Daily Colorado Water News
Coyote Gulch
Nonpoint Source Colorado
JANUARY 2010 : COLORADO, WESTERN U.S., NATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL
COLORADO
Gunnison: Should state study drying up cities?
Gunnison Basin water users are bristling at suggestions made last summer to the Interbasin Compact Committee, saying their concerns about economy and environment are equal to Front Range alarm at potential changes in the “urban landscape.” The Gunnison Basin Roundtable responded this month to letters from the Arkansas Basin Roundtable and the Front Range Water Council in July asking the state to study the Gunnison along with other Colorado River basins as a potential source for future transmountain diversions. The Arkansas roundtable also urged the state to look at dry-up of Western Slope agriculture as a strategy along with Eastern Plains reduction in farmland. Gunnison turned that around, saying the state is hardly looking at the real problem: Increased urban demand. Pueblo Chieftain; 1/17/10
Study highlights state's key river role
The Colorado River probably still has water that could be used for development in Colorado, but how much remains unknown, according to a new study of the river. As many as 900,000 acre-feet of water could be available for development, the study suggests. It also suggests that under a worst-case scenario, there could be no water for development by 2040. The Colorado River Water Availability Study presented to the Colorado Water Conservation Board on Tuesday is the first phase of two phases of study on the river. “We are on the cutting edge, and we are far ahead of the other basin states” in determining how much water is available, said Jennifer Gimble, director of the water conservation board. Grand Junction Sentinel; 1/26/10
Small well owners face compliance problems
Small wells on mountain lots are continuing to create headaches - both for the owners of the wells and the state Division of Water Resources. The issue came to a head last week, when Division 2 Engineer Steve Witte met with about 65 property owners in the Acres of Ireland subdivision near Howard, where a 1977 augmentation plan provides for replacement of water to the Arkansas River from pumping wells in the subdivision. A total of 92 properties are affected. The plan relies on a corporation that was dissolved in 2001 for compliance, and the state has found the plan may no longer be sufficient to meet the court decree that established it, Witte said. “We were stunned,” said Chip Cutler, a Salida attorney who has property in the subdivision. “We were told, ‘It’s up to you to come up with a plan,’ after 33 years of negligence by the state engineer.” After the meeting, the group was mostly at a loss about what to do, Cutler said. “Getting 92 people together is hard enough, but this is an immense challenge,” Cutler said. “The meeting ended with Witte waving his hands and walking out. There were no solutions, just a bunch of threats and ultimatums.” From the state’s point of view, if wells are out of compliance, they are subject to being shut down. It’s a serious matter determined after 24 years of litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court against Kansas over the issue of violation of the Arkansas River Compact. Pueblo Chieftain; 1/17/10
Front Range uses only 19% of Colorado’s water, report says
A new report on Colorado’s water usage concludes that the Front Range uses about 19 percent of the state’s water, yet generates between 80 and 86 percent of its economic activity and tax revenue. Most of the state’s water is used for agriculture, the report says. With Colorado’s population expected to double by 2050, and the potential for a 1 million acre-foot gap between water demands and supplies by then as well, the report is intended to help state planners and politicians decide existing water resources are best put to work, Wayne Vanderschuere, water supply manager for Colorado Springs Utilities, said Wednesday. “There’s the value of having the mountains, and the skiing and hunting and rafting and recreation is very real, but we have to keep that in context of where do we put the water to its highest value,” Vanderschuere said in an interview. Denver Business Journal; 1/27/10
Aurora and Eagle County reach water agreement
Aurora has reached an agreement with Eagle County water providers to sell water from Homestake Reservoir to meet Western Slope needs. Aurora City Council Monday agreed to provide an additional 500 acre-feet of water from the reservoir to Eagle County, Vail Associates, the Eagle River Water and Sanitation District, the Upper Eagle Regional Water Authority and the Colorado River Water Conservation District. The water users will pay Aurora $7.5 million and may use the water in drier years. “The old east-west model is obsolete. The new model is joint action. The Valley wins, Aurora wins. It’s how Colorado should work in the future,” said Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer. Pueblo Chieftain; 1/27/10
Water workers try to head off coming decade of decay
It could be a slow-moving, messy situation. That’s what officials from the city’s water department are saying about current sewer infrastructure that’s in place in Aurora and could be coming due for serious maintenance. According to Greg Baker, spokesman for the city’s water department, much of the city’s current sewage and water pipes are ending their 50-year life cycle within the next 10 years, and may need significant maintenance. “They all have aging infrastructure,” he said. “We’re coming up on a perfect storm in 10 years.” That perfect storm includes aging sewer mains underneath the city’s streets, as well as other delivery systems within the city. Last week during the city’s water policy committee, city staff discussed ways to maintain the city’s water infrastructure — including pipes that are being built as part of the city’s Prairie Waters Project — within the next 10 years. Aurora Sentinel; 1/24/10
Colorado gets new BLM state director
A longtime Bureau of Land Management employee will take over the Colorado office next month. Helen Hankins, a 58-year-old native of Council, Idaho, is currently associate state director for the BLM in Arizona. Hankins replaces Sally Wisely, who retired last year. Denver Post; 1/19/10
River rights to come before Colo. lawmakers
Who owns a river? The question is coming to Colorado lawmakers this session. A bill to allow rafting companies to take their guests on rivers that cross through private property whether landowners like it or not is expected to come before the Legislature. Rep. Kathleen Curry of Gunnison says her bill would settle the question of whether rafters, kayakers and anglers have a right to use Colorado's waterways when they go through private land. She says private landowners should not be able to block river access. The bill was inspired last year when a Texas developer bought land in Gunnison County and then notified two rafting companies they could no longer use the Taylor River through his land. Curry's bill could bring lawmakers to settle a long-standing dispute between waterfront landowners and commercial rafting companies. Colorado law isn't clear on whether landowners can block river use. A 1979 Colorado Supreme Court decision said that rafters who touch a private bank or riverbed are trespassing. Some lawyers say that case affects even those who merely float through. Durango Herald; 1/1/10
State lawmakers take first look at water bill
The Colorado General Assembly is about a week into its 120-day session in Denver, and the first water bill of the 2010 session got its first hearing Thursday. During the next four months, legislators will tackle issues such as ground water boundaries, vehicle registration and illegal diversion of surface water. The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee voted 6-1 Thursday to approve SB 10-52, which would make it clear that a final permit for ground water wells in a designated basin is final. SB 52 is sponsored by Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, and Rep. Kathleen Curry, I-Gunnison. Brophy said this week that SB 52 is designed to provide assurance for people who own large-capacity ground water wells that those wells cannot be pulled out of the designated basin area. Under the bill, the Colorado Ground Water Commission, which manages the eight designated basins along the Eastern Plains and the Front Range, could revise the basin’s boundaries to remove previously included areas only if the area does not include wells that have had final permits issued. Fort Morgan Times; 1/22/10
Basin report unveils range of concerns
A new report by the Arkansas Basin Roundtable summarizing the first four years of its work sparked comments this week from roundtable members. On one hand, most all are pleased with the work so far. At least one other roundtable, the South Platte, acknowledged the thoroughness of the report, called “Projects and Methods to Meet the Needs of the Arkansas Basin." But some needs are more pressing than others in the minds of roundtable members. Around the table Wednesday, those who attended shared their views on everything from municipal conservation to agricultural leasing programs to tamarisk removal. The report traces the history of the roundtable, as well as identifying both consumptive and nonconsumptive needs within the Arkansas River Basin. It also touches on local opinions about importing more water from the Western Slope. Pueblo Chieftain; 1/16/10
Lower Ark wary of water reuse bill
A bill that would allow cities to reuse effluent could be used to avoid defense or reuse or exchange plans in court, a lawyer Wednesday warned a board dedicated to protecting Arkansas Valley water. “There’s no way to know what this might do and what mischief it could cause,” attorney Peter Nichols told the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District. “It looks like they could avoid court. This has the potential to change the place of use or the timing of use.” The bill (SB78) is sponsored by Sen. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton, and would allow cities that can measure the return flows from transmountain or fully consumable native water to reuse them — either by exchange or other means — without a trip to water court. Pueblo Chieftain; 1/22/10
Two districts jump on South Platte case
Two conservancy districts in the Arkansas Valley plan to join other water users in siding with Broomfield in a Colorado Supreme Court Water case involving Platte River water users. Broomfield prevailed in a Division 1 Water Court case that would allow future exchanges using assets both planned and in hand. The decision is being challenged by Boulder and the Centennial water district. This week, both the Lower Arkansas Valley and Southeastern Colorado water conservancy districts voted to enter the case on behalf of Broomfield to protect their future exchange capability. “We don’t want that concept to be adopted in the Arkansas River basin,” said Peter Nichols, attorney for the Lower Ark board, on Wednesday. “That would make our life with the Super Ditch much more difficult.” Pueblo Chieftain; 1/24/10
BLM to auction steam beneath Chalk Creek Valley landowners
The hot springs are the biggest lure to Chalk Creek Valley at the foot of Mount Princeton, but they are now the source of a looming fight over whether it will be the site of the state's first geothermal electric plant. On Feb. 11, the Bureau of Land Management is scheduled to offer the first lease for geothermal development in Colorado — 800 acres in the Chalk Creek Valley. Why the valley? Because an unidentified party nominated the land for lease sale. It is bureau policy not to reveal the nominator until after the sale. And following a congressional mandate, the bureau is trying to expedite geothermal leases in the West. "Congress voted for us to identify the low-hanging fruit, get out of the way and let the market decide," said Kermit Witherbee, manager of the bureau's national geothermal program. That has left property owners worried and frustrated, because most of the lease acreage is on private land but the federal government owns the mineral rights below. Federal and state officials are still trying to work out an agreement over control of well drilling and water management — since state law controls the use of Colorado's water. "We don't own the land," said Witherbee. "We don't own the water. We own the heat." Denver Post; 1/24/10
Pace introduces water transfer bill
A bill to protect communities where water transfers originate was introduced in the House on Thursday by state Rep. Sal Pace, D-Pueblo. In HB1159, Pace seeks to require mitigation agreements between communities giving up water (often rural) and those that are taking it through transport (generally urban). The agreements proposed by Pace would address both economic and ecological factors. If the water districts involved in a transfer could not reach an agreement, a judge in water court would set the terms. Pace called his bill "economic protection for rural communities" by protecting them from water grabs without mitigation. Pueblo Chieftain; 1/22/10
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WESTERN U.S.
Water Bargain
Last Thursday, negotiators released a final agreement on water rights in the Klamath River, moving closer to a settlement of the long-running water wars in the Klamath Basin. The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement sets the terms for divvying up water rights and restoring fisheries in the river. It joins a sister compact, the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement, which laid out plans to tear down four dams on the Klamath starting in 2020. That agreement was released last September. The two agreements are the result of over half a decade of negotiations among almost 30 parties – irrigating farmers upstream, commercial fishermen and Indian tribes downstream, and environmental groups the length of the river, not to mention local governments, state and federal agencies and PacifiCorp, which operates the dams – and they come after decades of fights, and in the midst of ongoing lawsuits. This most recent chapter opened with a pair of disasters at the start of the decade. In 2001, a drought in the region led federal officials to cut off water to farmers in the Upper Klamath Basin in order to protect endangered fish downstream, devastating towns – and drying up two of the region’s major wildlife refuges. The following year, Bush Administration officials (including Dick Cheney) intervened to assure the farmers received a larger allotment of water, leading to the largest fish die-off in Northwest history and then a ban on commercial fishing to try to save those that were left. High Country News; 1/15/10
Expert: Snowpack low, water supplies worrisome
A Colorado River expert is warning that there may be serious water shortages here and further west next summer, if the Colorado high country does not receive some serious snowfall before the spring runoff. “We're running way behind in snow pack,” said Dave Merritt, a board member of the Colorado River Water Conservation District. The snow depths of the Colorado River basin, as they melt starting in the spring, create the runoff that fills reservoirs, ditches and other water systems all the way to the Gulf of California. At a meeting of the Garfield County commissioners on Monday, Merritt said that the snow depths in the Colorado River basin are “a little bit better than 2002 right now.” He later described 2002 as “essentially the worst year we've had on record” for snow depths, when the statewide snowpack was essentially gone by June. Glenwood Springs Post Independent; 1/19/10
Official optimistic ruling won't hurt water deal
Colorado's top water official is optimistic that a setback to a California water conservation plan won't derail an agreement affecting the use of the Colorado River by six other states in the West. Dick Wolfe, director of the Colorado Division of Water Resources, said Tuesday that water officials have shown a new collective will to overcome obstacles to cooperation on the river. A California state judge invalidated a conservation plan intended to curtail Southern California's overuse of the river. Among other things, the plan called for an effort to restore California's Salton Sea, an enormous desert lake. The judge said California lawmakers hadn't approved the state's share of the Salton Sea project cost. The California conservation plan also called for transferring trillions of gallons of water from agricultural to municipal use. By expanding its municipal water supply through those transfers rather than taking more water from the Colorado River, California was set to become part of a landmark 2007 agreement on managing the Colorado River during droughts. Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are also party to the deal. Unless the California conservation plan is resurrected or replaced, it could undermine the 2007 deal. Casper Star-Tribune; 1/19/10
Colorado pipeline proposal stirs water fears
It's one former Utah ranch boy's dream to build a 400-mile pipeline to water the booming Denver suburbs, and beyond to Pueblo, with the glacial and snowmelt waters that course through Wyoming's Green River. "We certainly don't want to impact the Green River," says Aaron Million, who spent his youthful summers shoveling mud to open and close flood-irrigation canals to his grandfather's melon farm in Green River, Utah. Million wants to sell up to 250,000 acre-feet, or 81 billion gallons, a year. It's enough to supply perhaps a quarter of Colorado's projected new needs if its population doubles to 10 million as predicted by 2050. He insists it won't harm boating, fishing, four endangered Utah fish or other states' legal rights to Colorado River Basin flows. Up and down the watershed, doubters fear all of those resources and rights are at risk. They're flooding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with critical or skeptical comments as it reviews Million's pipeline proposal with a federal environmental impact statement. Salt Lake Tribune; 1/20/10
Aaron Million provides list of users for his 550-mile pipe dream
Million's opponents thought they got a boost when the Army Corps of Engineers, which is evaluating his pipeline project, asked him to submit a list of potential water users by January 2009. Many people believed Million didn't have enough customers for his Regional Watershed Supply Project to satisfy the Corps, and even one of his consultants admitted in November he had only three or four users lined up. This week, however, Million got the last laugh when he submitted statements of interest from fifteen water users in Wyoming and Colorado. While these weren't formal commitments to buy Million's potential water, he believes they prove there's more than enough demand to justify the pipeline. Westword; 1/25/10
Environmental Change Impacts Oklahoma Rivers
Biodiversity in freshwater systems is impacted as much or more by environmental change than tropical rain forests, according to University of Oklahoma Professor Caryn Vaughn, who serves as director of the Oklahoma Biological Survey. "When we think about species becoming extinct, we don't necessarily think of the common species in freshwater systems, many of which are declining," says Vaughn. "We need to be concerned about these declines, because these common species provide many goods and services for humans," she states. "Factors underlying these declines include water pollution, habitat destruction and degradation, and environmental changes, such as overexploitation of water and aquatic organisms, all of which are linked to human activities. Freshwater biodiversity is also threatened by climate change which is predicted to alter species ranges and abundance." Vaughn studies freshwater mussels, or clams, that live in Oklahoma's rivers. North America contains the highest diversity of freshwater mussels in the world with over 300 species, but over 50 percent of these species are declining. Oklahoma contains 55 mussel species, mainly in rivers in the eastern portion of the state. Physorg.com; 1/25/10
Australian water crisis offers clues for California
When California water officials look into the future, many of them see Australia: a vast, arid continent that has been suffering through drought for more than a decade. Severe shortages have prompted Australia to implement strict water-saving measures throughout the country. It has required residents to use less water in their homes, caused government to build large-scale desalination plants and led farmers to implement drip irrigation systems. Australia, it seems, could offer a model of how to adapt in California, where, despite this weekend’s rains, the state remains in a third year of drought -- a drought many water officials expect not only will continue but continue to be exacerbated by a growing population and climate change considerations. Recognizing that California and Australia are "inextricably linked to the serious changes and challenges of an accelerating decreasing availability of water and its supply juxtaposed to the demands of ever increasing populations," according to Grame Barty, regional director of the Americans for the Australian Trade Commission, the L.A.-based commission hosted a one-day event to bring together water sustainability experts from both sides of the Pacific in what it hopes "will become an important annual exchange of issues and solutions between the USA and Australia." Los Angeles Times; 1/15/10
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NATIONAL
Smart Water Meters Struggle for Foothold
With many states projecting that they’ll face water shortages in the coming years, smart water meters that provide real-time data on water use can help conserve dwindling supplies. Traditionally, consumers receive monthly or quarterly water bills, long after the resource has disappeared down the drain. If a smart meter could give real-time information on water use through an in-home video display, the hope is that consumers will curb their consumption when they see, for example, just how many gallons that long shower squanders. Water districts, on the other hand, can tap such information to detect leaks and other problems and quickly make repairs. And yet, 64 percent of 300 water districts surveyed in Canada and the United States have no plans to roll out a smart meter program, according to a study by Oracle, the business software company. New York Times; 1/15/10
EPA Proposes Standards to Protect Florida’s Waters
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing water quality standards to protect people’s health, aquatic life and the long term recreational uses of Florida’s waters, which are a critical part of the state’s economy. In 2009, EPA entered into a consent decree with the Florida Wildlife Federation to propose limits to this pollution. The proposed action, released for public comment and developed in collaboration with the state, would set a series of numeric limits on the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen, also known as “nutrients,” that would be allowed in Florida’s lakes, rivers, streams, springs and canals. Nutrient pollution can damage drinking water sources; increase exposure to harmful algal blooms, which are made of toxic microbes that can cause damage to the nervous system or even death; and form byproducts in drinking water from disinfection chemicals, some of which have been linked with serious human illnesses like bladder cancer. EPA.gov; 1/15/10
Hyperion resubmits water request
The Clay Rural Water System board on Thursday will consider for a second time a request from Hyperion Refining to be the supplier of the 9 million to 12 million gallons per day of water the company would need for cooling at the oil refinery it plans to build in southern Union County, South Dakota. Hyperion, of Dallas, Texas, intends to build a $10 billion, 400,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery and energy center to refine tar sands crude oil from Canada into gasoline and diesel and jet fuel. Greg Merrigan, Clay Rural Water manager, said Monday that Hyperion has submitted the same letter it sent the board in September 2008. He said that during the fall of 2008, the board discussed providing the water but that Hyperion put the matter on hold to devote its energies to getting its preconstruction air quality permit. It received the permit in August. Now, the company is back working on its water supply. Sioux City Journal; 1/26/10
Virginia scraps its annual water pollution monitoring program
Tasteless, odorless and nearly as clear as water, polychlorinated biphenyls are among the most dangerous toxins in Virginia's waterways. Every year, state officials monitor the chemicals, known as PCBs, by testing fish from selected river basins. Fish advisories follow. Not this year. Facing a $5 million funding cut, the state Department of Environmental Quality last summer scrapped the $365,000 PCB monitoring program. "There won't be any new advisories in Virginia because there's no new data," said Rob Hale, a professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, which was under contract to do the work. Developed early last century, PCBs were used in a variety of products, including lubricating oils, flame retardants and sealants. Their most common application was as a coolant and insulating fluid in electric transformers and capacitors. Daily Press.com; 1/25/10
Carp DNA Is Found in Lake Michigan
Genetic material from the Asian carp, a voracious invasive species long feared to be nearing the Great Lakes, has been identified for the first time at a harbor within Lake Michigan, near the Illinois-Indiana border, ecologists and federal officials said Tuesday. A second DNA match was found in a river in Illinois within a half-mile of the lake, according to scientists at the University of Notre Dame who tested water samples and provided the results to officials last week. Experts said the most recent findings, from Calumet Harbor and the Calumet River, could mean that the carp has found its way beyond an elaborate barrier system built at the cost of millions of dollars to prevent the fish’s access to the Great Lakes and its delicate ecosystem, where it has no natural competitors and would threaten the life of native fish populations. “It’s a big admission of failure,” said Henry Henderson, the director of the Midwest program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “It indicates the kind of thing we’ve been fearing since 1993.” New York Times; 1/19/10
Report asserts 'fracking' contaminates water supplies
A new report by an environmental watchdog organization highlights problems posed to drinking water supplies by hydraulic fracturing, a technique used by the oil and gas industry to extract resources from deep below the earth's surface. Called "Drilling Around the Law," the report tracked six months worth of chemical disclosure records filed by several of the largest drilling corporations and includes information provided by some state or federal regulators, who concede they do not track fluids used in the process. Although it is a process that has been in place for more than 60 years and touted by the industry, critics say fracking has been linked to water contamination and property damage in Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wyoming. Companies are supposed to obtain federal or state approval if they use diesel fuel in the process, but the report points out that other petrochemicals can be just as hazardous. Deseret News; 1/20/10
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INTERNATIONAL
Rocky Ford Company Playing Big Role in Haiti Relief
A southern Colorado company is playing a huge part in the relief efforts in Haiti. Their invention will soon provide a major source of clean drinking water for people there. "It was designed with this particular situation in mind," said Jack Barker, President and Co-Founder of Innovative Water Technologies in Rocky Ford. Their invention is called the Sun Spring. It’s designed and built from scratch in Rocky Ford. “The Sun Spring is a portable, self-contained, micro-biological water purifier,” explained Barker. “It's capable of treating up to 5,000 gallons of water per day." Now, giant corporations are jumping on board. Just a couple of days following the earthquake, Barker received calls from GE, and Pentair. Together they’ve planned to donate enough money to have upwards of 40 or 50 of the Sun Springs sent to Haiti. Barker says private individuals who asked not to be identified by the media have also donated two other Sun Springs. It’s no small donation…just one Sun Spring costs around $25,000 to build, not including all of the costs it will take to ship them. KRDO.com; 1/18/10
Grassroots activist brings clean water to Afghanistan
Aldo Magazzeni leans across the table in his farmhouse kitchen and explains why, when it comes to supplying clean water to thousands of impoverished Afghanis, small really is beautiful. During the last five years, the 60-year-old co-owner of a New Jersey manufacturing firm has arranged for some 75,000 people in remote areas of Afghanistan to be connected to community water systems. His efforts helped to end the toil of fetching water and to reduce water-borne diseases, particularly among children. The key to his success, he says, is not large sums of money or the involvement of international aid organizations, but his willingness to cultivate relationships with communities and to persuade them to donate the labor that has reduced costs to a fraction of what a commercial contractor would charge. Magazzeni estimates the total cost of 12 water systems built so far at $80,000, in contrast to at least $500,000 that he says would have been charged commercially. "With less money, and keeping things small, I have accomplished more than I would have done if I had a ton of money," Italian-born Magazzeni said. Reuters; 1/6/10
Freshwater Crisis Not Included in Final Copenhagen Accord Despite Calls For Action
The current climate accord negotiated at the United Nations conference in Copenhagen is dangerously inadequate, asserted a team of international environmental organizations. During a talk at the Bella Center, where the climate conference was held, the Global Water Partnership, Global Public Policy Network on Water Management, Stockholm International Water Institute, and the Stakeholder Forum teamed up to warn that stakeholders were about to make a dangerous mistake – not mentioning the freshwater crisis at all in the historic negotiating text. As parties embraced a final climate change accord, water was included in one sentence within the latest draft of the treaty and then dropped entirely in the final text. Over the past few months, water-specific language has appeared and disappeared from drafts of the UN climate change adaptation text. In the last preliminary climate talks in Barcelona, water was eliminated from the negotiating texts. Circle of Blue; 1/4/10
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