Cherokee Metropolitan District recall election December 7

From The Colorado Springs Gazette (John C. Ensslin):

4th Judicial District Judge David L. Shakes refused to intervene in the recall vote against Robert Lovato after hearing a day and a half of testimony about alleged irregularities in the petition-gathering process. Before issuing a lengthy ruling from the bench, Shakes said he wanted to make it clear he wasn’t taking sides in the recall. “That issue is a political matter and is up to the voters,” he said.

More Cherokee Metropolitan District coverage here and here.

Snowpack news

From the Fort Collins Coloradoan (Bobby Magill):

The snowpack is nearly 200 percent of average at some monitoring sites in western Larimer County. The South Platte Basin, which includes the Poudre River, has an overall snowpack 157 percent of average as of Friday morning, according to U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service data. The most robust snowpack in Colorado is in western Larimer County and Jackson County, where some monitoring stations in the Park Range and the Rawah Mountains have a snowpack greater than 200 percent of average for the season.

More coverage from The Greeley Tribune (Bill Jackson):

Going into the 2010 water year, water reserves were at 120 percent of average throughout the [Colorado-Big Thompson Project], Karen Rademacher told a crowd of about 150 during the Fall Water Users Meeting of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District at the Embassy Suites Hotel. Rademacher is a senior water resources engineer with the water district. But, Rademacher said Thursday, it was late winter snow storms and early spring rain storms that really made the year. As a result, reserves going into the 2011 water year are at 150 percent…

Mike Applegate, president of Northern’s board of directors, said the heavy runoff resulted in 640,000 acre-feet of water leaving Colorado at the Nebraska line, which was another sign of the need for additional storage in the state. That additional storage, he said, would allow better management of water resources. The permitting process, however, for two new projects, the Northern Integrated Supply Project and the Windy Gap Firming Project, continue at a slow pace…

While the Front Range has seen dry weather conditions for the past three months, Rademacher said Grand County — where the C-BT collects water for diversion — has been hit with early wet, snowstorms. Storms Oct. 25-26 and Tuesday and Wednesday, she said, “have got us off to a great start; 30 percent of the entire snow season is already on the ground in our collection area.” There was an estimated 2 feet of snow on the ground near Grand Lake as of last week…

Dave Nettles, Division 1 Engineer with the Colorado Division of Water Resources in Greeley, said the peak flow on the South Platte River at Kersey came in June and was about twice the average for that time of year. However, by July, it was below average. Reservoir storage all along the South Platte basin is in pretty good shape, he said, despite the dry conditions of the past three months.

It looks like the San Juans are going to get a dumping by Sunday night.

Arkansas Valley Super Ditch board meeting recap

Here’s a report from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. Click through and check out the sidebar about the consumptive use factor calculation for the various ditches. From the article:

“I think Super Ditch is a good idea. . . . Participate or don’t participate, but don’t be jealous of what your neighbor has,” one speaker said. “It’s always going to be better to lease the water than sell it and retire to Arizona.”

The Super Ditch board held the meeting at the Gobin Community Center in an attempt to inform shareholders of seven ditches about two pending lease agreements with the Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority and Aurora and measure interest in participation…

Bart Mendenhall, attorney for the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, explained that only the amount of consumptive use of a crop could be leased, and that the amount likely would be the same coefficient as was applied in the H-I (hydrologic-institutional) model under the Kansas v. Colorado case.

That amount is anything but certain. Consumptive use is technically the number of inches of water a plant uses to grow, but defining it is like shooting at a moving target. The state now is locked into the H-I model, but has spent millions of dollars on studies such as a weighing lysimeter at the Rocky Ford Agriculture Research Center to refine it. In addition, the availability of water, the amount of rain, the type of crop and the method of irrigation all play a role.

Then, there are percentages of consumptive use determined as part of the 24-year Kansas v. Colorado U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit that the State Engineer’s Office likely will require in any change case or administrative contract, Mendenhall said.

More coverage from The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

The Super Ditch board mailed out information packets to shareholders on seven ditches on proposed leases to sell up to 8,020 acre-feet of water annually to Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority and 10,000 acre-feet in three years out of 10 to Aurora.

“Never in the life of the valley have seven ditches come forward with this type of effort,” Super Ditch President John Schweizer told 120 people at the Rocky Ford meeting. “The idea is to lease water as a crop.” The Super Ditch initially will limit farmers to 35 percent of eligible acreage in any given year, which caused some to question whether payments would be small if spread out over the 200,000 acres irrigated under the ditch systems — Bessemer, Catlin, Fort Lyon, High Line, Holbrook, Otero and Oxford. Dry up of ground also must be rotational. Schweizer said the idea is to proportion the acreage to avoid detrimental impacts to those who keep farming.

The ditches annual have diversions of about 600,000 acre-feet, and many of the ditches could meet the demand of the two leases now on the table. Pure Cycle, which owns more than 20,000 acres on the Fort Lyon Canal, could alone fill both orders and has submitted a card indicating interest in the leases.

More Arkansas Valley Super Ditch coverage here and here.

NIDIS Weekly Climate, Water and Drought Assessment Summary of the Upper Colorado River Basin

Here are the notes from Tuesday via Henry Reges.

Water Research Foundation Announces Dec 7 Webcast titled, ‘North American Residential Water Usage Trends and Applications for Utilities’

From email from the Water Research Foundation via a colleague at work:

On December 7, 2010, at 3:30 pm ET (2:30pm CT, 1:30pm MT, 12:30pm PT) the Water Research Foundation will present a one-hour Webcast titled “North American Residential Water Usage Trends and Applications for Utilities.”

Register for this Webcast by clicking on the link below:

http://video.webcasts.com/events/h2oo001/36778

Synopsis

Many water utilities are experiencing declining water sales among residential households, even though the total number of residents and households continues to grow and as household incomes continue to rise. A variety of theories have been advanced to explain the declining usage, however, to date, no definitive statement has been made as to the validity of these theories or the amount each variable contributes to residential water-usage decline.

While “water conservation” is normally viewed as protecting a scarce resource, this can cause revenue erosion and uncertainty in terms of meeting revenue requirements for water utilities. Without a clear understanding of the changing water-use patterns, it is difficult to develop appropriate pricing structures that will both recoup costs and provide resources for the future. Thus, for utilities to both encourage conservation and have sufficient financial reserves for maintenance and growth, it is necessary to better understand how water-use patterns have changed over the last 30 years, what factors are driving usage, and how these factors might impact utilities in the future.

This Webcast, based on the published report North American Residential Water Usage Trends and Applications for Utilities (Order #4031), will focus on (1) understanding residential water-usage behavior patterns and trends, (2) assessing the impact of those patterns on water utility operations, and (3) providing data that can be correlated with future trends for planning purposes.

Presenters:

Greg C. Heitzman, President/CEO, Louisville Water Company and Thomas D. Rockaway, Director of the University of Louisville’s Center for Infrastructure Research

If you have any questions about registration, please contact Terry Freeman at tfreeman@WaterRF.org, or 303-347-6248. Registration to the Webcast is free to Foundation subscribers and is one of the many benefits of being a Foundation subscriber. Foundation subscribers will also be able to download the Webcast from the Water Research Foundation Website a few days after the event.

More education coverage here.

Mesa State College: Water Seminar – Selenium Bioreactor Mon. 22 Nov. 4pm

From email from Gigi Richard:

Our next presentation in the Fall 2010 Natural Resources of the West: Water seminar series a project of the Water Center at Mesa State College will be…

Mon 22 November, 4:00 pm
Saccomanno Lecture Hall, Wubben Science Building , Room 141 (WS 141)
Mesa State College

Will Wood Chips and Hay Keep Selenium Away? A Passive Bioreactor for Removing Selenium from Water
Dr. Russ Walker, Professor of Environmental Science, Mesa State College

Seminars are free and open to the public, no registration necessary.

For the entire seminar series schedule, please see: http://home.mesastate.edu/~grichard/WSS/Seminar2010.html

For more information please contact:

Prof. Gigi Richard, 970.248.1689, grichard@mesastate.edu
Prof. Tamera Minnick, 970.248.1663, tminnick@mesastate.edu

More education coverage here.

EPA to Expand Chemicals Testing for Endocrine Disruption

Here’s the release from the Environmental Protection Agency (Latisha Petteway):

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified a list of 134 chemicals that will be screened for their potential to disrupt the endocrine system. Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that interact with and possibly disrupt the hormones produced or secreted by the human or animal endocrine system, which regulates growth, metabolism and reproduction. Administrator Lisa P. Jackson has made it a top priority to ensure the safety of chemicals, and this is another step in this process.

“Endocrine disruptors represent a serious health concern for the American people, especially children. Americans today are exposed to more chemicals in our products, our environment and our bodies than ever before, and it is essential that EPA takes every step to gather information and prevent risks,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “We are using the best available science to examine a larger list of chemicals and ensure that they are not contaminating the water we drink and exposing adults and children to potential harm.”

The list includes chemicals that have been identified as priorities under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and may be found in sources of drinking water where a substantial number of people may be exposed. The list also includes pesticide active ingredients that are being evaluated under EPA’s registration review program to ensure they meet current scientific and regulatory standards. The data generated from the screens will provide robust and systematic scientific information to help EPA identify whether additional testing is necessary, or whether other steps are necessary to address potential endocrine disrupting chemicals.

The chemicals listed include those used in products such as solvents, gasoline, plastics, personal care products, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals, including benzene, perchlorate, urethane, ethylene glycol, and erythromycin.

Also being announced today are draft policies and procedures that EPA will follow to order testing, minimize duplicative testing, promote equitable cost-sharing, and to address issues that are unique to chemicals regulated under the SDWA.

After public comment and review, EPA will issue test orders to pesticide registrants and the manufacturers of these chemicals to compel them to generate data to determine whether their chemicals may disrupt the estrogen, androgen and thyroid pathways of the endocrine system.

EPA is already screening an initial group of 67 pesticide chemicals. In October 2009, the agency issued orders to companies requiring endocrine disruptor screening program data for these chemicals. EPA will begin issuing orders for this second group of 134 chemicals beginning in 2011.

EPA has the most comprehensive mandated testing program for hormone effects in the world. The program is the result of a multi-year effort that includes validation of the science through a transparent scientific review process.

More information: http://www.epa.gov/endo.

More water pollution coverage here.

CWCB: Two Rivers Water Company gets loan approval for work on Cucharas Reservoir Dam

From DMNNewsWire.com:

Two Rivers Water Company, a company focused on acquiring and developing water, farming and alternative energy in southern Colorado, announced today they have received a $9,900,000 loan approval from the Colorado Water Conservation Board. This loan will be in two phases. The first phase will be to fund the repairs of the Cucharas Reservoir to comply with the Colorado Division of Water Resources, Dam Safety Program requirements. Once the repairs are completed, Two Rivers will begin the permitting process to either completely rehabilitate the existing dam or construct a new roller-compacted concrete dam. The expected storage of the rehabilitated or new dam is in excess of 41,000 acre feet.

More Arkansas River basin coverage here.

Arkansas Valley Super Ditch: Lots of questions and a good deal of interest at recent public meetings

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

More than 400 water rights owners have returned cards the Super Ditch board sent out earlier this month to shareholders on seven ditches in an attempt to measure interest in the fledgling water leasing program. And more than 120 attended a meeting Thursday at the Gobin Community Center. About 30 people turned out for an evening meeting at Lamar.

They peppered the Super Ditch board with questions for two hours about how the program would work: how much water would be available, where it would be stored and when water contracts would be expected. Many wanted to know why they had to sign up by the end of November, before many of the ditches had annual meetings to discuss the proposal among themselves. “The reason we need a commitment now is that we have to identify a source of water for the court case, an environmental impact statement and 1041 permits,” explained John Schweizer, president of the Super Ditch. “By returning the cards, you keep your options open.”

The Super Ditch board decided to send out the cards and host the meetings after a meeting last month. The board has lease agreements with the Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority and Aurora and now needs to show it has ditch shareholders interested in filling the supply. “Otherwise, you are speculating,” Schweizer said…

“The best thing about leasing is that you can control your vote,” [Dale] Mauch said. “The cities are going to keep coming. We came up with a way to to deal with it so we can take advantage of it in the future. If Super Ditch can supply the water, 50 years from now, it’s the Walmart of water.”

More Arkansas Valley Super Ditch coverage here and here.

Boulder County: Keep it Clean partnership

Say hello to the Keep it Clean Partnership. They’re organizing to educate folks in Boulder County on good practices that help keep pollutants out of storm sewers, rivers and streams.

Thanks to the Boulder Weekly for the link.

More stormwater coverage here. More water pollution coverage here.

Flaming Gorge pipeline: Rock Springs City Council gets update briefing

From The Green River Star (David Martin):

The main point [Don Hartley, a representative of the group Communities Protecting the Green] stressed was the fact that the issue would be around for a long time. Hartley told the Council a number of the proposed projects overlap one another. Due to the amount of time needed to sort out the projects and perform the research needed, Hartley said the Army Corps of Engineers believes a final decision could be made by 2018. “We’re in this for the long haul, “ Hartley said…

The estimated costs of the coming legal battle are enormous, as are the players involved, according to Hartley. However, the amount of money pledged by the cities of Rock Springs and Green River and Sweetwater County are “only the tip of the iceberg,” as Rock Springs Councilman Neil Kourbelas said. Kourbelas asked if other concerned communities and groups were pledging funds to help with potential legal costs, saying more than just the three government bodies involved with the organization would be affected by a trans-basin water project.

More Flaming Gorge pipeline coverage here and here.

2010 Annual Meeting of the Arkansas River Compact Administration

From the Ditch and Reservoir Company Alliance:

The 2010 Annual Meeting of the Arkansas River Compact Administration (“ARCA”) will be held on Tuesday, December 14, 2010, commencing at 8:30 A.M. MST** (9:30 A.M. CST) in the Lamar Community Building, 610 South Sixth Street, in Lamar, Colorado. The meeting will be recessed for lunch at about 12:00 PM and reconvened for the completion of business in the afternoon as necessary. Meetings of ARCA are operated in compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. If you need a special accommodation as a result of a disability please contact Stephanie Gonzales at 719-734-5367 at least three days before the meeting.

The Engineering, Operations, and Administrative/Legal Committees of the Administration will meet on Monday, December 13, 2010, The Lamar Community Building, 610 South Sixth Street, in Lamar, Colorado at 2:00 PM. MST** (3:00 P.M. CST) and continuing to completion. Tentative agendas for the Committee meetings are also set out below. The public is welcome to attend the Committee meetings, but time for comments may be limited.

** Meeting times may change, please check the final notice and agenda for the actual meeting times. The final meeting notice and draft agenda will be posted on both the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s website http://www.ksda.gov/ and on the Colorado Water Conservation Board’s website at http://cwcb.state.co.us on or after December 1. This preliminary notice was prepared
on November 12, 2010.

More Arkansas River basin coverage here.

New whitewater park for Montrose?

From The Telluride Watch (Peter Shelton):

Now retired from competition and fresh from the opening of the 2012 Olympic kayaking venue in London, which was built by his firm, S2O Design of Boulder, [Scott] Shipley made a pitch for a family-oriented whitewater park on the Uncompahgre River at Upper Cerise (Riverbottom) Park.

City Park Planner Dennis Erickson hosted the event at the Pavilion, which also included a presentation by lead planner Ann Christensen of DHM Design in Durango, who introduced the draft plan. Also on hand was Gabe Preston of CPI Consulting, who led the group in a keypad polling exercise on priorities within the draft plan.

Participants indicated their preferences – high priority, medium or low – for a number of goals being considered in the plan, including: developing new city-owned parks on the northern third of the 10-mile-long river corridor, building more pedestrian bridges across the river, connecting downtown Main Street more directly to the river, building tails to link existing and future parks, acquiring private property for river improvements, and preservation/enhancement of the river ecosystem.

A whitewater park scored high on the list. But the highest priority for the public on this night was clearly trails, bicycle/pedestrian trails, to connect parks and link existing segments of river trail, thereby providing alternate-transportation routes, not just for recreation, but for commuting and shopping as well.

More whitewater coverage <a href="

La Niña update

From the San Diego Union-Tribune (Robert Krier):

Klaus Wolter, a long-range forecaster who consults with the California Department of Water Resources to help set water-management strategies, said the current La Niña is one of, if not the strongest La Niña on record. The stronger the La Niña, the more likely it will last, he said. “The odds are quite high that we won’t see a short-lived La Niña,” Wolter said in San Diego Wednesday. “The odds are higher than 50-50 (that it will continue). “La Niña is fundamentally different (from El Niños). Events (of this size) have lasted two, even three years.”[...]

Wolter, who spoke at the Westin Hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter during a workshop on the winter outlook sponsored by the DWR, said the rain this weekend and the abnormally wet October in California and the Colorado River Basin, another major source of imported water for the region, will have little bearing on the coming months. “As much as we rejoice with all this moisture, it doesn’t mean much for the rest of the winter,” said Wolter, who works for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Western Water Assessment Team and the University of Colorado. “The winter season is really what counts.”

Energy policy — nuclear: Schwartzwalder mine cleanup update

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

Cotter’s attorneys conceded that Cotter has not taken a step toward complying with an existing state order to pump out and treat toxic water filling the Schwartzwalder mine. That mine sits upstream from Denver Water’s Ralston Reservoir, which supplies drinking water to 1.3 million metro-area residents…

“We are entitled to know what compliance would look like,” Cotter attorney Nea Brown said before the state Mined Land Reclamation Board. Board members then read aloud a prior order requiring Cotter to pump water from the mine to a level at least 500 feet below the opening of the mine. There was an Aug. 31 deadline. “I’m just a farmer from down east, but I can read that,” said board chairman Ira Paulin, who represents the mining industry at state hearings. “It says you have got to implement it.”

Brown argued that the required corrective actions are broad and unclear and that Cotter would need time to move in equipment and have a place to put the water it removes…

Board members will continue their hearing today, when they will decide whether to impose additional fines of up to $1,000 a day for 78 days, issue new violations and a “cease and desist order” that essentially repeats state demands. Cotter separately has taken its case to Denver District Court, filing a lawsuit against the state. It asks that a judge block state efforts to order the cleanup and impose fines and accuses the state mined lands board members of abusing their discretion.

More Schwartzwalder mine coverage here. More nuclear coverage here and here.

Silt: Town water violates state standards for trihalomethanes for the second time this year

From the Rifle Citizen Telegram (John Gardner):

According to the Silt’s public works director Gerry Pace, the town of Silt’s water supply is in violation of the Colorado drinking water standard for a class of chemicals called total trihalomethanes (TTHMs). This is the second time this year that the town’s water has been in violation. “We went up one notch on TTHMs,” Pace said of the third quarter tests which took place in October.

TTHMs form when the source water with natural organic matter is treated with chlorine. Municipalities are required to test TTHM levels quarterly at multiple locations throughout the water system. The state regulates TTHMs to reduce the likelihood of chronic health outcomes due to long-term water consumption. Some people who drink water containing total TTHMs in excess of maximum contamination level, over many years, may experience problems with their liver, kidneys and central nervous system, and may have an increased risk of getting cancer, according to a letter sent to Silt residents.

Test results from an Oct. 25 test showed that Silt’s water system exceeds the allowable TTHM level of 80 micrograms per liter. The levels reported from the October test were 84 micrograms per liter, compared to 83 from the second quarter tests this year, Pace said. Subsequently, every quarter that TTHM levels remain above 80, the city is required to notify residents.

More water treatment coverage here.

Denver Water Board announces 2011 rates

Here’s the release from Denver Water (Stacy Chesney):

The Denver Board of Water Commissioners voted to adjust water rates for 2011 at its meeting today. The adjustment will provide further funding for the utility’s capital projects, which include upgrades to aging infrastructure over the next decade. The new water rates will take effect March 2011.

“Water rates are driven by the vital maintenance and capital projects needed to maintain and improve our system and to keep our infrastructure reliable in the future,” said Todd Cristiano, manager of rates. “Next year’s critical projects include work like dredging Strontia Springs Reservoir, our watershed protection initiative with the U.S. Forest Service, replacing the 105-year old valves at Cheesman Dam, finishing major upgrades at Williams Fork Reservoir and Dam, and stepping up our pipe rehabilitation and replacement program.”

The effects of the proposed changes on customer bills would vary depending upon the amount of water the customer uses and whether the customer lives in Denver or is served by a suburban distributor under contract with Denver Water; the more customers use, the more they will pay. Under the current rate proposal, average Denver residential customers would see their bills increase by about $41 a year — an average of $3.40 per month. Typical suburban residential customers served by Denver Water would see an increase of $32 per year — an average of $2.66 per month. For example, the average annual cost for water for an inside-city customer in 2010 was $330, and would be $371 in 2011. Similarly, the average annual cost for an outside-city customer in 2010 was $555, and would be $587 in 2011. Adjustments also have been proposed for commercial, industrial and government customers.

Rates for Denver Water customers living inside the city would remain among the lowest in the metro area, while rates for Denver Water residential customers in the suburbs would still fall at or below the median among area water providers.

Denver Water owns and maintains more than 3,000 miles of distribution pipe — enough to stretch from Los Angeles to New York — as well as 12 raw water reservoirs, 22 pump stations and four treatment plants. Ongoing rehabilitation and replacement of infrastructure is needed throughout the water distribution system, much of which dates back to post-World War II installation or earlier.

Denver Water is funded through rates and new tap fees, not taxes. Its rates are designed to recover the costs of providing reliable, high-quality water service and to encourage efficiency by charging higher prices for increased water use. A significant portion of Denver Water’s annual costs do not vary with the amount of water sold and include maintenance of the system’s distribution pipes, reservoirs, pump stations and treatment plants. Denver Water also examines and adjusts its capital plan as necessary each year.

Details of the 2011 rates can be found Denver Water’s website (www.denverwater.org). Members of the public who have questions about the proposed rate adjustment may call 303-628-6320.

Click on the thumbnail graphic for a quick look at a rehabbed waterline.

More coverage from Bruce Finley writing for The Denver Post. From the article:

Starting in March 2011, metro-area residents’ bills will increase by an average of $41 a year in Denver and $32 a year in suburban areas, utility spokeswoman Stacey Chesney said. It will be the 20th straight year that Denver Water customers have faced rate hikes. Denver Water board members said the rate hike is required to cover the cost of maintaining more than 3,000 miles of pipe, 12 water reservoirs, 22 pump stations and four treatment plants…

This year, the average annual cost for Denver Water’s urban customers was $330. For suburban Denver Water customers, the average cost was $555 — still lower than the cost of water supplied by other water providers, Chesney said. Denver Water also raised rates about 5 percent for commercial, industrial and government customers.

More Denver Water coverage here.

Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District board meeting recap

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

Two meetings today will help test support for the Super Ditch. The Super Ditch board this month sent signup cards and information packets to shareholders on seven ditches in advance of the meetings, which are at 1 p.m. at the Gobin Community Building in Rocky Ford and at 6 p.m. at the Bowman Building at Lamar. The process will gauge interest among water rights owners for contracts with the Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority and Aurora. While agreements have been signed, the specific water rights to be used in meeting supply have to be identified to satisfy legal and engineering requirements. The Bessemer, Catlin, Fort Lyon, High Line, Holbrook, Otero and Oxford ditch systems are eligible for participation…

The Lower Ark is seeking two grants from the Colorado Water Conservation Board for Super Ditch projects:

- $254,000 for engineering of delivery systems, including storage; the Lower Ark would match with $28,000.

- $28,000 to study long-term farm financial planning from temporary water transfers, with $3,000 from the Lower Ark.

The CWCB funds would come from $1.5 million which is available for studies of alternative projects to municipal purchases of water rights in agriculture.

[Colorado State University] is doing studies on farms owned by the Lower Ark district on the High Line and Holbrook canals to determine how much expense per acre farmers could expect during a lease. That would include the value of crops not grown and ground preparation. Part of the study mirrors corn test plot research at the CSU Arkansas Valley Research Center, but there is an additional economic component as well. Cabot is developing a spreadsheet tool that farmers could use to calculate whether a lease makes sense for them. The research also is looking at whether alternative crops that require less water, such as canola or sorghum, could be grown on irrigated ground as dryland crops during fallowing periods.

More coverage from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

A group plan for irrigators that would allow them to comply with new state rules on surface irrigation in the Arkansas Valley was approved Wednesday. The Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District approved its plan 6-1 and will begin signing up farmers immediately in advance of Jan. 1, when the new rules take effect. Otero County Director Wayne Whittaker opposed the plan, saying it costs farmers too much and puts the Lower Ark district in a role that should belong to the state. “When we first discussed this, it was going to cost farmers $100 and we would just do the paperwork to submit to the division engineer,” Whittaker said.

More Lower Ark coverage here and here.

Colorado-Big Thompson project update: Shadow Mountain/Grand Lake connecting channel work complete

From the Sky-Hi Daily News:

The channel had been closed since early October for a rehabilitation project to increase the safety and efficiency of the 65-year-old structure. Because most of the project work is completed, normal water operations have resumed. Workers will continue paving and re-vegetation work through mid-November. The channel is part of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, which is owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and operated by Northern Water, a public agency created in 1937 to contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to build the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, which collects water on the West Slope and delivers it to the East Slope through a 13- mile tunnel that runs underneath Rocky Mountain National Park.

More Colorado-Big Thompson Project coverage here

Energy policy — nuclear: Powertech’s lawsuit update

From the Fort Collins Coloradoan (Bobby Magill):

Powertech USA President Richard Clement said the company is on track to file a permit application in 2011 for its Centennial Project uranium mine northeast of Fort Collins despite the lawsuit. “What we’re doing by filing (the lawsuit), there’s a number of issues there that we felt were inappropriately dealt with, but the rules themselves, we feel the rules are livable and we can work within the rules,” Clement said. Some provisions of the rules, he said, didn’t conform to the 2008 state law requiring Powertech to keep the groundwater clean…

Clement said earlier this year that the one provision in the rules, which requires companies to establish baseline groundwater purity before they even start looking for uranium underground, would be “fatal” to all future in situ mining operations statewide. “This is a suit on behalf of industry, not just Powertech,” he said Tuesday…

Jeff Parsons, senior attorney at the Western Mining Action Project, which represents local residents opposed to the mine, said it’s difficult to gauge the possible success of Powertech’s lawsuit, but it’s hard to imagine the company submitting its Centennial Project permit application to the state while the suit is making its way through the courts. “They previously said they plan to file their application for the Centennial Project by the end of the year, and now they’re suing,” Parsons said. “That raises the questions about what their timeline is for this project. This litigation can last years.” He said it would be awkward for Powertech to be legally challenging regulations they say they can comply with in their permit application.

More coverage from David O. Williams writing for the Colorado Independent. From the article:

Two uranium mining companies have filed lawsuits against the state this fall, challenging rules requiring cleanup of existing uranium mines and mandating water reclamation at a proposed mining site. Conservationists say the recent lawsuits filed by the Cotter Corp. and Powertech USA demonstrate the industry isn’t serious about a higher level of environmental protection in a new uranium mining boom…

An executive for Uranium One, a Canadian company with Denver offices, told the Colorado Independent (TCI) in October that his company is divesting itself of Colorado mine holdings in part because of the cost of increased environmental scrutiny and state regulation. But a Powertech attorney last week told TCI that his company’s lawsuit is less about money and more about reducing regulatory hurdles.

“No, it isn’t a fiscal issue at all,” said John Fognani of Fognani and Fought law firm. “If you want to narrow it down, it’s a resource issue in terms of utilizing more water resources to make sure that you meet the mandate and bring water quality back to background or better, which is what the rule states, and of course that’s what the legislation states. At the end of the day it’s really the water resource issue.”

More nuclear coverage here and here. More Powertech coverage here and here. More HB 08-1161 coverage here.

TheDenverChannel.com grills Denver Water exec over expenditures, Denver Water responds

John Ferrugia and Tom Burke from the television station have penned this report about the results of their investigation into Denver Water expenditures in light of the approximately $40 per year rate increase. Click through and read the whole article. Here’s an excerpt:

If all are approved, residential customers of Denver Water could see an increase of more than $40 a year. “When we see Denver Water upping their rates for their next three years, I wonder, ‘Are they being as efficient as possible Are they being as responsible as possible with our money?’” said Denver City Councilman Paul Lopez. Lopez has been a vocal opponent of the proposed rate hike…

Soon after Denver Water announced the proposed rate increase to city council in October, the CALL7 Investigators asked for and obtained a copy of all the department’s expenditures since January 2009. 7NEWS found a large majority of the expenses went to expected items like tools, pipes, repairs, vehicles, consultants and utility bills. But we also found a number of expenditures that raised questions, including $1.8 million going to community outreach and public relations. “I don’t think there is a need to do that level of community outreach when they are a monopoly, essentially,” said Lopez, referring to the fact that most of Denver Water’s 1.3 million customers do not have a choice of water provider for their homes or businesses…

“What benefit do I, as a Denver Water customer get, through your community outreach?” Ferrugia asked Denver Water Director of Finance Angela Bricmont. “Community outreach is key because it’s part of our campaign. The ‘Use Only What You Need’ campaign is part of our strategic plan to really provide water for the future,” explained Bricmont. “Many consumers look at this campaign and say, ‘I’ve conserved. I’m not using as much water… and then it costs me more money?’” asked Ferrugia. “The reality is it’s not costing you more money. In the long run, it’s actually costing you less,” said Bricmont. “What’s driving up your monthly water bill is that we have 50-year-old pipes and the fact that we need to go out and repair those so we can continue to supply clean, safe drinking water.”[...]

“Line dancing classes? Why would Denver Water need line dancing classes?” asked a visibly surprised Lopez. “This is reckless — $2,000 of our money for line dancing classes is reckless, especially now.”

Bricmont explained that the line dancing classes as well as expenditures for cooking classes, aerobics, $4,800 for golf outings and $2,500 for the Denver Water softball team were part of the department’s “Workplace Wellness Program.” “We have invested in our employees’ health and one reason we’ve done that is we’re self-insured. It’s in our best interest, both as an employer and bottom line, that we have healthy productive employees,” said Bricont. “We have a program to reach out to make sure our employees and taking advantage of the things we know work and to keep them on the job and healthy.”

Denver Water (Stacy Chesney) issued a release late yesterday in response to the article:

We take very seriously the obligation to spend our ratepayer’s money wisely. Denver Water is a well-managed organization and we take careful steps to ensure we’re fiscally responsible. When verifiable problems are brought to our attention, we fix them. We will continue to take appropriate steps to assure our operations are efficient and accountable.

Water rates are driven by the vital maintenance and capital projects needed to maintain and improve our system and to keep Denver Water’s infrastructure reliable and strong into the future. The request for a rate adjustment in 2011 is based on the need to invest in these critical projects. Next year’s projects include work like dredging Strontia Springs Reservoir, our watershed protection initiative with the U.S. Forest Service, as well as replacing the 105-year old valves at Cheesman Dam, finishing major upgrades at Williams Fork Reservoir and Dam, and stepping up our pipe rehabilitation and replacement program.

Denver Water’s rates are among the lowest in the state. If it weren’t for the need to dredge Strontia Springs Reservoir, our budget for 2011 would be less than it was in 2010. We will continue to invest in our system’s infrastructure to fulfill our obligation to provide reliable clean water to our customers now and in the future. We also have a responsibility to invest in conservation as a critical part of our strategy to provide water to our customers in the future, to eliminate waste and to help the environment.

Our mission is to provide a reliable supply of safe, clean water to more than 1.3 million people in Denver and the surrounding suburbs. As we deliver on that mission, we have a responsibility to our employees, who work hard every day to take care of our 3,000+ miles of pipe, 19 raw water reservoirs, 22 pump stations, four treatment plants, and much more. As part of that, we support wellness programs, which help reduce health and lost productivity costs in the long run. We also reimburse meals for legitimate business expenses, which include employees working overtime to repair the system. We’re committed to fostering a healthy workforce and need to retain and attract employees with the expertise to run our complex water system.

The expenses related to employee wellness, food, community outreach and the Use Only What You Need campaign amount to less than 1 percent of Denver Water’s budget.

We work hard to keep our costs reasonable and stay accountable to our ratepayers. Over the course of a year, we handle more than 50,000 financial transactions. We’re not perfect, but we do our best to make sure we are a fiscally responsible organization. When we find violations of our policies, we will follow up and deal with them. We’re proud of the work we do. We have controls in place to ensure the proper review and approval of all payments. In addition, periodic review is done by accounting, as well as internal and external auditors.

More Denver Water coverage here and here.

Pueblo: The Board of Water Works lays out 2011 budget with 5% rate increase

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

The Pueblo Board of Water Works Tuesday proposed a $30.7 million budget, a little less than originally proposed. The budget will mean a 5 percent rate increase for Pueblo water customers, mostly to cover rising energy costs and increased legal and engineering expenses. Employee salaries and benefits will increase about 2 percent, including a 1.43 cost of living increase. For residential customers, the increase would mean a typical increase of about $1.50 per month in winter months, or less than $5 per month during summer months with lawn watering for single-family homeowners.

More infrastructure coverage here.

Fryingpan-Arkansas Project: Senator Udall is seeking consensus from Colorado’s congressional delegation for Aurora’s use of project facilities to move water out of basin

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

“It’s not fair to suggest that I’ve put my thumb on the scales toward Aurora or the Arkansas Valley,” Udall said. “The role I was playing was in assuring the court that if the parties would agree, then I would be a mediator in the process.” Udall also said there would have to be consensus from the entire congressional delegation, including newly elected Republicans Scott Tipton and Cory Gardner, who will be in the U.S. House.

The Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District is suing the Bureau of Reclamation in the Denver federal court over a 40-year contract awarded to Aurora by Reclamation in 2007. The Lower Ark contended the contract violated the 1962 legislation authorizing the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, but signed a 2009 agreement with Aurora to stay the case for two years. Part of the agreement was to seek federal legislation that legitimizes use of the Fry-Ark Project by Aurora.

Udall looks at the possibility of such legislation as “one last attempt” to avoid costly court battles over the issue in the future. “If the parties reach agreement, then I would help them vet it,” Udall said. “If there’s not an agreement, then I’m not going to introduce legislation.”[...]

“I’m relying on the parties who come to the table to keep the valley whole, if those parties can come to an agreement,” Udall said. “If the parties don’t agree, I’m doing nothing.”

More Fryingpan-Arkansas coverage here and here.

Coyote Gulch outage

I’m on deadline at Colorado Central Magazine. I’ll see you on Wednesday.

Fraser River: Traction sand mitigation project update

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

State highway, Denver Water and U.S. Forest Service officials last week said work on a traction-sand removal system along the Fraser River will begin in the spring — at the earliest. Colorado Department of Transportation trucks dump 5,584 tons a year of traction sand, gravel and salt on the west side of Berthoud Pass. This material slides off the road into the Fraser River, “smothering the rocks, which smothers the bug life, which is the bottom of the food chain. Then the fish starve,” said Kirk Klancke, president of Trout Unlimited’s Colorado River headwaters chapter and manager of two water districts, who helped line up about $240,000 in federal and state grants for sediment removal. State studies document dwindling bug life and sculpin — the native bottom-feeders needed to sustain bigger fish — between the Berthoud Pass summit and the town of Winter Park. Denver Water’s diversions from the Fraser River that supply 1.3 million metro area residents and Winter Park’s diversions for snowmaking both exacerbate the damage…

Three concrete basins constructed on the pass along the west side can collect traction material swept off the road during dry periods, [CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman] said. And 3,300 tons of the traction material then can be vacuumed out of the basins.

More Fraser River coverage here and here.