San Luis Valley: Groundwater sub-district #1 rules ruling issued

Judge O. John Kuenhold issued his ruling on the management rules for the Valley’s groundwater Sub-district #1 on Wednesday, according to a report from Ruth Heide writing for the Valley Courier. From the article:

Although neither side may have been overjoyed with District/Water Judge O. John Kuenhold’s Wednesday ruling regarding the San Luis Valley’s first water management sub-district plan, the parties are ready to move forward with the judge’s guidance. The judge approved some portions of the sub-district’s management plan and sent other portions back to the board of managers for revisions…

[Rio Grande Water Conservation District] Attorney Ingrid Barrier on Thursday said Judge Kuenhold’s ruling this week provides clear direction not only to the water district and its sub-district but also at some level to the state and to future sub-districts waiting in the wings. She said the court’s directives provide a jumping off point for the sub-district’s board of managers to move forward in amending the water management plan. Barrier said the board of managers will probably meet the first part of March to begin reworking the management plan, and as in the past the process moving forward will be open to the public. She said the judge gave the board 120 days from the February 18 ruling to prepare and adopt an official plan and has scheduled a status conference on April 6. Barrier said Kuenhold’s ruling was “extremely thoughtful and very comprehensive,” and she was pleased that the judge called the water management plan the kind of document that would serve at water users’ disposal to appropriately manage the Valley’s valuable resources.

Barrier said the judge’s ruling did not scrap the management plan. “In fact the court specifically approved a number of actions the board of managers took,” she said. Those include: the administrative record; fee structure; data collection that engineer Allen Davey conducted in the unconfined aquifer storage; boundaries of the sub-district; and composition of the board of managers. The sub-district board still needs to clarify how injurious depletions to senior surface water rights will be calculated and repaired. “That’s the bottom line,” Barrier said.

[Kelly Sowards chairman of the San Antonio, Los Piños and Conejos River Acequia Preservation Association] said the legislation that permitted water management sub-districts required them to rectify injuries to senior surface water rights. “They have to be kept from having injury at any time.” Sowards said he believed the judge stood behind that intent by sending the water plan back to the sub-district board of managers for revisions. Sowards said the judge’s ruling on Wednesday gives the board members a chance to make sure their plan affords protection and reparation to senior surface rights. “I am looking forward to seeing what they will come up with,” Sowards said. He added that he and other senior water right holders could offer the board of managers some advice. He said senior water users provided comments to the board before the board finalized its management plan. “I haven’t seen any of the comments integrated into the water management plan so at least they heard us but as far as acting on anything we might have said I don’t think that it happened,” Sowards said. He added that was one of the reasons the judge could not let the management plan move forward as it was written.

More coverage from the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):

The judge on Wednesday released his decision accepting some portions of the Valley’s first groundwater management sub-district plan and sending others back to the sub-district board of managers for revisions.

“The court specifically finds the current plan is conceptually compatible with SB 04-222 [the legislation permitting water sub-districts] and the constitutional principles governing Colorado water law, but the court also concludes that this plan should be referred back to the board of managers of the sub-district and the board of directors of the district for further consideration and amendment because it lacks detail, grants discretion with no guidance, fails to acknowledge the replacement of injurious depletions as a priority, and simply is not a ‘comprehensive and detailed plan’,” Kuenhold stated in his summary. He added, “the plan fails to give priority to the constitutional and statutory obligations that are a condition that must be met in order to qualify the plan for exemption from general regulation under forthcoming rules and regulations. This is a fundamental flaw …”

[More...]

A sub-district of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, Special Improvement District No. 1 encompasses 174,000 acres of irrigated farmland and about 3,000 irrigation wells in the closed basin area of the Valley north of the Rio Grande. The sub-district’s goals are to curtail well pumping on a pay-to-play basis that will rebuild the Valley’s unconfined aquifer, protect senior surface water users and the Rio Grande Compact, keep the state from shutting down wells in the sub-district once state rules are in place, and allow farmers to continue pumping well water as long as they pay for it and someone else in the sub-district makes up for it by providing water or fallowing land. The plan anticipates pulling 40,000 irrigated acres out of production to meet the sub-district goals. Kuenhold stated that the 40,000-acre estimate may not be accurate and may need to be adjusted over time but added, “there can be no dispute that the proposal in the plan to reduce irrigated acreage is a reasonable step in the right direction.”

He later stated, “The plan submitted by Sub-district No. 1 is neither intended to be, nor could it be, a complete solution to the problems caused by mining the confined and unconfined aquifers of the basin. Rather, the plan is intended to be a management tool for the majority of the unconfined aquifer in the closed basin.” The judge said that although the plan “fails to adequately detail how it will act to protect the senior surface water rights,” and in doing so “fails on both statutory and constitutional grounds,” this kind of plan is still “exactly what the legislature intended to authorize” and the framework for such plans is consistent with the constitution and the Water Right Determination and Administration Act…

Kuenhold found that the plan’s goals are consistent with the state engineer’s discretion when adopting rules governing underground water.

The judge defended the plan on other fronts as well. For example, in response to objectors’ criticism that the plan only addressed the unconfined aquifer and did not adequately address the confined or deeper aquifer, Kuenhold replied that this plan “is aimed at the unconfined aquifer in the closed basin and the provisions of the plan are not inconsistent with the principle governing maintenance of the confined aquifer pressure.” He said increased water storage in the unconfined aquifer would benefit the artesian pressure in the confined aquifer. He added that testimony presented to the court indicated a separate sub-district addressing the confined aquifer would be forthcoming…

However, Kuenhold was not afraid to criticize the portions of the plan he believed required some work. For example, he said he could not approve a plan that did not take care of the senior water rights. “The requirement of complete replacement of injurious depletions to senior surface water rights is a prerequisite for court approval and continued viability of any plan of water management that seeks the benefits of exemption from regulation,” Kuenhold said, “and the plan fails to recognize this obligation in unambiguous terms. Any amended plan must be clear that whatever financial circumstances may ensue, unless there is replacement of injurious depletions … the plan fails and participants in the plan cannot expect to claim the benefit of exemption from curtailment by the State Engineer.” Kuenhold added that the plan lacked detail and although he understood the supporters’ argument that they could not provide details of how the sub-district would operate until the plan was approved and the sub-district had money to operate it, “the court also believes that either the plan or rules and regulations of the State Engineer must contain sufficient detail to allow the court to find that both procedurally and substantively the plan will operate as intended to prevent injury to senior water users, to prevent injury to Compact administration and to provide procedural protections for all affected parties.”

Kuenhold also questioned whether the sub-district board’s plan to use its resources to restore the hydraulic divide was feasible or wise. “This will become evident over time,” the judge said. He explained that several of the plan’s strategies to replace depletions to the Rio Grande and its tributaries due to well operations involved restoration of the hydraulic divide, a mound of groundwater north of the Rio Grande that would buffer pumping depletions on the other side of it. Experts from both proponents and objectors of the plan testified during last year’s trial that the divide does not currently exist, as far as they can tell. The sub-district plan proposes a restoration of that divide…

The details Kuenhold is seeking in an amended water management plan include: timeframe and methodology to determine depletions to the Rio Grande and tributaries from wells in the sub-district; timeframe and methodology for replacing those depletions; timeframe for annual review/calculations for the past irrigation season and how over- and under-deliveries will be addressed; template for the annual operating plan containing specific information about the operation of the plan in a coming year; and provisions for review of the plan’s operation at the end of the year.

Here’s the link to the ruling.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Arkansas Valley Conduit: New legislation may be helpful

Here’s a recap of yesterday’s Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District meeting, from Chris Woodka writing for the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

Legislation that could accelerate work on the Arkansas Valley Conduit is moving ahead, and new leadership at the Department of Interior could help the project’s chances. Those assessments were shared Thursday at the monthly meeting of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District by Christine Arbogast, a lobbyist for the district, which is sponsoring the project.

A new plan is moving forward that would include a 65 percent federal cost share, using revenues from excess capacity leases to repay the entire amount over time. Other parts of the project that have been underfunded, such as Ruedi Reservoir above Aspen, would be repaid as well under a proposal put together by the Southeastern District. The local share of the funding would be covered by a $60.6 million low-interest loan from the Colorado Water Conservation Board.s Authorization, but not funding, for the new plan is included in a public lands bill, which has passed the U.S. Senate but stalled last week in the House. The House is expected to take up the bill when it reconvenes next week, Arbogast said…

The chances for the bill to pass are good, since more than 150 separate projects in many states are included in the bill.

The district is pursuing a parallel path for stand-alone legislation that has failed to advance in previous sessions of Congress. At recent meetings with the Colorado delegation, Southeastern Executive Director Jim Broderick, President Bill Long and lobbyist Ray Kogovsek asked for identical bills in the House and Senate to prevent the sorts of challenges that occur when different versions of the same bill work their way through both houses, Kogovsek said…

Meanwhile, the district is hoping for up to $1 million in stimulus funding to advance planning activities on the conduit. The money would come from $1 billion allocation to the Bureau of Reclamation, specifically a $60 million fund for rural water supply projects. However, there will be additional rules and regulations to follow, as the district learned last year when it received a federal grant for $600,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency…

The district also is excited about changes in Reclamation, which is a bureau under the Department of Interior. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was a strong supporter of the conduit during his tenure as U.S. Senator from Colorado. Top officials at Reclamation are aware of the district’s concerns and were more receptive during the recent visit, Broderick said. Reclamation has, over the past few years, actively opposed federal funding shares for the conduit. “Our relations with the bureau will strengthen with Ken Salazar in that position,” Broderick said.

DARCA: Annual meeting

The Ditch and Reservoir Company Alliance is holding their annual meeting in Pueblo this week. Here’s a recap from Chris Woodka writing for the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

DARCA is focusing on ag to urban water transfers, a hot topic in both the Arkansas and South Platte valleys. It heard from panels discussing the pros and cons of water transfers and looked at state efforts to find alternatives for the traditional “buy-and-dry” sales of the past.

Crowley County holds a special place in the discussion, because it developed communities, railroads and irrigation ditches 10-15 years later than other counties in the Arkansas Valley. Then, after the collapse of a marginal sugar beet industry, it became the first large area of the state to fall victim to large-scale municipal buys. “To generalize, the developmental sequence of the Crowley County area can be characterized by big ideas, inadequate funding and repeated attempts to salvage the previous investments by making additional investments,” Weber said. It’s pointless to ask whether the collapse of the county’s economy caused water sales to Colorado Springs and Aurora or whether the cities’ thirst precipitated the sales, Weber said…

“We’re always facing a reduced water situation in Crowley County, but we’ve had a past and we have a future,” said Heimerich, talking about the current situation and future of Crowley County. While the county has only a few farms remaining, its population has stabilized with the addition of two prisons and suburban homes for commuters to Pueblo, he added. “After the last sale in 1987, 43,000 of 50,000 acres had no water rights – that’s an area of 67 square miles,” Heimerich said. “Of that, 37,000 acres were never given any revegetation.” The revegetation that occurred appeared to be successful, until some new owners began overgrazing that land, and it was dealt a death blow by prolonged drought from 2002-06, Heimerich said. “Revegetation works where there’s a cover crop and proper management,” Heimerich said. “No permanent cover was ever established. When it’s wet, they grew weeds. When it’s dry, the weeds blow.” Unfortunately, there are many fields that have been covered by weeds. These created a severe problem last year when a weed burn got out of control, scorched 7,100 acres, killed two firefighters and forced the evacuation of Ordway. Irrigators attending the conference asked Heimerich whether those who bought the water could be required to maintain revegetation and reclamation of land even when it changes hands after the sale.

New irrigation rules for the Arkansas Valley?

According to a report from Chris Woodka and the Pueblo Chieftain Kansas has submitted their comments on the proposed new consumptive rules for the Arkansas Valley. From the article:

In a letter to Colorado this week, Kansas attorney John Draper outlined several issues that already have been addressed by a committee assembled last year by State Engineer Dick Wolfe. The committee meets again Tuesday in Pueblo and is expected to discuss the Kansas letter…

Last year, Wolfe said the purpose in formally sharing the rules with Kansas was to obtain its input to avoid future disputes or litigation. Kansas, in turn has objected to fundamental points of the rules, as well as provisions added during past committee meetings. Kansas wants the rules to cover all surface improvements since 1949, not just those since 1999, and to change the implied purpose of the rules to include protection of senior irrigation rights in Colorado as well as Kansas, Draper said. “With respect to protecting the rights of senior Colorado surface water users, the relevant date would be even earlier,” Draper wrote. Kansas also wants to remove designated groundwater basins in House Creek and Box Springs that are excluded in the Colorado rules, wants continuing input recognized for the Trinidad Dam and Reservoir Project and to eliminate provisions for variances, according to Draper’s letter. All were added to the rules after committee discussions. Draper’s letter also indicates Kansas wants Colorado to enforce addition of gated pipe, which irrigators on the committee convinced Wolfe should be eliminated because of the difficulty of enforcing the rule.

Meanwhile heres a recap of a recent meeting about the new rules and what they might entail from Chris Woodka writing for the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

Farmers in the Lower Arkansas Valley will put meters on ponds that feed sprinkler systems this year to begin measuring seepage in an attempt to lessen their burden under proposed state consumptive use rules. “It will go a long way toward determining the pond loss, and I think it will be more than they’re giving us credit for,” said Dale Mauch, one of the farmers on the Fort Lyon Canal who has installed sprinklers fed from ponds in the past 10 years that would be subject to the new rules. “It all points to the fact that we jumped the gun on these rules.”[...]

There are already meters that measure how much water is coming out of the sprinklers, and the new meters will measure what is coming into the ponds, Mauch said. The meters cost roughly $1,400 each and have been installed on eight ponds so far, said Don McBee, another Fort Lyon Canal farmer. The federal Natural Resources Conservation Service paid half the cost for the meters. “We’re eating the rest,” McBee said.

Ryan Hemphill, of Colorado State University-Fort Collins, said the university is interested in setting up a study of 10 to 12 ponds and told the board he would come back with a request for about $20,000 to complete the study. Evaporation measurements also will figure into the equation, Hemphill said. The state Division of Water Resources is looking at consumptive use rules to head off future issues with Kansas over the Arkansas River Compact that could arise as farmers put in more water-saving measures such as sprinklers, drip irrigation, canal lining and pipes.

State Engineer Dick Wolfe and Division 2 Engineer Steve Witte maintain that greater efficiency in irrigation systems could increase the consumptive use and deplete return flows to users downstream. They are mainly concerned about sprinkler systems fed from surface water sources which have been installed since the last accounting of water use with Kansas in 1999. Well-fed systems already are covered in rules adopted in 1996 as a result of a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit filed by Kansas against Colorado…

“The rules are coming, but we need to make them as workable as possible and base them on real, actual data,” said Peter Nichols, Lower Ark water attorney. “We also need to make sure farmers are able to get assistance from the Lower Ark and not face a penalty.”

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

CWCB: Water availability task force meeting February 25th

From email from the Colorado Water Conservation Board:

The next Water Availability Task Force meeting will be held on February 25, from 1-3:30p at the Colorado Division of Wildlife Headquarters. The agenda will be posted on the CWCB website as soon as possible. Past meeting presentations and other materials can also be found at the CWCB website.

Sun powered device converts CO2 to methane

Here’s a report about a new device from researchers at Penn State that uses a wider spectrum of light to convert CO₂ to methane (and other organic compounds), from Jon Evans writing for New Scientist. From the article:

Although other research groups have developed methods for converting carbon dioxide into organic compounds like methane, often using titanium-dioxide nanoparticles as catalysts, they have needed ultraviolet light to power the reactions. The researchers’ breakthrough has been to develop a method that works with the wider range of visible frequencies within sunlight…

The team found it could enhance the catalytic abilities of titanium dioxide by forming it into nanotubes each around 135 nanometres wide and 40 microns long to increase surface area. Coating the nanotubes with catalytic copper and platinum particles also boosted their activity. The researchers housed a 2-centimetre-square section of material bristling with the tubes inside a metal chamber with a quartz window. They then pumped in a mixture of carbon dioxide and water vapour and placed it in sunlight for three hours. The energy provided by the sunlight transformed the carbon dioxide and water vapour into methane and related organic compounds, such as ethane and propane, at rates as high as 160 microlitres an hour per gram of nanotubes. This is 20 times higher than published results achieved using any previous method, but still too low to be immediately practical.

If the reaction is halted early the device produces a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen known as syngas, which can be converted into diesel.

Fountain Creek: Some things are looking up along and in the creek

Here’s a look at some positive news about the management of the Fountain Creek Watershed, from a report from Chris Woodka writing for the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

On Wednesday, the Lower Ark board heard presentations from Corridor Master Plan consultant Kevin Shanks and the Colorado State University-Pueblo team studying water quality on Fountain Creek. Shanks is heading up a team under a two-year, $600,000 joint project of Colorado Springs and the Lower Ark district. So far, that plan has developed four projects along the creek that will begin to address stretches of the creek that are out of shape by restoring natural curves and wetlands. At the same time, the projects will decrease the erosion that daily dumps tons of sediment into the creek. “What are we going to do to improve Fountain Creek? We’re going to emulate nature wherever possible. It’s that simple,” Shanks said. He said about 60 percent of Fountain Creek already is in excellent shape, but the rest needs work…

Shanks explained the purpose of each project:

The EcoFit Center is a way of fighting “apathy” about Fountain Creek for the average person in Colorado Springs. Families using the El Pomar recreation facilities would gravitate to the creek activities. Fitness grants, stormwater enterprise funds and foundation grants could be used.

Clear Springs Ranch is on the list of possible projects under the stimulus bill and is listed among commitments to Pueblo County if the Southern Delivery System is built from Pueblo Dam.

The Pueblo Springs project is supported by the Fountain Creek Foundation and could receive support from the developer of the proposed housing and commercial center north of Pueblo, although the time frame has become less certain.

The Confluence Park is generating increasing interest with the city of Pueblo and East Side groups. It would use sediment in the creek to build a park that could replace aging unsightly levees on the Lower East Side.

“You guys should pat yourselves on the back,” Shanks told the Lower Ark board. “Colorado Springs Utilities is looking at putting the whole thing (Clear Springs Ranch) into a conservation easement. That’s something that wouldn’t have happened 12-14 months ago.”

The CSU-Pueblo study of Fountain Creek has identified both sources and non-point areas of selenium loading on Fountain Creek, said Jason Turner, a graduate student who has taken the lead on that portion of the study. The study, started three years ago, also is looking at other metals, E. coli bacteria sources and other water quality issues on Fountain Creek. “We’re moving into the next phase: what is it doing? We’ll be testing invertebrates and fish,” Turner said. “We’re moving past the water analysis and into the ecosystem analysis.”

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Project WET

From the Highland Ranch Herald: “Great Western Institute, a Highlands Ranch nonprofit, has become the project host for an international water education organization. Tracy Bouvette, a founder of the institute, said the institute trained 60 Douglas County schools teachers so far in Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) curriculum.

“Project WET provides school curriculum in 29 countries and 49 states. The programs are aimed all though the school grades and teaches the water cycle and how human disturbances impact it. WET also looks at watersheds, wetlands and the wildlife that dwells in them, with a cooperative agreement with Ducks Unlimited.”

Wallace Stegner’s 100th

NewMexiKen is running his sort of annual Wallace Stegner tribute on the author’s 100th birthday and writes, “Stegner is first in fiction, second in non-fiction; now that’s a writer.”

Ginn Development Co high bidder for Columbine Ditch

Ginn Development Co was the high bidder for the Columbine Ditch. The Pueblo Board of Water Works gets to bank $30.48 million, according to a report from Chris Woodka writing for the Pueblo Chieftain.

Aurora will get one more shot at the ditch. From the article:

The sale of the Columbine Ditch to a developer of a ski mountain at Minturn was approved by the Pueblo Board of Water Works on Tuesday, but Aurora still has one more chance to bid on the transmountain ditch.

Under its 1997 contract to lease water from Pueblo, Aurora has the first right of refusal until 2013 on the sale of any transmountain asset – a ditch or tunnel that brings water from the Western Slope into the Arkansas River basin. The Pueblo water board has several of those assets and wants to sell the Columbine Ditch to help pay for its purchase of Bessemer Ditch water shares.

Meanwhile the board is busy leasing water, according to a report from Chris Woodka writing for the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

Long-term leases of 200 acre-feet for $350 an acre-foot per year for 40 years went to the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District and Evergreen Land Development of Dallas. The Upper Ark will use the water in its blanket augmentation plan for users in Chaffee, Custer and Fremont counties. Evergreen will use the water at the Mount Massive Golf Course and associated development.

Aurora bid $250 per acre-foot for 1,000 acre-feet the first year, and increased the amount and the price over a 20-year period. The water board followed Purchasing Agent Kathy Stommel’s recommendation to reject the bid because it failed to meet minimum requirements.

The water board had offered up to 5,000 acre-feet of water for long-term leases.

The short-term leases are for 10,690 acre-feet for one year only and range from $25-$75 per acre-foot. Ward said the timing of the leases – many want the water delivered before June 1 – would be good for the water board because it would not have to release water it already has stored in accounts.

Judge Maes to appoint 5 to Southeastern board

From the Pueblo Chieftain: “Five seats on the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District are up for reappointment this year…

“Applications must be sent to Dennis Maes, chief judge of Pueblo District Court, no later than March 17. Maes, who also serves as Division 2 water judge, will make the appointments in consultation with district judges from the respective counties before the April 16 meeting of the Southeastern district.”

SB09-141: Fountain Creek Watershed District

The Pueblo city council is taking a long look at the IGA between the towns and counties that will enable the authority. SB09-141 is the enabling legislation. Here’s a report from Chris Woodka wrting for the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

Council is the last governmental body to sign on to a proposed intergovernmental agreement on Fountain Creek among Pueblo County, El Paso County, cities in both counties and the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District. It will take at least two meetings, one next week and one in March, to approve an ordinance entering the IGA.

The agreement and SB141, which would create the Fountain Creek Watershed District, envisions a nine-member board that could funnel money into projects to improve the creek, charge fees and even – if voters desire – levy taxes. The primary goal is to control the periodic floods which eat up parts of Pueblo and other communities further up the creek, but there is also plenty in the IGA and bill about recreation, wildlife and wetlands.

In SB141, authority is limited to the narrow corridor of the 100-year flood plain from Fountain to Pueblo, fee authority to the watershed, although all of both counties would be included as a possible tax base. The documents even suggest a nine-member board which would include a representative from the City of Pueblo.

Colorado Springs Utilities has plans for stimulus dough

Colorado Springs Utilities has plans for some of the stimulus dough from the bill President Obama signed yesterday, according to a report from the Colorado Springs Gazette. From the article:

Utilities submitted requests for funding for four projects:

• $5.8 million for improvements to Fountain Creek on Clear Spring Ranch south of Colorado Springs, including a fish ladder, creek realignment, wetlands development, bank improvements, and off-channel detention.

• $13.3 million for work at 20 locations where sewage lines cross creeks and are at risk of overflowing during storms.

• $10 million to extend the nonpotable water system in northern Colorado Springs.

• $600,000 for a demonstration project on low-impact development at the Mesa Environmental Center.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Mary’s Lake water treatment plant upgrades

Here’s an update on the Mary’s Lake treatment plant in Estes Park, from Juley Harvey writing for the Estes Park Trail Gazette. From the article:

Marys Lake Water Treatment Plant has negotiated an agreement with the Upper Thompson Sanitation District (UTSD) for the discharge of 15,400 additional gallons of discharge and has received a January invoice from the UTSD.

The anticipated completion date for the Marys Lake plant is April. The Town is operating a temporary 1-million-gallon-per-day water treatment plant through completion of the project. Utilities Director Bob Goehring told the Utilities Committee at last week’s meeting at the Municipal Building that the Marys Lake Water Treatment Plant’s additional backwash discharge capacity will double — from 2 million gallons a day (mgd) to 4 million mgd. The waste treatment discharge will increase from 4,600 gallons a day to 20,000 gallons per day at capacity, requiring .5 percent more treatment, up from 1 percent to 1.5 percent. A change in treatment technique to membrane filtration is included. Goehring noted that the discharge from the Marys Lake plant mostly involves filtered dirt from the water and is not the UTSD’s typical discharge. According to the intergovernmental agreement for wastewater treatment, the user rate for metered customers will be charged at the current rate at the time of billing. The current 2009 user rate for metered customers is $6.25 per 1,000 gallons, with an additional quarterly access charge of $5.25 per month.

Dry Gulch Reservoir public meeting February 23rd

From the Pagosa Daily Post (Sheila Berger): “The Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District and San Juan Water Conservancy District will host a public presentation of the Dry Gulch Project on Monday, February 23 from 6 to 8 pm at the Pagosa Lakes Vista Clubhouse. The presentation will cover all aspects of the project, including revised future growth and water demand projections, project infrastructure, planned reservoir size, project financing and Capital Investment Fees and plans for reservoir public use. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation.”

Potential Colorado well fee increases

From the Pueblo Chieftain (Charles Ashby): “…[State Senator Abel] Tapia said that one of the more controversial fee proposals calls for an increase in water well and supplemental water supply plan fees, which would bring in about $500,000 for the rest of this fiscal year and $2.5 million next year. Fees for new wells would go from $100 to $665, while supply plan fees would increase from $300 to $2,000. Tapia said the current fees don’t cover the actual cost to the state to process the applications. ‘These are fees that haven’t been raised in a long time,’ Tapia said. ‘That’s a significant increase, but it also means that the general fund was backfilling that amount. Although a person doesn’t drill a well everyday, those fees are percentage-wise very high, and that will get the attention of the people who deal in that industry.’”

Voters to decide future for Fraser Sanitation District?

From the Sky-Hi Daily News (Autumn Phillips): “A petition containing 103 signatures has been turned in to the Fraser Sanitation District requesting that the possible merger of the district with the Town of Fraser be decided by voters. The signatures have been approved by Grand County Clerk Sara Rosene, but a date for the election has not been set. A hearing date to discuss the election has been set in District Court for March 31. Once the election date is set, voters will be asked whether they would like to dissolve the Fraser Sanitation District board and put sewer services under the management of the Town of Fraser.”

Colorado Springs Utilities to build new hydroelectric plant

Colorado Spring Utilities is retro-fitting Crystal Creek Reservoir for hydroelectric generation. The small hydro plant will help offset the utilities’ requirements for renewable energy. Here’s a report from R. Scott Rappold writing for the Colorado Springs Gazette. From the article:

Colorado Springs Utilities will begin construction Tuesday on a new $4.5 million hydroelectric plant in Cascade. It will be the fourth hydro plant in Colorado Springs Utilities’ system, and the 850 kilowatts of electricity it generates will power about 530 homes. The plant will be near U.S. Highway 24 south of Cascade…

Utilities gets 8 percent of its energy from hydro plants, and officials are also planning to buy additional wind power to meet the new standards. The new plant will be completed in about six months. The turbine will be powered by water rushing down a pipeline from Crystal Creek Reservoir on Pikes Peak. It is on the site of a pressure-reducing station, which slows water coming off the mountain and will be torn down after the hydro plant is completed. The funding comes from Clean Renewable Energy Bonds, a federal program that provides interest-free, tax-exempt loans for renewable energy projects.

The other hydro plants run by Colorado Springs Utilities include Manitou, built in 1905, Ruxton, built in 1925 and Tesla, at the Air Force Academy, built in 1997.

A dry look at Dry Gulch

Here are the links to part one, part two and part three of Bill Hudson’s series about Dry Gulch Reservoir from the Pagosa Daily Post.

Colorado Water Conservation Board instream flow workshop

From email from the Colorado Water Conservation Board (Rob Viehle):

2009 CWCB Instream Flow Workshop

Date: Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Time: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Location: REI Flagship Store, 1416 Platte St., Denver, CO 80202

Please note that lunch will be available at a cost of $ 8.00 per person and will include assorted sandwiches, cookies, and beverages. Please RSVP to Rob Viehl at rob.viehl@state.co.us by Friday, February 20th if you would like to have your lunch reserved and please bring cash on the day of the workshop if you are interested in this option. You may also bring a brown bag lunch or purchase a sandwich from the Starbucks café which is located on the REI premises. Sandwiches at Starbucks start at $6.50.

Stimulus package dough for water in Colorado

From the Denver Business Journal: “WATER: $34.6 million through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to improve drinking-water delivery systems. $31.8 million through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to improve water cleanliness.”

Snowpack news

From the Summit Daily News: “Based on the latest snowpack data, [Mike Gillespie, snow-survey supervisor for the Natural Resources Conservation Service] is predicting a good run-off season. ‘Statewide, we’re about 114 percent of average,’ he said. The highest reading comes from the Rio Grande Basin, at 128 percent of normal. Only the South Platte drainage is slightly below average, at 98 percent. The Colorado River Basin is at 118 percent of average, while the Blue River drainage, defining much of Summit County, is at 125 percent.”

From the Cortez Journal (Kristen Plank): “Total precipitation, or liquid equivalent, for February has reached 0.73 inches so far, with a normal liquid equivalent of 0.96 inches for the entire month. This puts February at 77 percent of normal, [Jim Andrus, regional weather observer for the National Weather Service] said, but light snow is forecast for the remainder of the week. January had 69 percent of average precipitation, Andrus said. In January 2008, total snowfall reached 275 percent of normal. February 2008 was 211 percent of normal. Snowfall of the season, beginning with the first flakes in November, has totaled 34.6 inches through February. December saw 22.1 inches of snow. ‘Last year we had almost 4 feet of snow for the whole season,’ Andrus said. ‘This season we’ve received almost 3 feet of snow so far.’

“Mike Preston, manager of the Dolores Water Conservancy District, said McPhee Reservoir is in good shape, especially with the recent snow. He said the reservoir was sitting at 119 percent of average at midnight Sunday but jumped to 128.5 percent as of midnight Tuesday. The reservoir is approximately 104,000 acre-feet below full, but based on the current snowpack, has a forecast inflow of 330,000 acre-feet based on the existing snowpack, Preston said.”

Animas-La Plata Project: Lake Nighthorse uses

Here’s an update on potential uses for Lake Nighthorse, part of the Animas-La Plata project, from Dale Rodebaugh writing for the Durango Herald. From the article:

What kind of recreation will there be at Lake Nighthorse, which will have a surface area of 1,500 acres (the surface of Vallecito Reservoir covers 2,700 acres) when the basin is full in 18 months to three years? A skull session Thursday at a meeting of the Animas-La Plata Water Conservancy District produced some talking points for the first public discussion of the matter, scheduled March 5 at the Durango Public Library…

The lake will have a boat ramp because the federal Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees the Animas-La Plata Project, took on that job after the cash-short Colorado State Parks Department backed out last year. The federal agency has $750,000 in severance-tax revenue and $2.25 million from the federal Wallop-Breaux Fund. The Wallop-Breaux Fund is fed by motorboat fuel tax. What hasn’t been decided is what types of craft will be allowed on the water. Noise from power boats or Jet Skis would be audible to residents in nearby subdivisions to the west…

Other possible amenities mentioned are camp sites, picnic areas and hiking trails. A more sophisticated operation could involve a concessionaire, showers and a Laundromat to accommodate long-term visitors. Board members spoke by telephone at the meeting with David Merritt, a retired Colorado River Water Conservation District employee now working for a Glenwood Springs engineering consultant. Merritt described the development of recreation at Ridgway State Park north of Ridgway and Wolford Mountain Reservoir near Kremmling.

In its only formal action Thursday regarding Lake Nighthorse, the board authorized Whitehead to negotiate a single-appearance contract for Merritt to attend the March 5 public meeting…

The first public meeting to discuss recreation at Lake Nighthorse is scheduled from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. March 5 at the Durango Public Library. Lake Nighthorse will be the body of water behind the Ridges Basin dam three miles southwest of Durango. The federal Bureau of Reclamation, which is in charge of the project, expects to start filling the lake this spring.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

Oak Creek moving on installation of water meters

From the Steamboat Pilot & Today (Melinda Dudley): “Water meters have been expressed as a goal by Oak Creek town boards for years, and the current Town Board is stressing their installation both to increase the fairness of town water billing and to encourage water conservation, [Mayor J. Elliott] said.

“The board budgeted $5,000 for preliminary work this year to install water meters for Oak Creek’s water customers and move to a tiered rate structure, instead of its current flat rate fees. A preliminary scope of work presented Thursday by Jones puts the price tag on a feasibility study, completed in July, at $14,250 — with the town paying for 20 percent, or $2,850, and grant funds covering the rest.

“If the town decides to proceed with water meter installation, after the completion of an eventual feasibility study, Jones estimated the project would take about five months. One crew can install about three meters a day, and Oak Creek would need to install about 490 meters to serve its existing customers, he said.”

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

San Luis Valley groundwater sub-district #1: Looking for federal funding

Here’s an update on funding for the San Luis Valley’s first groundwater sub-district, from Matt Hildner writing for the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

The valley’s first groundwater subdistrict, which is currently under review by the Division 3 Water Court, has forwarded a $125.8 million proposal to the U.S. Department of Agriculture that would pay farmers to bring land out of production. The federal government would carry 80 percent of those costs under the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, but the subdistrict would need to come up with $27.3 million for a local match. Tim Davis, a consultant for the subdistrict, said he hopes the federal government will sign off on the proposal in time so landowners can enroll in the program by Oct. 1. But before that happens, Davis said the program may need to see some funding shake loose…

Once the program’s open for enrollment, the greatest incentives will go toward landowners along the Rio Grande between Del Norte and Monte Vista. By reducing groundwater pumping along that stretch, the subdistrict hopes to create a hydraulic divide that would prevent river water from entering the aquifer on the north side of the river. Producers may be allowed to graze cattle on some of the retired ground, but that decision would be made by the Natural Resource Conservation Service, Davis said.

The idea for the subdistrict was advanced as a way to avoid mandatory state rules, while allowing irrigators to reduce pumping and protect senior surface water users and the state’s commitment to deliver water downstream for the Rio Grande Compact. Should the water court sign off on the subdistrict’s management plan, as many as eight other groups from around the valley could follow with similar plans.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.