home.mesastate.edu/~grichard/WSS/WSSF08index.html For more information please contact: Prof. Gigi Richard, 248-1689, grichard@mesastate.edu Prof. Tamera Minnick, 248-1663, tminnick@mesastate.edu Category: Climate Change News 9:11:04 AM     League of Conservation Voters: Colorado congressional delegation scores From email from the League of Conservation Voters: "Colorado's delegation was split between those who favored continued dependence on oil and other dirty fuels and those who favored renewable energy and energy efficiency. Senator Salazar earned a perfect score of 100 percent in 2008, consistently standing up to Big Oil and voting for renewable energy and energy efficiency. Representative Udall was not far behind, earning a 92 percent, followed by Representatives Salazar and Perlmutter, both earning respectable scores of 85 percent. At the other end of the spectrum, Senator Allard earned an 18 percent, while Representative Musgrave earned a 15 percent. Representatives Lamborn and Tancredo both received abysmal scores of 0 percent. "The average Colorado Senate score was 59 percent, the average Colorado House score was 51 percent." Here's their list: Sen. Allard - 18 Sen. Salazar - 100 Rep. DeGette - 77 Rep. Udall - 92 Rep. Salazar - 85 Rep. Musgrave - 15 Rep. Lamborn - 0 Rep. Tancredo - 0 Rep. Perlmutter - 85 Category: Colorado Water 9:06:06 AM     Fremont County pumpback hydroelectric plant? Here's an update on plans for a new hydroelectric plant in southern Colorado, from the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article: A pumpback hydroelectric plant in Fremont County is moving toward development and could be in operation by 2014. Mark Morley, a Colorado Springs developer, said the project could provide peak electric power that would complement the development of wind power in the Arkansas Valley and solar power in the San Luis Valley because it would be located near transmission lines that tie into the grid for several power suppliers. A reservoir and the pipeline associated with the project also could provide benefits to water users in Fremont County, although there are no contracts yet... The plan involves building a 12,000-15,000 acre-foot reservoir above Brush Hollow Reservoir near Penrose. A second reservoir above that one would serve as a forebay. Water from the forebay would drop 700 feet, generating electricity as it moves through a turbine during peak demand times. During off-peak times, usually at night when power demand is low, pumps would move water from the lower reservoir back to the forebay. The plant would have the capacity to generate 400 megawatts of power, six hours a day, 365 days of the year, Morley said. The cost of about $640 million, or $1.6 million per megawatt, is significantly higher than a natural gas peaking plant, which typically are about $1 million per megawatt to build, Morley said. Power would be available to utilities up and down the Front Range. However, a natural gas plant would require at least $130 million a year in fuel to operate, while the pumps that move water to the forebay in the hydro project could use electricity generated by wind turbines at night - typically a time of low demand when wind turbines have to be curtailed, Morley said. "The cost of natural gas is only going to go up and there could be carbon taxes in the future," Morley said. The net impact for the environment would be the elimination of 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, when compared with natural gas peaking plants, according to studies provided by Morley. "The storage (of water) allows us to eliminate the need for fossil fuel," Morley said. Simply put, peaking plants are needed as more wind and solar projects are developed. Wind power is available only when the wind is blowing, usually 35 percent of the time. Solar power is available less than 50 percent of the time. Peak demand times also pose challenges for coal-burning plants, which can't ramp up as quickly. For instance, the power needs of the Denver area can shift as much as 100 megawatts in one day. The Bureau of Reclamation operates the Mount Elbert pumpback hydroelectric plant at Twin Lakes to fill those types of needs, and the Cabin Creek project near Georgetown has been meeting peak power needs for more than 40 years. Nuclear plants, which are now being proposed for the Arkansas Valley in a couple of locations, also would need peaking power, since they are relatively more inflexible than even coal plants... Morley added some storage for local water users to the plan to accommodate regional needs. In addition to Fremont County users who now lack storage, downstream agricultural users could use the off-channel storage to hold water when Lake Pueblo fills, he said... Morley plans to bring a 12- to 18-inch pipeline six miles north from a river intake near Florence to a reservoir that holds up to 15,000 acre-feet, considerably less than the 70,000 acre-feet envisioned in an earlier plan. The new plan also won't disturb Brush Hollow Reservoir, which in the earlier plan would have been bisected by a new dam... He estimated it will take about three years to get the necessary permits and another 18 months to build the dams, pipelines and other structures associated with the project. Morley owns some water rights in the area, but not enough to fill the reservoir. He mentioned the possibility of leasing water, perhaps from Super Ditch, to initially fill the reservoir and then replacing evaporation loss with the local rights. There would also be an opportunity for area water users to lease space. The project is proceeding on its own track separately from a reservoir project near Pueblo Chemical Depot east of Pueblo, where the Morley family has a gravel pit operation at Stonewall Springs Ranch. That site has been identified as potential storage for a pipeline to water users in El Paso County. Category: Climate Change News 8:50:50 AM     Supply news From the Commerce City Beacon: "The new campus [under construction by the Adams 14 School District] will require 190 Equivalent Residential Units (ERUs) of water. At an April meeting with the water district, Lange told the water board the city would be giving the school district 60 ERUs of water and requested their help in securing the additional 130 ERUs. Now, less than a year before the new school is scheduled to open, the Beacon has learned the 60 ERUs from Commerce City is not for sure. Carroll said, 'Discussions about the water among the school district, city and water department are ongoing.' On whether the city will be providing 60 ERUs of water, Carroll remarked, 'It is premature to say that at this juncture.'" Category: Colorado Water 8:34:41 AM     Zebra/Quagga mussel update: Veligers confirmed below Lake Pueblo The presence of Zebra and Quagga mussel veligers have been confirmed in the Bessemer Ditch, Arkansas River and the state fish hatchery below Pueblo Dam, according to the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article: "They're there," said Scott Herrmann, biology professor at Colorado State University-Pueblo. Herrmann, along with Del Nimmo, has collected all of the samples used by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Colorado Division of Wildlife. He said the samples collected below the dam are awaiting DNA confirmation on whether the larvae are zebra or quagga, but that it often takes weeks to confirm the results. On Wednesday, Fred Nibling Jr., Reclamation team leader for invasive species, said there are definitely mussel larvae, called veligers, in all of the waterways below Lake Pueblo. The state could not confirm or deny the report... "The key words are larval drift," Herrmann said. "As long as they can drift, they can go a hundred miles." During sampling last week, Herrmann and Nimmo found a "cluster of 10-12 clam-appearing forms" from a bucket that apparently hit the bottom of the lake at about 50 feet. Those forms are now being analyzed by the state to determine whether they are zebra or quagga mussels. Herrmann said it's surprising to find that "settlers" - growing clams about the size of ground pepper - have not been found in the lake. The clams found in the cluster were about a millimeter across. But it's a big lake, and sampling has been only monthly at six locations in the lake and three downstream so far. Herrmann also plans to monitor plankton levels in Lake Pueblo against historical samples collected by CSU-Pueblo... Reclamation is working on ways to keep the mussels away from the diversion structures which water suppliers, power plants and even some fire departments depend on, Nibling said. There is also research going on about biological controls. However, the impact the mussels could have on irrigation systems in Colorado is not yet well understood, although the mussels have already created problems for California irrigators who depend on the Colorado River. More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 8:29:47 AM     Colorado State scored $590,000 regional water resource grant Colorado State University has scored $590,000 from a United States Department of Agriculture National Integrated Water Quality Program regional water resource grant, according to the USDA. From the release: Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer today announced that USDA has awarded more than $10 million through the National Integrated Water Quality Program (NIWQP) to address critical water resource issues, including water quality protection and water conservation. The NIWQP supports research, education and extension projects and programs that address critical water resource issues in agricultural, rural and urbanizing watersheds. These projects reflect the growing need to combine knowledge from biological and physical sciences with social and economic sciences to address complex water issues. The NIWQP focuses on addressing water issues at the watershed scale. Projects funded by the NIWQP are outcome-oriented, aiming to increase awareness and change behaviors related to water resource management. Funded projects include efforts to develop an undergraduate curriculum to address ecohydrology (the study of how water and plants and animals affect each other) at the watershed scale; extension efforts to address livestock manure issues impacting water quality; and integrated research, education and extension projects to explore the effects of drought and lawn irrigation on water availability... The 2008 awards also include regional water resource projects that continue funding for a national network of outcome-focused projects addressing state and local water resource issues. The FY 2008 NIWQP regional water resource grants were awarded to: - Colorado State University, $590,000: Coordinated regional water resources programming for the Northern Plains and Mountains region. Category: Colorado Water 8:19:02 AM     Brush source water protection plan From the Fort Morgan Times: "Members of a Brush source water protection team on Wednesday reviewed a draft of the city's protection plan, the culmination of about six months of work with the Colorado Rural Water Association. Colleen Williams, source water specialist with the Colorado Rural Water Association, asked attending team members to review and edit the 49-page document for final approval later this year. All edits are due by Nov. 14, she said, and the group plans to meet again at 3 p.m. on Dec. 8 to begin writing an action plan for 2009." More from the article: The draft document, available at Brush City Hall in paper and electronic form for the public to review and edit, outlines all aspects of the Brush source water protection plan. Items covered in the document include the location and description of the protection area, possible sources of contamination and suggested management approaches for keeping Brush water safe. Also at the meeting, the team began the formation of a steering committee that will meet four times each year to help implement the finalized water protection plan. The committee itself will have no legislative authority but will help the city and county government make decisions... Among those appointed to the committee are Brush Administrator Monty Torres, Assistant Administrator Karen Schminke and Attorney Bo Chapin. Others include Morgan County planning administrator Barbara Gorrell, Mark Kokes of the Morgan County Quality Water District and Steve Enfante, the Morgan County emergency management coordinator. Others that may be appointed to the committee are representatives from the Brush utilities department and the Morgan County Health Department. Kokes said he would also like to appoint to the board the District 3 Morgan County Commissioner, currently Tony Carlson, who oversees the area south of Brush where the protection area is located. More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 8:10:51 AM     Amendment 52 Bob Ewegen comes out against Amendment 52 in yesterday's Denver Post. He writes: ...the water conservation community's ability to do its job is threatened by Amendment 52, a power grab by the highway lobby intended to hijack taxpayer dollars from water and environmental needs to earmarked highway projects. You can't make this stuff up. In a year when congressional earmarks are a national scandal, special interests in our own state are not only trying to siphon money away from water needs into politically favored freeways, they also want to place that earmark in constitutional concrete! Amendment 52 might best be described as "Machiavelli meets the Bridge to Nowhere." Machiavelli is political spinmeister Rick Reiter, panjandrum of the massive oil and gas industry campaign to defeat Gov. Bill Ritter's Amendment 58, which would raise severance taxes paid by that industry. According to state Sen. Chris Romer, Reiter openly boasted about providing funds to help put 52 on the ballot because the oil and gas lobby hoped to sow doubt, fear and confusion by having two conflicting severance tax measures on the ballot. Additionally, 52 tries to hijack any new money raised by the rival 58 to highway projects as well. Gov. Ritter wants that money to go to college scholarships, local government, wildlife habitat and alternative energy... After 52 reached the ballot, the highway contractors funneled money into the drive, hoping to reap sales of asphalt at the expense of water projects. So far, the water rustlers have aroused a storm of opposition. The state's newspapers have denounced 52 en masse, especially on the Western Slope and Arkansas Valley, which would be hard hit by the water raid. The Farm Bureau and Farmers Union are fighting to save the state's water. Club 20, the voice of the Western Slope, is determined to save every drop of its precious patrimony. Environmental groups have joined ranks with the water buffaloes to fight against drying up Colorado's farms and ranches and the open space and wildlife habitat they provide. Ducks Unlimited, Audubon Colorado, the Colorado Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited and other green groups have entered the fray. Yet, the outcome remains in doubt. There are so many issues on this year's ballot that the water and environmental communities fear Amendment 52 could slip through. That would be tragic, because 52 does more than raid our water. It would cripple vital programs such as watershed protection, tamarisk control, the Species Conversation Trust Fund, Low Income Energy Assistance Program, community reforestation grants to ease bark beetle impacts, and the aquatic nuisance program that attempts to curb water mussels and other invasive species. For full information on the mischief Amendment 52 would wreak, visit ResponsibleColorado.com. Category: Colorado Water 7:46:52 AM     Northern Integrated Supply Project: 2016 completion? Here's an analysis of Windsor's projected costs for their participation in the proposed Northern Integrated Supply Project (including Glade Reservoir), from the Windsor Beacon. From the article: Windsor has budgeted $268,000 to pay for its portion of the Northern Integrated Supply Project in 2009, but the annual payments for the program are about to get a lot bigger. "The single biggest payment will be our annual payment in 2012, at $5.4 million," said Windsor Director of Finance Dean Moyer... The project will cost an estimated $400 million, and that cost will be born by participants in the project, in proportion to the amount of water they're requesting from NISP. Windsor's share of water is 3,300 acre feet, which comes to about $33 or $34 million. There are, Brouwer said, multiple ways to fund the project, including special bond financing, loans or upfront payment. Up until now, the town has paid its share from its cash reserves each year. That strategy will have to change, according to Windsor Town Manager Kelly Arnold. "I'll be attending a November retreat with other NISP shareholders to discuss the construction and payment schedule," Arnold said at Tuesday's budget meeting... The project is now, however, expected to be delayed as it waits for approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Northern Water had once hoped to have the Glade Reservoir complete by 2014 but is now looking at a 2016 completion date. Backers believe the project will be completed, in the end, but environmental activists in Fort Collins have fought the project. More coverage of NISP from Fort Collins Now. They write: Officials with the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District continue to wait on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decision on a permit for the construction of the Northern Integrated Supply Project. Because of the time the Corps is taking to announce that decision, and due to the possibility that more study may be required, the time table for the project may pushed back a year, according to Brian Werner, spokesman for the district... The original timeline for the project, with an estimated cost of between $400 million and $450 million, was 2009-2011 for design, 2011-2015 for construction, and water going into Glade starting in 2016, Werner said. "We are not in a panic mode by any means. I hate to use the word normal, but it's normal for this kind of project to see this kind of delay. The Corps is still reading all the comments from public meetings it conducted earlier this year, and they may come back to say this area needs more study, or more work is needed in this area. We'll just have to wait and see," Werner said. He said the district is now hopeful that the Corps will make a decision on the project by early to mid-2009. More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here. Category: Colorado Water 7:40:16 AM

© Copyright 2008 John Orr. Last update: 11/1/08; 8:06:06 PM.