Sterling: Council acts on water issues

The Sterling City Council dealt with water issues at this week’s meeting. Here’s a report from the Sterling Journal Advocate:

The city approved contracting a study that could benefit the water system and the wastewater plant. The council voted 6-0 to approve a contract with Brown and Caldwell for engineering services. The engineering services are to evaluate the capacity of the wastewater process. “This is a study that is actually related to our water treatment plant,” City Manager Joe Kiolbasa told the city council. The city of Sterling is under a Colorado Department of Health mandate to upgrade the city’s water system. The conflict is based on tests that found uranium and trihalomethane levels beyond the acceptable limits. As such, the city must come up with a process that removes these particles to within the acceptable level. The problem is what to do with the brine when the city’s water is properly cleaned, according to Kiolbasa. The engineering study approved Tuesday will outline options. The study of the wastewater capacity will determine how much the city’s system can handle and what the best options are. Kiolbasa said the health department offers four options: blending the brine into the effluent, surface processing where the brine slowly “percolates” back into the ground, pumping it directly back into the South Platte River, or processing it through the wastewater process…

The council also approved changes in water turnoff fees. The fees are in regard to customers who do not pay their bill on time.

Lower Ark settles with Reclamation over Aurora long-term storage contract

Colorado’s two U.S. Senators are looking closely at the deal struck between the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District and the Bureau of Reclamation over Reclamation’s long-term storage contract with Aurora. Part of the deal is pegged to federal legislation that would authorize Aurora to use Fryingpan-Arkansas Project facilities to move water out of basin — via exchanges enabled by storage in Lake Pueblo — something that Arkansas Valley irrigators and water providers have opposed on the grounds that such movement was not part of the original authorizing legislation for the project. Here’s a report from Chris Woodka writing for the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

Other members of the delegation were asked if they would look at such legislation. Sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall, both Democrats, responded to the question Monday. “Senator Bennet looks forward to speaking with the parties to the settlement to learn more details and to determine what next steps may be necessary,” said Deirdre Murphy, spokeswoman for Bennet. “Understanding that the two parties have spent the past several years negotiating this process, (Bennet) will work with them and with members of the congressional delegation to ensure that the needs of the water users in the Arkansas River Valley are addressed.

“(Udall) appreciates that the two sides have reached a settlement. He understands that an element of that settlement may involve federal legislation,” said Tara Trujillo, spokeswoman for Senator Mark Udall. “(Udall) plans to work with all parties – including the Bureau of Reclamation – to review the settlement and make sure that the farmers and other water users in the Arkansas River Valley are protected.”[...]

Should a federal water project intended to help farms and cities in the Arkansas Valley be used to wheel water? If legislation were adopted, what kind of limits would you put on it? If legislation were adopted, what kind of mitigation should be made to the Arkansas Valley?

More Coyote Gulch coverage here, here and here.

Nestlé Waters Chaffee County Project: Opponents form Chaffee Citizens for Sustainablility, Inc.

Salida Citizen: “Citing the need to develop sustainable solutions for the increasing demands on county natural resources, a group of local citizens announced today the formation of the Chaffee Citizens for Sustainability, Inc. (“CCFS”). While the group originally starting meeting to address Nestle Water North America’s permit application to harvest spring water from Chaffee County for bottling in Denver, the group quickly saw a broader need for a permanent citizen’s group focused on sustainability issues…

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CCFS is holding an informational meeting on Monday, March 30, 2009 at 7:00PM at the Buena Vista Community Center. The meeting will address issues relating to Nestle Water’s permit application, as well as general membership information and volunteer opportunities. CCFS invites any and all local residents to attend…

For more information:
Jay W. Hake
Chaffee Citizens for Sustainability
719-539-2047
CCFSustainability@gmail.com

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Southwestern Water Conservation District annual meeting

From the Water Information Program: “The Southwestern Water Conservation District’s 27th Annual Seminar will be conducted on April 3, 2009 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Durango, Colorado. For more information and/or to register, call (970) 247-1302.”

H.B. 09-1308, Funding For Div Of Water Resources and S.B. 09-216, Increase Cash Funds Div Water Resources

Here’s an update on legislative efforts to stretch oil and gas severance tax revenue and adequately fund the Colorado Division of Water Resources, from K.C. Mason writing for the Fort Morgan Times. From the article:

While about $200 million still needs to be cut from state government spending in the next 10 weeks, several rural lawmakers, including Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, and the Democratic chairs of both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, are looking at severance taxes to help fill a $2.5 million gap in the state engineer’s budget. The budget hole is partially to blame for the freezing of eight water commissioner positions statewide. “There’s water running right now and we have to have people on the ground administering our prior appropriations system in Colorado immediately,” Sonnenberg said. “If not, we better increase our law enforcement because there will be fights at the headgates.”

State Engineer Dick Wolfe said the frozen positions are a problem, but not as large as Sonnenberg fears. “It’s a matter of determining the highest priority,” Wolfe said. “Some things will go unadministered and we will reprioritize and reassign commissioners where they are most needed.” Wolfe said his division also will continue to trust the water users themselves. “A lot is based on the trust of the people out there,” he said. “We have a pretty good compliance with our water users and don’t spend a lot of time on enforcement. That’s not to say people might not do mischievous things but generally people are pretty cooperative.”[...]

[Senator Jim] Isgar and [Representative Kathleen] Curry also are co-sponsoring a bill that would move the water resources division into a better position to get funding from severance tax revenue. By doing so, they hope to avoid substantial fee increases that officials have proposed for well permits and inspections, dam design review and administering substitute water supply plans. “We’re trying to get more money to the (water) division to cope with expected budget cuts the next two years,” Curry said. “If the fees are not increased, then we have to find a way to fund this division. These people are needed out in the field to administer our water.”[...]

House Bill 1308 (pdf), with Curry and Isgar as the primary sponsors, puts the state engineer’s office in the same category as all other agencies within the Department of Natural Resources to receive a share of funding from the operational account of the Severance Tax Trust Fund. Currently, the water division is the only DNR agency that gets most of its funding from the general fund. The rest, including the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the Division of Wildlife and the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, are the so-called Tier One agencies that are funded from the operational account. Other programs funded from the operational account are considered Tier Two programs and include LEAP, the Endangered Species Trust Fund and the Water Supply Reserve Account. The diminishing severance tax revenue only adds to the competition among those funds.

Scheduled for debate on the House floor later this week is Senate Bill 216, which originally contained the proposed $2.5 million worth of fee increases to make up for general fund budget cuts to the state engineer’s office. The House Agriculture Committee approved Sonnenberg’s amendment to delay the fee increases until at least July 1 and replace them with $500,000 from unallocated funds within the Governor’s Energy Office. “This is not a long-term solution; it only deals with the shortage of trying to manage the waters of the state in this fiscal year,” Sonnenberg said. “Rather than funding the state engineer with premature fee increases, we look at unused funds in the governor’s office.”

Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, defended the JBC’s original version of SB 216 and indicated he would seek to restore the fee increases. “The point of the bill was to move costs of providing various water-well and related services from the general public to the people who use those services,” Pommer said. “Right now we’re taxing everyone to subsidize a small group who receives services.” Committee members countered that water administration is a statewide issue.

Alamosa: EPA grant for testing of unregulated household water

From the EPA: “The organization Citizens for San Luis Valley Water in Alamosa, Colo. received $20,000 from EPA for the LEAP HIGH program, a broad-based collaborative network formed to help low-income rural populations living in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado. The goal of this project is to provide testing of unregulated household drinking water wells and to educate participants about ways to protect their health by protecting their water supply. Test results will be a tool for health care providers, local governments, regulatory agencies, and decision makers. This proposal furthers the success of EPA Region’s 8 2006 San Luis Valley Drinking Water Well Project.”

Georgetown/Idaho Springs chasing stimulus dough

From the Clear Creek Courant (Ian Neligh): “Georgetown is hoping to receive $5 million from the federal economic stimulus package for local infrastructure projects. The projects include updating the water plant and wastewater facility and building a new roundabout at the entrance to town from Interstate 70. Both water projects could begin construction this September; work on the roundabout is planned to start next year to coincide with the completion of the Argentine Street improvement project…

“Town Administrator Cory Nicholson said that while the town’s water tower is structurally “sound,” the plant’s water filters need to be replaced. In order to make the fixes to the 1.5 million-gallon tank, a second, smaller one would have to be built to continue the supply of water. The cost will be $3 million, $2 million of which the town is hoping will come from the stimulus money. The remaining $1 million will come from a revolving no-interest loan from the state…

“And in an attempt to update its aging wastewater plant, Georgetown is also hoping to get $2 million in stimulus money and another $3 million loan from a state revolving fund.”

From the Clear Creek Courant (Ian Neligh): “The city of Idaho Springs this week submitted a single request for federal stimulus funds for a $750,000 project…

“According to City Administrator Cindy Condon, the project selected would be modification of the dead-end water line that travels east down Miner Street to Colorado Street. The funds would be used to loop the line so there wouldn’t be interruptions on the east end of town during a water-flow problem.”

Lake Granby: CPDHE issues fish consumption advisory

Add Lake Granby Lake Trout to your list of limited consumption fish. Here’s a report from Tonya Bina writing for the Sky-Hi Daily News:

Out of 33 lakes tested in 2008, Granby resulted in one of five where at least one fish met or exceeded the mercury action level of 0.5 parts per million set by the state health department. The Colorado standard is more stringent than the federal standard at 0.3 parts per million in fish tissue. The Lake Granby advisory targets large-sized lake trout. It recommends that children aged 6 years or younger not consume any lake trout greater than 30 inches. Pregnant women, nursing women and women who plan on being pregnant should limit themselves to one meal per month of lake trout larger than 30 inches. The same is recommended for the general public. A meal is considered to be 8 ounces for adults. “The higher up in the food chain, the more the organism may bio-accumulate the levels of mercury, but it might not be in all fish,” said Randy Hampton of the Colorado Division of Wildlife…

The fish tissue testing is part of an ongoing five-year sampling of about 120 water bodies in Colorado. Since 2004, more than 112 water bodies have had laboratory testing completed. Of those, about one in five have required fish consumption advisories for mercury. Also listed are two water bodies not part of the mercury study, but were posted for other parameters: Sweitzer Lake for selenium, and Willow Springs Ponds for perchloroethylene. Fish consumption advisories for various Colorado lakes can be found on the state’s Web site at www.cdphe.state.co.us/wq/fishcon/index.html.

Snowpack news

From the Steamboat Pilot & Today (Tom Ross): “Expressed as a percentage of average, the stored water in the combined Yampa and White river drainages declined by 12 points in the past two weeks, from 108 to 96 percent of average. There remains individual snowpack measuring sites in the region that are above average, according to online data reported by the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service…

“At the Rabbit Ears snowpack measuring site on the west side of Rabbit Ears Pass, snow-water equivalent has slipped from 110 percent of average March 9 to 101 percent Monday. That change was recorded even as the actual amount of water grew by 4/10 of an inch. The Rabbit Ears site is at an elevation of 9,400 feet, and as the snowpack has condensed in the relatively mild March weather, the actual snow depth has shrunk from 61.7 inches March 2, to 58.3 inches March 9 and 51.1 inches Monday. The snow-water equivalent remains at 104 percent of average at the Elk River measuring site on the western edge of the Mount Zirkel Wilderness Area in North Routt County. However, that percentage was at 120 percent March 9. One spot in the region where the snow-water equivalent actually has decreased is on the edge of the Flat Tops south of the communities of Phippsburg and Yampa. At the Crosho Lake measuring site, the water content at 9,100 feet reached a monthly peak of 13.2 inches March 16 and has since declined to 11.5 inches.”

Water Company, LLC to expand Pueblo operations

The water treatment business is doing well in these scary economic times. Here’s a report about Pueblo firm Water Company, LLC’s plans to expand operations in Pueblo, from the Environment News Service. From the article:

Known simply as The Water Company, LLC, the company has about 30 employees and operates in a small industrial building near the Pueblo airport. With today’s announcement, the company will be moving to a larger facility and growing its workforce to at least 140 by 2012. “These are clearly difficult economic times around the world, around the country and around Colorado. Pueblo itself is no stranger to tough times,” Governor Ritter said at a news conference with officials from The Water Company, LLC; the Pueblo Economic Development Corp., the Pueblo City Council and the County Board of Commissioners. “But even now, even as people are struggling, something exciting is happening here in Pueblo,” he said. “The Water Company is part of a clean-tech industry of the future,” the governor said. “It’s part of the knowledge-based economy we’re building all across Colorado. The new jobs and the expansion being announced today are another example of how we are leading Colorado forward by re-positioning and re-tooling Colorado’s economy for long-term sustainable growth.”[...]

The Water Company uses an electrical separation system for reducing contaminants and impurities from water known as capacitive deionization, that does not require chemicals and generates no secondary waste stream. Capacitive deionization involves the use of porous electrodes to remove dissolved ions through application of an electrostatic field. In the electrostatic removal system, a contaminated water stream flows between pairs of high surface area carbon electrodes. Ions and other charged particles, such as microorganisms, are attracted to and held on the electrode of opposite charge. The negative electrode attracts positively charged ions such as calcium, magnesium, and sodium, while the positively charged electrode attracts negative ions such as chloride, nitrate, and silica. Eventually, the electrodes become saturated with contaminants and must be regenerated. The voltage is removed, and the ions are released and flushed from the system, leaving purified water. Capacitive deionization is adaptable for use in a wide variety of commercial applications, including domestic water softening, industrial water softening, waste water purification, sea water desalination, treatment of nuclear and aqueous wastes, treatment of boiler water in nuclear and fossil power plants, production of high-purity water for semiconductor processing, and removal of salt from water for agricultural irrigation.

The Water Company aims to sell its technology to oil refineries and other industrial facilities that must decontaminate their discharged water to meet federal regulations. The Pueblo City Council is considering giving the company an existing but unfinished building, a $1.4 million grant and a no-interest $1.4 million loan for five years. Officials say the company would have to return the building and repay the grant if it fails to meet job targets.

Update: More coverage from the Pueblo Chieftain (Peter Roper):

It was a festive occasion, full of the promise of new jobs. So with that many Puebloans in the room, the speeches had to mention who went to which local high school. [Pueblo native and chemist Brian Elson], who noted that he graduated from Centennial High School, talked about how important it was to him that he has been able to work in his hometown and raise his family near his parents.

The Water Company, with support from the Pueblo Economic Development Corp., has decided to stay at Pueblo’s Airport Industrial Park and expand into a bigger business with the help of a $1.42 million grant and a $1.38 million loan from the city’s half-cent sales tax revenue for economic development. In exchange, the company intends to add 100 more jobs over three years. “These are jobs for scientists and engineers and are the highest paying jobs PEDCo has ever recruited,” said Dan Centa, PEDCo’s president.

Update: More coverage from the Pueblo Chieftain (Loretta Sword):

[Puebloan Brian Elson's] creation — the Elsonite Capture Process — is the water-purifying technology that The Water Company hopes to install at petroleum refineries and other water-intensive businesses around the world.

The process involves using carbon-sponge electrodes and ionization to remove dissolved solids and chemicals from water. The result, Elson said, is a product more pure than can be found anywhere in nature.

“My dream was always to be the first one to see something, or for that matter, to hold it. I always thought that would be a wonderful moment, and it turns out it is,” said Elson, who not only was the first to see and hold the device, but who created it after countless hours of research and tinkering in his basement. “It’s a tremendously cool technology and it uses low-voltage DC power to do it, lending itself to the potential of solar technologies that would have a very small environmental footprint,” he said during a telephone interview a few hours before joining his partners and officials of the Pueblo Economic Development Corp. for an afternoon news conference…

“Our first business model is commercial, but in the long term, you will see this technology licensed to someone who will place it in homes for water softening. It will be used for ocean desalinization eventually. There’s a tremendous market for it because, basically, anything in water that holds a charge, we can take that out. “It will be used for municipal water reuse. With this technology, eventually we can take reuse water (treated sewage) and purify it to a very high quality. We can take those gray waters and remove the things that are dissolved,” he said, and end up with potable water of higher quality than what’s turned out of most municipal treatment plants.

Update: More coverage from the Pueblo Chieftain (Jeff Tucker):

The city of Pueblo celebrated one of its own Monday and followed the party with a dedication of $1.4 million in half-cent sales tax money, a $1.3 million loan and a 50,000 square-foot building to his company. Council voted unanimously to approve the designation to The Water Company, which plans to bring about 100 high-paying jobs to the community…

The city will give the company a 50,000 square-foot building on a lot at the Pueblo Memorial Airport Industrial Park and the money will help the company remodel the building to suit its needs.

S.B. 09-141, Fountain Creek Watershed

S.B. 09-141 — the bill that would set up the Fountain Creek Watershed, Flood Control and Greenway District — received preliminary approval in the state House, according to a report from Charles Ashby writing for the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

A measure that officials on both sides of the Pueblo-El Paso County line hope will end the water war between the two is only two more steps away from a gubernatorial signature. That happened Monday when the Colorado House gave preliminary approval to SB141, which would create the Fountain Creek Watershed, Flood Control and Greenway District…

The measure garnered no negative votes or comments, but did generate jokes about how Pueblo and Colorado Springs — termed by more than one lawmaker as the Hatfields and McCoys — could quit feuding over the creek. After several lawmakers came to the microphone praising each other’s work on the bill, Rep. Elizabeth McCann, D-Denver, who was running floor debate on the bill, asked: “Would we all like to sing Kumbaya now?” she said. The measure requires a final House vote, which could come as early as today, before heading back to the Senate for a last vote. After that, it will head to Gov. Bill Ritter’s desk.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Woodland Park water and sewer rate hike effective April 1st

From the Pikes Peak Courier View (Norma Engelberg): “Water tap and sewer plant investment fees will increase by 5 percent as of April 1. At its March 19 Woodland Park City Council meeting council voted on a resolution to continue the annual 5 percent increases instituted in 1989.

“Tap sales have fallen drastically in the past few years, from 74 in 2005 to a projected 10 in 2009. In a memo to council, utilities director Jim Schultz states that since 2006, water customers have been disproportionately supporting the payback of debts in the water and wastewater utilities. A 15 percent water-rate increase in 2007 has bought relief for a few years but if tap revenues don’t increase by early 2010 other measures might have to be enacted.”

Southern Delivery System: Reclamation issues final record of decision

From email from Reclamation:

The Bureau of Reclamation has released the Record of Decision on the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Southern Delivery System. The SDS is a non-federal water delivery pipeline that would run from Pueblo Reservoir to Colorado Springs, Colo. It will connect to Pueblo Dam and require water contracts between Colorado Springs Utilities and the Bureau of Reclamation.

Michael Ryan, Regional Director for Reclamation’s Great Plains Region, signed the Record of Decision later Friday afternoon.

“We have completed the environmental compliance and have provided the public with a detailed report on the impacts of the Southern Delivery System,” said Ryan. “It is a positive step forward in providing a clean and efficient water supply for many Colorado communities, while also ensuring we remain diligent stewards of our natural resources.”

Colorado Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera also gave his thoughts on Reclamation’s review of the project, saying, “This is a critical milestone toward making the Southern Delivery System and the water it will provide for our future a reality. Reclamation’s review of SDS was lengthy, thorough and complete and we ended up with a better project as a result.”

Reclamation prepared its Environmental Impact Statement in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. The Final EIS was released last month and is available at www.sdseis.com. The signing of the ROD concludes the NEPA process.

For more information on the Record of Decision for the Southern Delivery System EIS, please visit the www.sdseis.com website. To obtain a hard copy of the ROD, please contact Kara Lamb at (970) 962-4326.

Update: More coverage from the Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

The decision follows last year’s environmental impact statement and clears the way for Colorado Springs and its SDS partners to choose a route and begin contract negotiations with Reclamation. Colorado Springs and its SDS partners would seek long-term contracts with Reclamation for storage, exchange and conveyance at Lake Pueblo…

Colorado Springs is allowed to exchange water — store it out of priority in Lake Pueblo — against return flows down Fountain Creek. Pueblo West can exchange storage against return flows down Wild Horse Dry Creek. Pueblo County conditions include Pueblo West participation in a flow protection program for the Arkansas River through Pueblo, which Pueblo West officials protested last week. With some modifications in wording, Colorado Springs, Security and Fountain found the Pueblo County conditions legally acceptable. Major technical objections to the project were removed last week, when the Pueblo Board of Water Works approved agreements that provided for a pool of water to augment low flows and how outlets at Pueblo Dam would be shared. Permits must be obtained from the Colorado Department of Wildlife and the Army Corps of Engineers for the SDS project to commence.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here, here, here and here.

Energy policy — oil shale: Development effects on water supplies

From the Colorado Independent (David O. Williams): “A Shell Oil official confirmed Friday that the “in-situ” oil shale production the company is researching at its Mahogany facility near Rangely currently consumes about three barrels of water for every barrel of oil produced.

“But, he said, contrary to recent media reports on an environmental study of energy company water rights on Colorado’s Western Slope, Shell is not trying to “corner the market on water” in the Colorado and White River basins.”

Jackson Lake open to boating for the season

From the Fort Morgan Times: “Jackson Lake has opened for boating for the 2009 summer season. All vessels must be inspected for aquatic invasive species (ANS) before launching. The inspection station at the park will be open between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday. The inspection hours will be 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday. The inspection station will be open longer on the weekends, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Boats will not be allowed to launch without an inspection. That schedule will remain in effect through May 1, when additional staffing may extend the inspection hours. Boaters should make sure that the vessel is clean, drained and dry prior to inspection.”

SB09-141, Fountain Creek Watershed District

From the Colorado Springs Gazette (John Schroyer): “SB141 was introduced only after the deal was approved last year by both counties’ boards of commissioners. In El Paso County, the proposal passed 3-2. It would create a new governmental entity to oversee Fountain Creek and address issues such as water quality, erosion and flood control.”

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The district’s nine-member board, which would be made up of officials and appointees from both counties, will have the power to impose new fees and place mill levy increases on county ballots. Placing a tax increase on the ballot would require the support of at least seven members, and a mill levy hike would be limited to 5 mills. That could raise up to $30 million a year for new projects. For the time being, the board will have at least $10 million a year for the next five years, which could be doubled by federal funds. The initial money comes out of the budget for the $1 billion Southern Delivery System, the pipeline from the Pueblo Reservoir that Colorado Springs Utilities plans to build. The district would include all of Colorado Springs and Pueblo. Four smaller districts would be created within the umbrella district, which stretches from south of Pueblo, where Fountain Creek feeds into the Arkansas River, to north of Colorado Springs, where the creek begins. The four districts would have separate powers, and new fees would likely differ between them.

The bill was approved unanimously by the House Agriculture Committee and is expected to head to the full House. But [Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan] said she won’t breathe easy until it’s signed by the governor. “Water bills, they’re an unusual beast. Things will fly through (the Legislature), and then on second or third reading they can die,” she said.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

Nestlé Waters Chaffee County project: Update

From the Denver Post (Jason Blevins): “Nestle has promised to replace all the water it takes from the valley and spend $1 million to restore riverside habitat where a dilapidated fishery sits. It has installed 10 monitoring wells to gauge the health of the underground aquifer that supplies the springs and will monitor wetlands near them. Nestle hydrogeologist Bruce Lauerman calls the plan a “sustainable, surgical extraction” of water and describes preserving the pristine water supply by taking only a fraction of its flows. “We are one of the best things that could happen to these springs,” he said. “Our involvement affords a level of protection that other owners and users of this property could never offer.’”

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“We have to take everything they are promising on faith,” said Michele Riggio, who last week helped found the anti-Nestle group Chaffee County Citizens for Sustainability. “The risks are too great, and there are not enough proven benefits, so why try?” To help change that attitude, Nestle is working with county residents to start a community foundation. There is also the lure of jobs and tax money. Construction of the $4 million underground pipeline from the springs to proposed water silos at a truck stop on U.S. 285 would require about 50 workers. County officials also envision millions of dollars from property taxes and from the taxes truckers pay as they gas up…

Last April, residents of Enumclaw, Wash., rallied to repel Nestle’s plan to annually bottle 100 million gallons of local spring water. Residents of McCloud, Calif., are in a five-year legal battle to stop Nestle’s plans for a water-bottling plant. Residents in Maine, Michigan and New Hampshire also are challenging Nestle’s plans to bottle their spring water.
“It’s hard to anticipate all the scenarios, and Nestle has the ability to fight something for 20 years,” said Jane Browning, who lives in Howard, southeast of Salida. “We don’t have that ability.”[...]

How it would work:

•Nestle Waters North America, a subsidiary of the Switzerland-based conglomerate, will replace water it draws from the Chaffee County aquifer below the springs with water it plans to lease from the city of Aurora.

•Aurora owns senior water rights near the headwaters of the Arkansas River and is negotiating a 10-year deal with Nestle.

•Nestle’s studies of the springs and aquifers show it would need to put about 0.3 cubic feet per second back into the river.

•If the county approves the plan, Nestle will build production wells on land it owns near two springs and draw a year-round average of 125 gallons per minute.

•Nestle’s research shows that its withdrawal amounts to 10 percent of the springs’ capacity. The company says its tests show the aquifer recharging in a few hours after heavy test pumping.

Update: From SalidaCitizen.com: “The Greater Arkansas River Nature Association (GARNA), a local non-profit membership-based organization, has been following the proposed Nestle project. We previously submitted a letter of concern to Don Reimer, Chaffee County Engineer and Development Services Director for the Planning Commission Meeting held on March 4, 2009 for the purpose of reviewing the Nestle Special Land Use Permit and 1041 Application. Since that time, extensive additional information has been publicly circulated from the County’s consultants hired to review the Nestle applications. In light of these reports and serious discrepancies in the findings, the GARNA Board of Directors has voted to rescind the letter dated March 3, 2009. We now have grave concerns and are here this evening to state our opposition to the project.”

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Southern Delivery System: Colorado Springs city council review of Pueblo County stipulations

Here’s a look ahead at the Colorado Springs city council review of the required stipulations from Pueblo County for the city’s proposed Southern Delivery System, from Chris Woodka writing for the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

That [the Colorado Springs council] still must decide between a route from Pueblo Dam, the preferred option of Colorado Springs Utilities, or an alternate route through Fremont County that comes with fewer strings attached. “I want to caution that this doesn’t mean construction is imminent. This means we are closer to having two viable options for our management and council to analyze and decide which is in the best interest of our customers,” John Fredell, SDS project director, said this week after Pueblo commissioners approved terms and conditions.

In addition, Colorado Springs is awaiting a record of decision from the Bureau of Reclamation, expected in the near future. That would clear the way for contract talks over storage, exchange and conveyance at Lake Pueblo, to be negotiated by Colorado Springs on behalf of its partners in SDS, Security, Fountain and Pueblo West. Those negotiations won’t likely begin until a route is chosen, said Kara Lamb, Reclamation public affairs officer. If the Fremont County route is chosen, some parts of the environmental impact statement will have to be rewritten because mitigation measures cover the preferred alternative, the route from Pueblo Dam. The negotiations would be open to public comment.

In addition, Colorado Springs is awaiting a record of decision from the Bureau of Reclamation, expected in the near future. That would clear the way for contract talks over storage, exchange and conveyance at Lake Pueblo, to be negotiated by Colorado Springs on behalf of its partners in SDS, Security, Fountain and Pueblo West. Those negotiations won’t likely begin until a route is chosen, said Kara Lamb, Reclamation public affairs officer. If the Fremont County route is chosen, some parts of the environmental impact statement will have to be rewritten because mitigation measures cover the preferred alternative, the route from Pueblo Dam. The negotiations would be open to public comment.

Besides the route decision and the contract is the matter of two agencies which haven’t yet issued permits for the system, said Keith Riley, who is coordinates those permits. The Colorado Division of Wildlife is working with Colorado Springs Utilities on a mitigation plan for wildlife that would be affected during construction. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is doing an internal review of a Section 404 permit, which is needed before dams can be built on Williams Creek, but Colorado Springs has not made its application…

Colorado Springs still has to host at least one public hearing on the two proposed routes, as well as sort things out internally with Colorado Springs Utilities staff, Mayor Lionel Rivera said last week. The council will have to weigh the additional cost of coming through Pueblo County, primarily guarantees of $50 million in funding for Fountain Creek and $75 million in planned sewer improvements, against the relative disadvantages of coming from a river outlet in Fremont County…

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Pipeline from Bailey to Conifer and back?

From the Fairplay Flume (Mike Potter): “The proposed water pipeline between Bailey and Conifer could be delayed as additional permits might take longer than expected to obtain. John McMichael, the managing partner for Conifer Water LLC, the company that is planning the pipeline, said he would have to get approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and obtain a 1041 water permit from Park County before work would begin…

“McMichael said Conifer Water has had conversations with Park County Development Services Coordinator Tom Eisenman, and it will be submitting the paperwork for the 1041 application soon. An application also must be submitted to the Army Corps of Engineers about the water diversion, but McMichael said it wouldn’t be submitted until the design of the project is completed…

“He expressed confidence that approval from the Corps of Engineers wouldn’t take long once the application is submitted, but he said it could take some time for the Park County 1041 permit to be approved. Eisenman called the project “very ambitious” and said the length of time it would take to go through the 1041 water permit process would depend on the content of the application McMichael submits.”

Hayden chasing stimulus dough for new water tower

From the Steamboat Pilot & Today (Blythe Terrell): “Hayden’s engineering contractors whipped up a water tank proposal in the nick of time, finishing the preliminary plan Thursday and sending it off to state officials Friday. The town has until Monday to try to snag stimulus money for the project. Civil Design Consultants pushed the proposal through at the town’s request. The cutoff is the first in a series of almost monthly deadlines, Town Manager Russ Martin said.”

Lake Nighthorse: Animas-La Plata Water Conservancy District steps up with offer to manage recreation

From the Durango Herald (Dale Rodebaugh): “There was more than met the ear to recent statements by Bruce Whitehead, executive director of the Animas-La Plata Water Conservancy District, that his agency stands ready to help provide recreation at Lake Nighthorse. The subliminal message became loud and clear Thursday when district board members voted to tackle the job themselves. They are acting because Colorado State Parks, the logical manager of recreation, said last summer – and reiterated recently – that it has no money for such an undertaking at a cost estimated at $20 million to $25 million. Many issues remain to be resolved, board members said Thursday, but five volunteered to be an exploratory subcommittee.”

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Colorado’s water infrastructure needs

Here’s a look at Colorado’s crumbling water supply infrastructure from David Olinger writing for the Denver Post. From the article:

Year by year, the price to fix Colorado’s drinking-water infrastructure keeps climbing. Pending requests for state help to improve water systems have ballooned from $800 million to $1.3 billion since 2005. Forty-eight of these projects, totaling $143 million, would treat water supplies posing acute or chronic health hazards. Louise Malouff’s 6-year-old son was among the children treated in emergency rooms after a pollutant — salmonella bacteria — invaded Alamosa’s water supply…

Some infrastructure money in the $787 billion federal economic-stimulus bill is coming to aid troubled Colorado water systems, but it’s not nearly enough to assure safe drinking water statewide. Colorado expects $32 million in stimulus money to help finance drinking-water projects, about 2.5 percent of the total sought by hundreds of cities, towns and districts. “The amount of money available pales in comparison to the need,” said Steve Gunderson, the state’s water- quality director…

This crisis is largely invisible. People typically notice infrastructure systems only if they fail. “It’s out of sight, out of mind,” said Tom Curtis, deputy executive director of the American Water Works Association. “You turn on the tap, and water comes out. You flush, and it goes away.”[...]

In the past two years, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has dealt with 120 “acute” drinking-water incidents that posed potential public health risks — up from 68 during the previous two years. Last year there were 62 state orders to boil tap water or drink bottled water. Nearly half were caused by broken water mains or other maintenance issues. Two water districts were ordered to boil water four times in one year, and the town of Rye has been told to boil its drinking water since May. The health department says the growing number of acute incidents may reflect better reporting from local water systems, not a growing health risk. But it acknowledges that its current staff is insufficient to keep up with the combined effects of aging infrastructure, stricter federal rules and population growth. “Currently, there is a backlog of about 120 community public-water systems with unresolved violations, and resources have allowed only one such system to be referred for enforcement,” the Water Quality Control Division recently reported to the state legislature. “This type of performance will not be accepted under the new rules.”

Ron Falco, Colorado’s drinking-water program manager, said most of those inspection-based violations — inadequate maintenance or incorrect water sampling, for example — are not directly health-related. But new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules will require stricter state oversight, and there is a risk the agency “would find we’re not doing an adequate job” of protecting water supplies, he said. Overall, 97 percent of Colorado residents drink water that meets all health standards, Falco said. That’s well above the EPA target of 90 percent and above the national average. But that still meant 156,498 people in Colorado drank from water supplies with “health-based violations” in fiscal 2008, according to EPA data. And because those problems were concentrated in 100 small systems, almost one-eighth of Colorado’s community water supplies violated health standards last year…

Colorado let developers create their own quasi-governmental water and sewer districts, then turn the infrastructure over to homeowners after projects are completed. Many of these districts are now reaching the half-century mark with original pipes…

The Teller district has joined the growing list of small water providers pleading for state help with infrastructure repairs. In most years, the health department has had little or no grant money for drinking-water projects. Those who wanted help applied for loans. This year will be a little different. Thanks to the economic-stimulus package, the department expects an extra $32 million — and to use half of that to forgive principal on loans to needy applicants. That falls far short of the nearly $1.3 billion in pending drinking-water projects statewide, plus another $456 million in new projects from cities seeking a piece of the federal infrastructure pie. It won’t even come close to covering the state’s highest-priority projects for public health…

A hundred miles north of Teller County, in a district just west of Brighton in Adams County, Hi Land Acres homeowners were told to boil their drinking water four times last year…

In Rye, a small town in the foothills southwest of Pueblo, boil-water orders have been distributed every two weeks since last spring. The issue: filtration. Rye had installed new filters to meet drinking-water regulations, but they clogged during spring runoff, costing the tiny town hundreds of dollars to replace them daily. Citing the cost, the Rye council decided in May to stop filtering the water. The state promptly ordered Rye to boil water before drinking it. “You should try running a restaurant where you can’t use the water coming out of the sinks,” said Cat Irvine, who served breakfast and lunch at the Rye Rendezvous. “I jury-rig a way to run my espresso machine. I can’t wash or rinse any of my vegetables” in the sink. She closed the restaurant last month…

In Hot Sulphur Springs, a town west of Rocky Mountain National Park, spring runoff last year turned the drinking water cloudy, violating turbidity standards. Turbidity, a general measure of particles in the water, is regulated like a pollutant because past disease outbreaks in drinking water have often been associated with high turbidity levels. The town ended up boiling its water for months. Lauralee Kourse, a water and sewer district operator called to help Hot Sulphur Springs, found a water system that had not been properly maintained for a long time. Incorrectly applied chemicals had eaten into the concrete of a drinking-water well. The town had some wooden water mains, and its galvanized iron pipes were so corroded that half the water produced was leaking out. The water smelled and looked dirty, and it was accumulating dirt between the treatment plant and the faucets…

Pipeline from the Mississippi River to eastern Colorado?

Here’s a look at hay farmer Gary Hausler’s idea to build a pumpback pipeline from the Mississippi River to Colorado’s eastern plains, from Joe Hanel writing for the Durango Herald. From the article:

The Gunnison rancher wants to build an 18-foot-wide water pipeline from the Mississippi River to a hill south of Denver and bring in enough water for millions more people. But it’s no joke. Some state lawmakers are intrigued by the idea. “Why go to the Mississippi? Because that’s where the water is,” Hausler told the Legislature’s agriculture committees Wednesday. Hausler has a lot of water in mind – 1 million acre-feet a year, about twice the annual flow of the Dolores River at the Utah border. He has been working on his plan for eight years, but in the last six months or so, people have started listening…

“When I started out, people laughed in my face a lot. That doesn’t happen near as much now,” Hausler said. No one was laughing Wednesday morning when Hausler made his pitch to legislators.

“I think we have to look at everything at this point,” said Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison. As chairwoman of the House Agriculture Committee, Curry is one of the most influential lawmakers when it comes to water. Her Senate counterpart, Hesperus Democrat Jim Isgar, also thinks Hausler is on to something. “I actually started raising this a few years ago myself when we were talking about pump-backs from the Western Slope,” Isgar said. Physically, it would be easier to pump Mississippi water west across the gently sloping plains than east from Western Slope water through the Rocky Mountains, Isgar said. “I really think it’s something worth looking at,” Isgar said.

Hausler’s pipeline would provide enough water for 1 million to 2 million households if it were used exclusively by cities. 30-year projectHis numbers are staggering: a 1,200-mile-long system with a 7,000-foot vertical lift; numerous reservoirs and canals; an 18-foot-diameter pipeline; and the equivalent of three new power plants to run the pumps. Hausler thinks it would take 30 years to permit and build, and he admits it wouldn’t do anything to solve short-term water troubles. He envisions a Central Plains Compact among Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri to set the legal framework for the project.

Water law works differently on the Mississippi, Hausler said Wednesday. It’s based not on Colorado’s prior appropriation system, but on the Law of Riparian Rights. Basically, he said, anyone is allowed to take water out of the Mississippi as long as people downstream can’t prove injury.

Hausler’s idea is hardly new. He got the idea, he said, from Exxon engineers in the 1980s, who proposed diverting the Missouri River to Western Colorado for oil-shale production. Hausler doesn’t envision using his pipeline for oil shale, he said. However, the Department of Energy’s 2004 Oil Shale Development Roadmap discusses the possible need to import water to Western Colorado to run a future shale industry. Despite the massive engineering required, Hausler thinks the project could be built with no federal funding because urban water customers would pick up the bill, he said. He predicted a cost of $22,500 per acre-foot.

That’s in line with the cost of new water-storage projects on the Front Range today, said Chips Berry, head of the Denver Water Department. But Berry hasn’t seen a formal analysis of Hausler’s idea, so he’s not sure if the $22,500 cost takes into account everything involved. In particular, water treatment costs would be high because there’s a significant difference between Colorado’s high-altitude, snow-fed rivers and the Mississippi meandering through fertilizer-laden farm country.

Nevada eyes Mississippi, tooBerry has heard similar ideas before, including from Pat Mulroy, head of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

He respects Mulroy as one of the nation’s best minds on water. While she’s never made a formal proposal, she has, at times, approached Berry and said:”Have I got a deal for you. I’m going to bring you all the Mississippi River water you need, and you’re going to give me your Colorado River water,” Berry said. “The answer is, ‘The hell I am.’”

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Alamosa: Aftermath of 2008 salmonella outbreak

Here’s a look at Alamosa’s March 2008 salmonella outbreak and its aftermath from David Olinger writing for the Denver Post. From the article:

• Health investigators discovered an in-ground storage tank was cracked at the corners and had a hole in its side — potential entry points for a strain of salmonella bacteria found in animal feces. A state inspection of Alamosa’s water system months before the outbreak failed to include a detailed look at this tank. As a result, its interior had not been physically inspected in 11 years.

• The state canceled a 34-year-old exemption that allowed Alamosa to pump untreated drinking water through a delivery system almost a century old. It also ordered the city to improve inspections of its water system.

• Alamosa opened a treatment plant designed to remove traces of arsenic detected in its water for 13 years. The new plant also disinfects water. Had it been completed months earlier, the city could have avoided the salmonella epidemic.

A year later, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has not pinpointed where salmonella bacteria invaded the water supply of a city of 9,000 people. But crumbling infrastructure is a prime suspect.

After tests detected coliform bacteria in Alamosa’s cracked storage tank, the city disconnected it from its drinking-water supply. A 75-year-old water tower was missing bolts and needed repairs on a roof stained by bird droppings.

The city had 50 miles of underground pipes, and “a lot of pipes were World War I vintage. They’re old. They’re very old,” said Steve Gunderson, the health department’s water- quality director. “That’s the problem with our nation’s infrastructure.”

The Post article includes a link to a photo gallery for the story.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

Taming the Land

Here’s the third part of Chris Woodka’s series “Taming the Land” detailing the history of water in the Arkansas Valley running in the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

Here’s a look at how some key ditches in the valley started and developed:

Fort Lyon Canal: The first headgate was built in the 1860s north of La Junta and served a small ditch with various owners through the 1870s. In the early 1880s, the Arkansas River Land, Town and Canal Co. was formed to expand the ditch. During the next 20 years, a series of promoters came and went creating stormy relations with those who farmed along the canal. Farmers on the ditch finally won a Colorado Supreme Court case in 1903 that gave them control of the ditch as a mutual stock company. The ditch irrigates 94,000 acres under 113 miles and includes two reservoirs.

Rocky Ford Ditch: Started in 1874 by men ranching in the area, and lengthened gradually. It once irrigated 10,000 acres under 20 miles of ditch near Rocky Ford. Sales in the early 1980s and late 1990s have left nearly all of the shares in the hands of Aurora.

Bessemer Ditch: The Big Ditch in South Pueblo was completed in 1874, and the Central Colorado Improvement Co. had plans to irrigate 20,000 acres of the Nolan Land Grant. The Bessemer Irrigating Ditch Co. was not incorporated until 1888, however. The canal was on Colorado Coal & Iron Co. land until 1893, when the company went into receivership and sold the ditch and water rights. The ditch diverted water from the Arkansas River above Pueblo, and now diverts directly from Pueblo Dam. It has water rights dating to 1861, and irrigates 20,000 acres under 43 miles of ditch.

Catlin Canal: Begun in 1884 by men living in the area. The ditch was expanded over time to irrigate 18,000 acres under 40 miles of ditch from Manzanola to Rocky Ford.

Oxford Farmers Ditch: The Enterprise Ditch was dug in 1867, with a diversion two miles west of Nepesta in Pueblo County. The ditch was expanded when the Oxford Ditch took over in 1887. It irrigates up to 6,000 acres, mostly in the Fowler area.

Colorado Canal: Originally called the Bob Creek Canal, T.C. Henry’s original plan for the canal in the late 1880s was a ditch all the way from Boone to Kansas, which combined with other ditches in the area would irrigate 1 million acres. The investors envisioned water stored in Lake Henry and Lake Meredith would be sold to farmers. Work started on the ditch in 1889. The company expanded Twin Lakes in Lake County in the early 1900s and built a transmountain tunnel in the 1930s. The 50-mile canal once irrigated up to 56,000 acres. Today, Colorado Springs and Aurora control most of the ditch shares. The Twin Lakes shares now are primarily in the hands of Colorado Springs, the Pueblo Board of Water Works, Pueblo West and Aurora.

High Line Canal: Built by the Rocky Ford Canal, Reservoir, Land and Trust Co. after articles of incorporation were signed in 1889, the company later bought water rights dating back to 1861. It irrigates 24,000 acres under 72 miles of ditch. In recent years, it leased water to Aurora and Colorado Springs to revive municipal water supplies depleted by drought.

Holbrook Canal: Col. H.R. Holbrook brought a colony of farmers to the valley in 1889, settling on on land that was part of a failed 1860s Indian agriculture experiment. The canal diverts to the north side of the Arkansas River east of Manzanola, irrigating up to 20,000 acres under 15 miles of ditch. Two reservoirs were built along the route.

Otero Canal: The canal was started south of the Arkansas River near Fowler in 1890, another promotion by T.C. Henry. The plan was to irrigate nearly 20,000 acres under a 70-mile ditch. Eventually, the ditch extended 90 miles, but because of junior water rights, it irrigated fewer than 10,000 acres. The company in the early 1900s obtained storage rights at Clear Creek Reservoir, in northern Chaffee County, but sold them along with the reservoir to the Pueblo Board of Water Works in 1954.

Amity Canal: In the late 1890s, the Santa Fe Railroad and Salvation Army brought in colonists, many of whom had been in the United States for only a few weeks and had little money. It operated under various names, and shares were oversold during its colorful history. The system includes five large reservoirs, which are in Kiowa County and fed by the Fort Lyon Canal. The canal irrigated nearly 38,000 acres under 80 miles of ditch running the length of Prowers County. Recently, almost half of the canal’s shares were sold to Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association, which plans to build a power plant near Holly.

Some farmers were very successful in the valley in the early years. Here’s a report from Chris Woodka writing for the Pueblo Chieftain.