From the Sky-Hi Daily News:
Three boat launches in the Arapaho National Recreation Area are closed to trailered or motorized boats from May 15 through Oct. 31, 2009. The boat launches affected are: the two Willow Creek Reservoir boat launches, limiting the reservoir to hand-launched vessels such as kayaks, rafts, canoes and belly boats and the Hilltop boat launch located at the north end of Shadow Mountain Reservoir…
The Hilltop boat launch will be temporarily opened from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on two Saturdays, May 30 and June 6, to assist boaters in launching their boats for the season. All boats must be inspected prior to launching. The nearest boat inspection station to the Hilltop boat launch is located at the Town of Grand Lake’s public boat ramp on the north end of Grand Lake. Boats can also be inspected and decontaminated at the Green Ridge Boat launch located at end of Shadow Mountain Reservoir. Green Ridge boat launch will be open for boat launching and retrieval throughout the summer.
For more information about these closures, please call Sulphur Ranger District Visitor Information at 970-887-4100 or visit our website at www.fs.fed.us/r2/arnf/.
Sterling: Children’s Water Festival
May 22, 2009
Here’s a recap of Tuesday’s Children’s Water Festival up at Northeastern Junior College, from Callie Jones writing for the Sterling Journal Advocate. From the article:
This year’s offerings included a presentation by Rebecca Swisher and Gus Cummings from Xcel Energy, who spoke about water and electricity.
There was also a marine biology class led by Jennifer Talagrad, from the University of Colorado, where students got to learn about various life forms that can be found in the ocean, including sharks, whales, octopus, star fish and corral. They also got to see different types of sand.
Another class, Weather Works, offered students a chance to learn about how water is related to weather. During this class, students got to watch Anitta Frank from CU perform several different experiments, including creating a cloud.
In the “Earth Parfaits” class, led by Bruce Bosley from the Colorado State University Logan County Extension office, the students did an experiment where they drilled for water. They used Sprite as an aquifer, ice cream as soil and sprinkles as contaminants and then used a straw to drill water.
The Water Festival committee that helped organize this year’s event included: Joe Frank, general manager of the LSPWCD; Gary Miller, Rick Fleharty and Deanna Eskew from the LSPWCD; and Steve Cramer from the Colorado State University Logan County Extension office.
Stimulus dough for Park Center Water District
May 22, 2009
From the Cañon City Daily Record (Charlotte Burrous):
The Park Center Water District Board received good news Wednesday when it learned it was on the list for funding to drill a new well through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Located on BLM-administrated lands, the 80-year-old artesian well known as the Park Center Well developed a leak late last year. Since then, BLM and Park Center officials have been scrambling to solve the problem in order to accommodate the 4,000 water users in the Park Center Water District. “The BLM will coordinate the plugging of the old well with the drilling of the new one to minimize impacts to local water users,” said Royal Gorge field office manager Roy Masinton. “This should be possible unless the old well fails.”
More coverage from the Pueblo Chieftain (Tracy Harmon):
The artesian well is located on BLM land near Canon City and supplies water for the Park Center Water District. The district uses the water for fire suppression and for its 4,000 domestic users in North Canon…
As part of the replacement process, an environmental assessment is being conducted and should be complete by July. The drilling of the new well should be done by early 2010. Competitive bids will be sought. Exact cost of the replacement well will depend on the bids.
From the Steamboat Pilot & Today:
Now in its 29th year, the river festival has two purposes, Van De Carr said. The event shows locals and visitors all the recreational possibilities of the river; it also brings awareness to outside factors that can affect the water, [Peter] Van De Carr said. “I just think that there are a lot of issues with the river — the pumpback project and the discussion of user conflicts. … And everybody who loves the river, this is a time to rally and show support and see what some of the issues are,” he said. New to the festival this year are a river boarding demonstration, a presentation by paddling enthusiast Eugene Buchanan about his descent into Peru’s upper Colca Canyon, and an 18-and-younger kayak freestyle competition. Van De Carr describes river boarding as “paddling down the river on a surfboard.” A tube rodeo, scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, is back for a second year. Competitors hang on to a tube in a rough part of the river for as long as possible and are judged for ride duration and style. The tube rider with the most points wins $100. Van De Carr said he hopes the festival will propel the cause behind Respect the Yampa, a coalition of groups formed earlier this spring to advocate for the environment of the river, people who use it and private landowners who surround it.
From the Steamboat Pilot & Today (Joel Reichenberger):
Competitors first will race on Fish Creek, starting at 10 a.m. The action at Charlie’s Hole will start at 1 p.m. Each paddler will get a crack at laying out tricks in Steamboat’s signature boating feature.
This year’s competition will feature a new scoring system. Last year, a panel of judges awarded one point for a trick and allocated other points based on quality and variety. This year, the judges will follow a more widely accepted standard, wherein different amounts of points are awarded for different tricks. “It’s a better way and more accurately gives points based on what they do out there,” freestyle supervisor Dan Piano said.
Organizers hope Monday’s event fits in with what is a wild few weeks in Colorado for the kayaking world. It comes just after a big event at Buena Vista and before major competitions in Glenwood Springs and Vail.
U.S. Representatives Betsy Markey, John Salazar and Ed Perlmutter all plan to be in the Arkansas Valley next week hosting town hall meetings to discuss potential legislation to allow Aurora to continue using the Fryingpan-Arkansas facilities to move water out of basin. Here’s a report from Chris Woodka writing for the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
U.S. Reps. Betsy Markey and John Salazar will host a town hall meeting at 5 p.m. Wednesday in Room 139 of the Bowman Building at Lamar Community College. Salazar and Rep. Ed Perlmutter will host a second town hall meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Gobin Community Center in Rocky Ford. All three are Democrats…
Aurora has used the Fry-Ark Project to move water out of the valley with one-year contracts since 1986. The Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District protested the practice as illegal up until 2003, when it signed an agreement with Aurora that paid the district $25 million. Southeastern unsuccessfully tried to convince federal lawmakers for the next four years to change federal law to allow Aurora to use the Fry-Ark Project and remains committed to support federal legislation allowing the contract. In March, Salazar said he was caught off-guard by the Lower Ark-Aurora agreement and wanted to hear opinions about any potential legislation from Arkansas Valley residents at town meetings. He indicated he did not support legislation at that time. Markey and Perlmutter have not publicly said where they stand. In April, the Lower Ark and Aurora sent proposed legislation to members of the Colorado congressional delegation that attached the authorization for Aurora to a proposal to study the feasibility of enlarging Lake Pueblo and Turquoise Lake as well as studying other water storage sites in the Arkansas Valley. The legislation also would allow excess-capacity storage contracts to water users in the Arkansas Valley that are not within the boundaries of the Southeastern district. Pueblo City Council voted to support the legislation at an April meeting, saying it preserves flows in Pueblo through 2004 intergovernmental agreements. The excess-capacity contracts are included in separate federal legislation, already signed by President Barack Obama, that would allow the Arkansas Valley Conduit to be built. The agreement also pledges Aurora’s cooperation in the Super Ditch, either as a buyer or seller of water through the land fallowing-lease management program. It also allows the Lower Ark district to buy into future Aurora water storage projects in the Arkansas Valley. Aurora also is committed to pay $2 million for Super Ditch and Fountain Creek studies under the March agreement.
Runoff news
May 22, 2009
From the Aspen Times (Scott Condon):
An estimated 64,200 acre feet of water from the upper Fryingpan Valley will be pumped through the Boustead Tunnel this year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. That’s about 34 percent higher than the annual average, but significantly less than last year’s amount…
A network of 17 diversion structures and 27 miles of tunnels taps water from 11 creeks and two branches of the Fryingpan River and sends the water east, according to reclamation bureau data. It is distributed to Colorado Springs, Aurora, Pueblo as well as farmers and other water users in the Arkansas River Valley.
Despite the diversion, Ruedi Reservoir, east of Basalt, will fill to capacity by about the second week of July this summer, the same as last year, according to Carlos Lora, a hydrologist with the reclamation bureau, which manages the reservoir. The U.S. Forest Service boat ramp just past the dam is already in water. The ramps at the Aspen Yacht Club and the east end of the reservoir will be in water by early June and remain until late September, Lora told a small audience that gathered in Basalt Thursday evening to learn about Ruedi Reservoir operations this year.
From the Summit Daily News (Bob Berwyn):
Just upstream of Dillon Reservoir, the Blue River was flowing at 407 cubic feet per second recently, compared to the 51-year median average of 182 cfs. A gauge on Ten Mile Creek was reading 556 cfs Wednesday morning, compared to the historic average of 299 cfs for the date…
Denver Water recently announced it will start to release more water from Dillon Reservoir as it anticipates peak runoff. Flows below the dam in the Lower Blue reached about 500 cfs Wednesday, according to a press release from Denver Water.
From email from Reclamation (Kara Lamb):
As projected, we did hit a peak release of 750 cfs from Ruedi Dam to the Fryingpan [May 20] morning. Combined with snowmelt coming down Rocky Fork Creek, approximately 800 cfs flowed down the Fryingpan River through the day.
[May 21] we began curtailing our releases and scaled back by 50 cfs. We will continue to reduce releases from the reservoir to the river in 50 cfs increments through tomorrow morning. By tomorrow (Friday, May 22), releases from Ruedi should be at about 500 cfs with resulting flow in the Fryingpan around 550 cfs, or possibly a little less, depending on the contribution of Rocky Fork. We anticipate the 500 cfs release rate will last through the weekend.
From email from Reclamation (Kara Lamb):
As part of our participation in the Coordinated Reservoir Operations program (press release and explanation included in last Thursday’s e-mail), we are increasing our releases from Green Mountain to the Lower Blue by another 200 cfs. [May 19] we bumped up from 750 cfs to 850 cfs. Around 4 p.m. [May 19], we will bump up from 850 cfs to 950 cfs.
From email from Reclamation (Kara Lamb):
The following is another update on releases from Ruedi Reservoir and our participation in the Coordinated Reservoir Operations program, or “CROS.” The main message is that we are still planning to hit 800 cfs in the Fryingpan, but it will not last as long as we originally thought. More explanation follows. I have numbered the points for quicker reading.
1) Please keep in mind that we closely monitor the reservoir. Because of changing weather patterns and water demands, our projection for releases from Ruedi to the Fryingpan River are subject to change. I do my best to keep you all informed via this e-mail notification.
2) We bumped up our releases from Ruedi Dam to the Fryingpan River by 50 cfs this morning, raising our release from 600 cfs to 650 cfs. This afternoon, we will bump up from 650 cfs to 700 cfs. Currently, the Rocky Fork is contributing 50 cfs in snowmelt runoff. Our release plus flows from the Rocky Fork will put a total of about 750 cfs in the Fryingpan by late afternoon.
3) Tomorrow morning (Wednesday, May 20), we will bump up 50 cfs one more time to 750 cfs. With runoff from the Rocky Fork, the total in the Fryingpan River will be 800 cfs.
4) Ruedi Reservoir will fill this year.
The release schedule that is currently in place is due to our participation in CROS. Both a press release and an explanation of this program were included in my e-mail last Thursday. Several of you commented about the current water level at Ruedi Reservoir. I understand your concern. So, to clarify:
5) We only participate in CROS in years where we have enough snowmelt to both fill the reservoir and help augment the natural peak of the Colorado River.
6) The 800 cfs flow in the Fryingpan will NOT go through Memorial Day weekend as first projected. This is due to a change in the snowpack across the Colorado River Basin. Instead, the 800 cfs in the Fryingpan will only last a day. That means by Wednesday evening, we will begin scaling releases from the reservoir back down, in 50 cfs increments.
From the Fort Collins Coloradoan:
Water levels on the Poudre River have risen from 300 cubic feet per second (cfs) to 1,500 cfs in just one week.
Update: From email from Reclamation (Kara Lamb):
… today flows in the Fryingpan are in the 500 cfs range. They will be in the 400 cfs range for Saturday, 300 for Sunday and back to 250 cfs for Memorial Day. We will maintain a flow of 250 cfs in the Fryingpan until further notice.
From the Colorado Springs Gazette (R. Scott Rappold):
Colorado Springs Utilities officials say they already have the equipment in place to launch a smart grid here. And there’s an 85 percent chance it’s already in your home. “There’s a lot of hype going around the country about smart grid technology,” said Gina McCurley, manager of Utilities’ Advanced Metering Infrastructure program. “What we’re doing here today is basically putting our smart grid program together.” The city-owned utility has spent $56 million since 2006 installing automated meters for gas, electric and water service in homes and businesses. They have 80,000 remaining of a total of 450,000 in the city. Officials hope to connect all residents by the end of this year and all businesses by the end of 2010. In most cases, workers can make the switch without contacting the resident, though they must gain access to the home to install some water meters, McCurley said. The switch has allowed Utilities to reduce the number of meter readers from 77 to 11, which will eventually drop to zero, a cost savings. The automated meters could also someday be tied into a tiered rate structure for electricity and natural gas, charging more for use during peak times and less during off-peak hours.
Runoff news
May 21, 2009
From The Mountain Mail (Christopher Kolomitz):
Recent temperature surges increased flow in the Arkansas River to 2,400 cubic feet per second Monday afternoon – high above the 100 year average of about 1,000 cfs…
The surge above the 100 year average at Salida started about 10 days ago when the river was running at about 800 cfs. A big jump in flow occurred May 12 and the river has been climbing steadily ever since…
A majority of the water in the river Tuesday was native flow. Outflow from Twin Lakes was about 845 cfs Monday, while inflow to the lakes from Lake Creek was 1,560 cfs. “What is spilling is the pass through – what (Twin Lakes) are not entitled to store,” Scanga said. O’Haver Lake, Boss Lake and Cottonwood Lake, storage reservoirs operated by the district, are full, he said. North Fork Reservoir isn’t storing any water and is about half full. Scanga said he’s waiting for snowmelt to clear the face of the dam and then it will begin filling. Rainbow Lake as been lowered so the big runoff can pass through and by the end of the month, Scanga expects it to begin filling. The key question river enthusiasts keep asking is, “Have we peaked?” “I don’t know,” Hopkins said. “I would guess we haven’t seen the peak, but who knows.”
Grand County: ‘State of the River’
May 21, 2009
Here’s a recap of the recent “State of the River” meeting put on by the Colorado River District in Grand County, from Tonya Bina writing for the Sky-Hi Daily News: From the article:
On May 1, the Upper Colorado showed 90 percent to 109 percent of average, according to Bob Steger, manager of raw water supply for Denver Water. During that same time period in the South Platte Basin, where Denver obtains half of its water in an average year, the water table showed 70 percent to 89 percent of average. The more water available on the South Platte, [Mike Eytel, water resources specialist for the Colorado River District] explained, the less pressure to divert West Slope water…
Quota-setting for the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District was a gamble this year with a dry spell leading up to an April 1 quota date, according to Jeff Drager, deputy manager of Northern Water. Northern settled on an 80 percent quota. A 100 percent quota means each owner of one C-BT unit gets one acre foot — the higher the quota, the more East Slope water is supplemented by C-BT water…
Lake Granby, which when full amounts to about 539,000 acre-feet, was sitting at 283,835 acre feet on May 1. “We think that later this year in November it will be at about 400,000,” Drager said. “We are in better shape this year over last year because we’ve had more water stored in our East Slope reservoirs because of some work done on Carter Lake,” he said. Where Lake Granby is roughly 35 feet down at present, it’s expected to raise 15-20 feet — about 15 feet from full level — in July.
To take part in Shadow Mountain Reservoir and Grand Lake water-quality management, Northern plans to shut down C-BT-Adams Tunnel flows from July 31 to August 13 this year, during which water clarity studies are likely to take place. Drager said two weeks was as long as Northern could comply with shutting down C-BT operations due to power-generation constraints on the system.
“I am going to advocate that we agree to a more robust monitoring program for the two weeks stop-pump period and ask for a six-week period, two weeks preceding and two weeks following,” said Grand County Water Quality Specialist Katherine Morris. Grand County is part of a multi-agency group bound to investigate clarity problems in the C-BT system. “I think that’s a remarkable opportunity to learn of the effects of pumping and diverting water on water quality in Grand Lake and Shadow Mountain Reservoir,” she said.
Plans at Windy Gap are to pump 23,000 acre-feet this year, Drager said. Since May 11, both pumps have been in full swing, pumping 365 cfs at Windy Gap. Last year, Windy Gap pumped 30,000 acre feet…
…several other pressing water topics were explored during the meeting, such as: The Division of Wildlife’s newly adopted boat inspections program to stop the spread of zebra and quagga mussels; the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild and Scenic eligibility that includes a section of the Colorado River starting at Windy Gap, Muddy Creek below Wolford, Troublesome Creek, Rabbit Ears Creek, Kinney Creek and Sulphur Gulch; a nearly completed Upper Colorado Watershed Assessment — a study that identifies the area’s most critical watersheds that are main sources of drinking water vulnerable to wildfire damage; and the Upper Colorado Endangered Fish Recovery federal mandate in which the West Slope may need to ante up at least $8 million for its participation by 2012.
Buena Vista: PaddleFest May 22-25
May 21, 2009
From the Chaffee County Times (Kathy Davis):
Buena Vista PaddleFest May 22-25 is one of the few whitewater festivals in the world and is open to people of all interests who can watch or participate in demonstrations, educational classes, a pro rodeo competition and a number of social events. PaddleFest is anticipated to draw about 1,000 people over the Memorial Day weekend…
But if the interest is not whitewater boating, something new this year is the very popular SUP – Stand up Paddling, a flat-water clinic. This new sport, a combination of surfing and canoeing, will be demonstrated at Town Lake in McPhelemy Park on Saturday and Sunday.
At the PaddleFest Pro Rodeo competitions, world champion professional paddlers run the waves in the playholes in the Arkansas River near Buena Vista River Park. Kayakers are judged based on the ability to perform high-end, free-style maneuvers in the whitewater playholes in Buena Vista Whitewater Park. Preliminary competitions are Friday afternoon and finals are on Sunday afternoon. Some of the top paddlers coming for the pro rodeo are Erick and Emily Jackson, Stephen Wright and Brian Kirk. Local kayakers Dustin and Katie Urban are running the pro rodeo and Katie Urban’s brother, Jed Selby, is competing. A series of free clinics, seminars and demonstrations both on and off the water are offered. The free clinics may be something to introduce beginners to the sport and how to prepare for kayaking. Dryland river rescue courses are offered for safety around or on the water. Professionals teach all the classes, Richmond said. The women’s specific courses are taught by women for women. People wanting to participate may sign up in advance for the classes or the day of the festival.
Arkansas Valley hopes that Arkansas Valley Conduit will lower costs to comply with water standards
May 21, 2009
Several municipalities in the Arkansas Valley are having trouble meeting state and federal water quality standards due to the high cost of installation of new treatment infrastructure to remove natural contaminants, including radium. They would look at reverse osmosis plants but then they have the problem of disposing of radioactive brine. The Arkansas Valley Conduit is their best choice for supplies going forward. Here’s a report from KOAA.com (Susan Davies):
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has studied the problem for several years and is working with roughly forty different systems struggling with radium and uranium levels above federal and state guidelines…
Many private, not-for-profit water associations are looking at joining with other groups to finance a solution. There is increasing support for a $300 million dollar conduit carrying Pueblo reservoir water into the Lower Arkansas Valley and connecting to Lamar. Reservoir water would be mixed with well water to bring it into compliance with federal drinking water standards. Operators say the conduit is their most economical solution for providing safe drinking water to the members they serve.
From the Pueblo Chieftain:
“This purchase will help ensure the long-term storage needs for fishing and recreation at John Martin,” said Dan Prenzlow, DOW Southeast Region Manager. “Adding water to the permanent storage pool is an investment that will pay long-term dividends for outdoor recreation and the health of the fishery.” The state purchased the water in the one-time sale, known as a lease, at a price of $20 per acre-foot for a total cost of $60,000 split equally between the two agencies. The water is Colorado River water that was stored in Pueblo Reservoir.
From the Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
Geoff Blakeslee, a Steamboat Springs ranch operator, was elected chairman, and Eric Wilkinson, executive director of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District was elected vice-chairman.
Gunnison lawyer John McClow was sworn in as a new board member by Colorado Attorney General John Suthers. Blakeslee and Wilkinson both commended outgoing chairman Travis Smith, a Del Norte rancher, for his two years of leadership on the board…
Smith, representing the Rio Grande, is considered to be from the Eastern Slope, although Wilkinson quipped it should be called the “South Slope.” Carl Trick, repre- senting the North Platte watershed, and Wilkinson were reappointed to the board and sworn in Tuesday. Other voting members of the CWCB are Reed Dils, Arkansas River basin; Barbara Biggs, metro area; Bruce Whitehead, Southwestern Colorado; and John Redifer, Colorado River basin. Harris Sherman, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources is an ex-officio voting member.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
The Bessemer Ditch shareholders approved bylaw changes last week that paved the way for the Pueblo Board of Water Works to purchase shares to convert to municipal use for the long-term supply for the city. Now Pueblo has to get the change of use through water court. Here’s a report from Chris Woodka writing for the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
The Pueblo Board of Water Works expects to close contracts for its purchase of Bessemer Ditch shares in the next few weeks, but its work on converting the agricultural ditch water to municipal use is just beginning. “With the change in the Bessemer Ditch bylaws and articles of incorporation, we made one milestone. It’s ano-ther chapter in the novel,” Executive Director Alan Hamel told the board Tuesday. “We have a ways to go, but we made ano- ther step forward.”[...]
The purchase is part of a long-range water resources plan that will reduce Pueblo’s dependence on water imported from the Western Slope. The board Tuesday postponed action on another key piece of the equation: the sale of the Columbine Ditch. The board received a bid of $30.48 million from Ginn Development, which is developing the Battle Mountain Ski Resort near Minturn. “We’re still working on a very complex contract,” Hamel said. “This is something new to us, selling one of our assets. But we’re close and we’re optimistic we’ll have an agreement soon.” The water board could call a special board meeting in the near future to approve the Columbine contract. Even then, it would not be final, because Aurora would have 60 days to match the offer, under terms of an earlier agreement with the Pueblo water board.
Aurora is undecided about what it will do. “We haven’t seen the contract, so we don’t know what’s involved,” said Gerry Knapp, Aurora’s Arkansas Valley manager. “We will consider it, but we have made no decision.”
The Bessemer shares could yield up to 7,500 acre-feet, depending on what happens in water court. That will be a big concern of the water board as it works to close the sale, Hamel said. Hamel said financial, legal and engineering decisions will be needed before the sales are finalized by the end of this year. For two years after that, there will be legal action as the shares are taken through water court. After that, the water board will have ongoing responsibility for revegetation on the ditch.
Pueblo Board of Water Works approves lease to Colorado Water Protective and Development Association
May 21, 2009
From the Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
The Colorado Water Protective and Development Association asked for the continuance of a long-standing lease agreement with the Pueblo water board this year after its prior agreement lapsed. The new lease, as this type of sale is called, will be at a higher rate that reflects changes in the long-term lease rates charged by the board, said Alan Ward, water resources administrator. The 2-year contract is for $178.27 per acre-foot for 1,000 acre-feet per year for the next two years. The rate is the same Aurora pays for buying 5,000 acre-feet a year from the Pueblo water board, and close to the amount of two leases approved in December for 2-year contracts with Mt. Massive Golf Club and Trans Colorado.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
From the Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka/Tracy Harmon):
Goodwin, a retired district ranger with the U.S. Forest Service, is the son of Denzel Goodwin, a longtime Fremont County rancher who was instrumental in forming the district and was a member of the board for many years.
Three other directors were reappointed for four-year terms: Tom French of Howard, Jeff Ollinger of Buena Vista and William McGuire of Penrose. They will serve with Glenn Everett of Salida, Robert Senderhauf of Westcliffe, Timothy Canterbury of Howard, Gregory Felt of Salida, Bill Donley of Westcliffe, Frank McMurray of Nathrop, Bill Jackson of Canon City, Mannie Colon of Canon City and John Sandefur of Penrose. The district, formed in 1979, represents water interests in Fremont, Custer and Chaffee counties and board appointments follow the boundaries of school districts in the three counties. Its purpose is to protect and secure water in the Arkansas River Valley west of Pueblo…
Judges making the appointments were Kirk Samuelson, chief of the 4th district; C.M. Barton, chief of the 11th district; and O. John Kuenhold, chief of the 12th district.
From the Sky-Hi Daily News (Tonya Bina):
Stimulus money granted to the Colorado-Big Thompson project will not be used to study water quality in Grand County’s Three Lakes, according to a May 1 letter to the county from Bureau of Reclamation Area Manager Michael Collins. The BuRec informed Grand County officials that it is unable to fulfill the county’s request. The county had asked that about $100,000 or more out of a $14 million stimulus grant be directed to a Colorado Big Thompson Project study that would launch finding a solution to Grand Lake’s water-clarity problems.
S. 787: Clean Water Restoration Act
May 20, 2009
Here’s a look at S. 787 the Clean Water Restoration Act, from Gary Harmon writing for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. From the article:
The bill by Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., would reduce the role state and local officials play in making decisions about water, Club 20 Executive Director Reeves Brown said. The upshot, Brown said, “is that the federal government takes everything, and the state and local governments are also-rans.” Feingold’s bill, S. 787, would extend the reach of the act, which was approved in 1972 to cover all navigable waters. The revision would encompass all the waters of the United States: interstate waters, intrastate lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, mud flats, sand flats, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playas and natural ponds, as well as tributaries to those waters. The measure, said Chris Treese of the Colorado River Conservation District, would affect “everything that is wet, ever was wet or ever might be wet.” Both Colorado senators, Michael Bennet and Mark Udall, said the bill was overly broad, and they couldn’t support it as written. It “could block access to waters for sportsmen and fishermen who have proven to be excellent stewards of our lands,” Bennet said in a statement. Udall said he was “encouraging stakeholders to develop compromise language.”
Here’s the link to the USGS Water Watch map for Colorado for your surfing pleasure.
From the Aspen Daily News (David Frey):
The peak runoff is expected within days, and the Crystal River at Redstone is within inches of overflowing the bank. Early Tuesday morning, a gauge station near Avalanche Creek showed the river running at 4.5 feet. Carbondale Deputy Fire Chief Carl Smith said flooding is expected to occur at 5 feet. “We’re right below that,” Smith said Tuesday afternoon…
The Crystal is running at record-high levels for the date. On Tuesday afternoon, it was flowing at 1,680 cubic feet per second. That’s nearly double the average of 874 cubic feet per second over 53 years of record keeping. The last record flow for May 19 was 1,500 cfs, set in 1997. The National Weather Service in Grand Junction has issued a flood advisory for the Crystal above Redstone, warning that minor flooding in low-lying areas could come by today.
From the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):
With unusually warm weather and dirty snow, the rivers in the San Luis Valley have peaked early this year so irrigators will have to look to summer rains for additional moisture. Colorado Division of Water Resources Division 3 Division Engineer Craig Cotten said the Rio Grande peaked on May 8, about a month earlier than usual. “Most of the SNOTELs [Snowpack Telemetry] on the Rio Grande are showing dry right now,” he said. “We have only got two of the SNOTELs on the upper Rio Grande Basin that are showing any water content at all.”
The two sites still showing some snowpack are the Upper San Juan and Wolf Creek Summit. Everything else is at zero or very close to zero, Cotten said. He said traditionally the Rio Grande experiences two peaks between May 15 and June 15 with the early snow coming off during the middle of May and the higher snows melting off the first part of June. This year the peak period is already over…
Cotten explained that the early snowmelt does not mean the water was lost to the Valley. In fact some ditches that would not normally receive water this time of year were able to get water because the system had so much of it at one time. The reservoirs on the Rio Grande and Conejos have also come into priority this year, something that does not happen every year. “That’s a fairly good indicator we have some good flows through the system,” Cotten said. The downside of the rivers peaking early could occur later this summer according to Cotten. “It does cause some concern especially that we may not have the amount of water we traditionally are used to later on in the season.”[...]
Curtailments on irrigators are holding steady if not less than earlier predicted. The curtailment represents the amount of water local irrigators are not allowed to use so it can be sent downstream to meet the state’s water obligation to New Mexico and Texas through the Rio Grande Compact. Cotten said the water division began curtailments of 12 percent on the Rio Grande on April 1 and was able to lower that to 10 percent currently. Curtailments on the Conejos River system began this year at 28-29 percent and have decreased to 20 percent, a far cry from last year’s curtailment that was above 50 percent on the Conejos at the beginning of the irrigation season. Cotten said he will look at the numbers again at the end of the month and may lower the curtailment on the Conejos River even further. Cotten said that during the high water peak the Conejos system was able to send more water downstream because the ditches that had called for water were taking it, Platoro Reservoir was in storage “ and we were still delivering a fair amount to the downstream states.”
From TheDenverChannel.com:
No homes have been jeopardized by flooding in Georgetown so far, but Clear Creek, which runs through the center of the small community, has risen four feet in the last week. The bigger concern is north of Georgetown where a 40-year-old water filtration plant has had to be shut down almost every day. The town’s water supply has been cut in half. The rushing water carries too many types of sediment to safely be processed.
From the Vail Daily (Scott Condon):
The Crystal River near Redstone was flowing at 1,580 cubic feet per second, according to a gauging station maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey. The median flow for that date is 809 cfs, and the previous peak for that date in the past 53 years was 1,450 cfs in 1966. The National Weather Service on Monday issued a flood advisory for low-lying areas of the Crystal River upstream from Redstone. The advisory will continue until Thursday afternoon. No problems from flooding were reported to the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office on Monday. The Roaring Fork River also is flowing well above average. The river near Emma was at 2,400 cfs Monday afternoon. It’s median for May 18 is 842 cfs. Its prior high flow was 1,320 cfs in 2007…
Warm temperatures and the dust have combined to consume the Roaring Fork River basin’s snowpack. It was at just 43 percent of average Monday afternoon.
Climate change: Particle makeup in clouds
May 20, 2009
From environmental search web (Liz Kalaugher):
“Understanding cloud processes is key to reducing the uncertainties associated with climate change,” Kim Prather of the University of California, San Diego told environmentalresearchweb. “One of the largest unknowns is which particles form cloud seeds. Our measurements are some of the first measurements to characterize the size and chemistry of the individual cloud seeds in real-time.”
Prather and colleagues from Colorado State University, the University of Wyoming, Naval Research Laboratory, National Centre for Atmospheric Research, Oregons State University and the University of California, San Diego, took measurements from a plane about 8 km high on 7 November 2007 during the Ice in Clouds Experiment – Layer Clouds. They used aircraft-aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometry (A-ATOFMS) of the residue remaining after water had been evaporated from the cloud’s ice particles. This resulted in the first aircraft-based, single-particle, dual-polarity mass spectrometry measurements.
The team found that mineral dust made up around 50% of the individual ice-crystal residues, and biological particles made up roughly 33%. The remainder was salts such as potassium and sodium chloride, organic carbon mixed with nitrate, and soot. The use of dual-polarity mass spectrometry enabled a clear differentiation between biological particles and carbonaceous inorganic and non-biological particles.
Around 87% of the dust particles were phyllosilicate clays, which are known to be ice nuclei. It looks like the particles had mixed with biological material, as 60% of them contained both organic nitrogen and phosphate, which may have increased the particles’ ice nucleation efficiency.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Senator Bennet and Representative Markey pushing Interior to fund produced water demonstration projects
May 19, 2009
From All American Patriots:
U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and Congresswoman Betsy Markey are seeking funding for local efforts to turn “produced water” into a resource that could benefit drought-stricken communities and help ease the demand for water in Colorado and the West. In a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Bennet and Markey urged the Secretary to allocate funding from the Interior Department’s FY 2009 discretionary budget towards produced water demonstration grant projects. The lawmakers also stated a commitment to work with Congress over the coming year to acquire additional funding in FY 2010 for a grant program created under the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008.
Produced water is by far the largest volume byproduct or waste stream associated with oil and gas exploration and production. According to the National Energy Technology Laboratory, approximately 15-20 billion barrels of produced water are generated each year in the United States from nearly a million wells.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District: John Mihelich applies for board vacancy
May 19, 2009
From the Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
A retired Pueblo stormwater quality inspector has tossed his name into the hat to fill a vacancy on the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District. John Mihelich, who retired last year from the city’s public works department, said he is qualified because of his technical knowledge of drainage project planning and construction. “My work experience and availability to learn could be very useful to the district and would give a reason to my keeping of a Golden Future Frying Pan hanging on the wall for many years,” Mihelich wrote. The frying pan is a souvenir of the fundraising effort that led to the formation of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District and the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Here’s a recap of Monday’s workshop seeking solutions to Colorado’s supply gap, from Chris Woodka writing for the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
The state water board is looking at a few big water projects, new ways to share water and conservation as ways to address the impending gap between future municipal water supplies and identified projects to meet the gap. But there are no good numbers on how much water could be conserved, whether lease-fallowing programs will work the way they’re intended or which project to bring Western Slope water to the Front Range could be pursued.
The board has been looking at the gap in the state’s water supply since 2002, and its latest estimates show that water demand will begin to outpace known projects to meet that demand as soon as next year. By 2030, there could be an 18 percent shortfall in water supplies and the number will only get bigger as the state’s population doubles by 2050. The search for an answer brought out a variety of viewpoints from board members, who reflected some of the attitudes about water and growth that were shared at a meeting of Front Range roundtables last week…
The big elephant in the room, however, was the limited reach of the water board. Urban conservation measures saving up to 40 percent of water could be easily obtained without drastically altering how Coloradans take showers, wash clothes and water their lawns, said CWCB drought planning chief Veva Deheza. But she was unable to estimate exactly how much water that would save without full reports from state water users. “We need 100 conservation plans, but we only have a quarter of them,” Deheza said. “Without those plans we can’t run the numbers.”
The board would have little authority for cities to set conservation goals, added Dan McAuliffe, deputy director of the CWCB. “We can’t say you need a conservation plan, much less set a goal,” he said.
The board also is limited in which major project could be used to help fill the gap. Front Range roundtables last week identified three projects last week that would provide 50,000 to 250,000 acre-feet of water each from the Colorado River basin: Green Mountain, Yampa pumpback and Flaming Gorge pipelines. While all would apparently fall within Colorado’s entitlement from the Colorado River Compact, it’s not clear who would provide the impetus to actually build projects. Roundtable members last week accepted those concepts, while rejecting the Big Straw plan to pump back water from Grand Junction. A Blue Mesa pumpback also was discussed by the roundtables, but did not appear to have much traction…
The board also looked at ways to minimize the pain to rural economies if agricultural water sales continue, the default option for Colorado. While CWCB Director Jennifer Gimbel told the roundtables last week there is no silver bullet to avoid the dry-up of ag land, the board and its staff will continue the hunt for proper ammunition. “No strategies rose to the top last week,” said Eric Hecox, who directs in-state water concerns for the CWCB. “A couple fell to the bottom.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Runoff (snowpack) news
May 19, 2009
Here’s the link to the USGS Water Watch website for your surfing pleasure. They’ve added Google Maps to their arsenal this season.
From email from Reclamation (Kara Lamb):
After a conference call this morning, it was decided that Green Mountain Reservoir would bump up its releases another 150 cfs as part of its participation in the Coordinated Reservoirs Operations program. That change was made this morning at 11 a.m. As a result, the Lower Blue River below Green Mountain Dam is now running at 750 cfs and will stay at that level until further notice.
From email from Reclamation (Kara Lamb):
Also, today, releases from Ruedi Reservoir hit 650 cfs. We will start bumping up releases again tomorrow morning. We will bump up in 50 cfs increments. Tomorrow morning will see 700 cfs. Tomorrow afternoon will hit 750 cfs. Wednesday morning, we will bump up one more time to 800 cfs and hold there. We anticipate the 800 cfs will last through Memorial Day weekend. Apparently, the peak in snowmelt run off for the Colorado River is earlier this year than the last couple of years.
The annual Ruedi Reservoir operations meeting is Thursday (May 21):
The May 21 meeting will be held at the Basalt Town Hall, 101 Midland Avenue, Basalt,
from 7:00—9:00 p.m.
From the Glenwood Springs Post Independent (Scott Condon):
[Andy Barrett, a hydrologist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder] said computer models of conditions similar to this year indicate peak runoff in Colorado’s rivers and streams will come 20 to 30 days earlier than average. Peak runoff in the Roaring Fork Valley is typically in the third week of June, but the Crystal and Roaring Fork rivers were flowing much higher than usual Monday for May 18. The Crystal River near Redstone was flowing at 1,580 cubic feet per second, according to a gauging station maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey. The median flow for that date is 809 cfs, and the previous peak for that date in the past 53 years was 1,450 cfs in 1966. The National Weather Service on Monday issued a flood advisory for low-lying areas of the Crystal River upstream from Redstone. The advisory will continue until Thursday afternoon. No problems from flooding were reported to the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office on Monday. The Roaring Fork River also is flowing well above average. The river near Emma was at 2,400 cfs Monday afternoon. It’s median for May 18 is 842 cfs. Its prior high flow was 1,320 cfs in 2007….
River conditions usually experienced in July might appear in June, [Mike Gillespie, snow survey supervisor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service] said. That could mean less water will be available for irrigation systems tied to rivers and streams. Landry said water for crops will be plentiful before farmers need it in large amounts. Less water might be available in July when farmers depend on it. The result is a mixed bag for managers of reservoirs. “We’re not looking at the quantity decreasing that much from this dust scenario,” Gillespie said. The same amount of water will flow into the reservoirs; it will just come sooner. Landry said that could produce challenges for water managers. They will have a shorter time to prepare reservoirs for inflow. Warm temperatures and the dust have combined to consume the Roaring Fork River basin’s snowpack. It was at just 43 percent of average Monday afternoon.
From the Denver Post (Scott Willoughby):
“Some (snow measurement) sites in the San Juans have already melted out as high as 11,600 feet,” Gillespie said. “It’s not unprecedented, but it’s extremely rare to have an above-average snowpack that melts out that quickly.” A brief glance at almost any hydrograph in the state bears out the acceleration observation. Flows on many of the state’s wild rivers are currently as much as twice as high as long-term historical averages for this date. SNOTEL Snowpack Summary graphs produced by the Natural Resources Conservation Service offer further corroboration, with statistics that rivaled 2008′s record snowpack as recently as the last week in April now plummeting to the below-average levels of 2007. Snow remaining in the Upper Colorado River Basin, for example, is currently capable of producing only 61 percent of the water the river typically sees and only 38 percent of the 2008 flow. The upshot is that much of that water has been or may still be stored in reservoirs for release later in the season.
From the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Andy Hamilton):
Runoff and snow melt is causing increasing water flows, which were recorded Monday afternoon at 16,600 cubic feet per second on the Colorado River near Cameo and 24,000 cfs on the Colorado River at the Utah state line. The area is downstream of the confluence of the Colorado River and the Gunnison River.
From CBS4Denver.com:
On Monday the National Weather Service issued flood advisories for Mesa, Pitkin, Eagle, Routt and Moffat counties — that’s where all the snow is coming down the mountains. The Eagle River in Gypsum looked swollen on Monday. The river has been rising very slowly every day. It peaked just below 3,000 cubic feet per second (CFS). No rivers in Colorado have yet to hit the flood stage. The Colorado Division of Emergency Management says the Crystal River near Redstone is the closest to tipping its banks into the flood stage.
From the Sky-Hi Daily News (Zach Fridell):
The peak for the Elk River, as measured at a site near Milner, is expected to rise to 7.2 feet Wednesday morning, just above the flood stage of 7 feet. The Yampa River in downtown Steamboat Springs also is expected to peak Wednesday morning at 6.2 feet. Flood stage for the Yampa is 7 feet. “This is going to be the week,” hydrologist Bryon Lawrence said. “We’re expecting the peak in Steamboat Springs to be Wednesday around 7 or 8 a.m.”[...]
Forecaster Jim Daniels, with the National Weather Service’s Grand Junction office, said a weather system expected to move in later this week could bring rain, which would push the rivers even higher.
From the Aspen Times:
A flood advisory is in effect for the Crystal River above Redstone, according to the National Weather Service…Flood advisories are also in effect for the Colorado River near Cameo in Mesa County, in far western Colorado; the Eagle River below Gypsum in Eagle County; the Yampa River at Steamboat Springs; the Elk River in Routt County and the Yampa River below Craig.
Here’s a release from Colorado River Headwaters Chapter of Trout Unlimited and the East Grand Water Quality Board asking for financial sponsorships for stream temperature monitoring gear to gather data about the effects of transmountain diversions, via the Sky-Hi Daily News:
Shallower streams heat up to higher temperatures. Grand County streams are all cold water fisheries that can easily be damaged by higher stream temperatures. Three years ago, Grand County Water Information Network (GCWIN), the Colorado River Headwaters Chapter of Trout Unlimited and the East Grand Water Quality Board received a grant to monitor the stream temperatures. We found that trout, which thrive at 55 degree, were experiencing temperatures warmer than 70 degrees. Temperatures this high are lethal to a cold water fishery.
This year we will continue to monitor Grand County’s stream temperatures but we need help to keep this important program alive. The equipment purchased from our original grant needs replacing. Since this is a local issue, we are hoping to get help from local residents to keep this program alive.
The equipment that we need to replace are the continuous temperature sensors placed in 28 locations from Berthoud Pass to the Gore Canyon. These sensors are called TidbiTs. We are asking people to sponsor their own TidbiT in a stream section that has significance to them.
The cost of sponsoring a TidbiT is $120. We encourage individuals, businesses, organizations or groups of friends to pool their resources and sponsor a TidbiT. To date, the information from this stream temperature monitoring program has played a significant role in helping to establish new Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment stream temperature standards. Additionally, this information was used extensively in developing the Grand County Stream Flow Management Plan.
Our stream temperature data is also being used in the mitigation planning for the Windy Gap and Moffat Tunnel diversions. Knowledge is power, and monitoring our stream temperatures is giving us the knowledge that gives us the direction to help our rivers. Please help us help the rivers.
For more information on the Sponsor a TidbiT program, please contact Jane Tollett of GCWIN at (970) 627-8162 or jtollett_gcwin@qwestoffice.net.
