From Water World (Patrick Crow):
The decision to undertake a first-ever national standard for perchlorate reverses a 2008 Bush Administration decision and comes after EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson ordered EPA scientists to make a thorough review of the chemical. The agency said more than 4% of public water systems have detected perchlorate and between 5 million and 17 million people may be served drinking water containing perchlorate.
Perchlorate is both a naturally occurring and man-made chemical best known for its use as rocket fuel ingredient. EPA said research indicates that it may impact the normal function of the thyroid, which produces important developmental hormones.
The Greenway Foundation 1st Annual Golf Tournament May 23
March 23, 2011
From email from the Greenway Foundation:
Announcing The Greenway Foundation’s 1st Annual Golf Tournament at Meridian Golf Club. Please join us for a fun date of golf benefitting the Greenway Foundation.
• Support The Greenway Foundation
• Be A Sponsor
• Put Together A Foursome
• Refer Your Friends and Family8:00 am Registration
9:00 am Shot Gun StartLunch and awards to follow the tournament
More information and registration at: www.greenwayfoundation.org/golf
More South Platte River basin coverage here.
17th Annual Arkansas River Basin Forum April 27-28
March 23, 2011
From the Arkansas River Basin Forum website:
The 17th Annual Forum will be held at the Norris-Penrose Event Center in southern Colorado Springs.
HOSTED BY:
The 2011 forum will be hosted by the Fountain Creek Watershed, Flood Control, and Greenway District and the District’s Citizens Advisory Group (CAG).DATES:
April 27-28, 20112011 THEME
Retaining. Rethinking. Restoring.
More Arkansas River basin coverage here.
From The Fort Morgan Times (Dan Barker):
When smaller businesses need to buy C-BT water shares, they are not always knowledgeable about buying it on the open market, said City Water Resources Director Gary Dreessen.
Under those circumstances, it would be business-friendly to help them out by selling them shares of the water that the city owns, said Acting City Manager Jeff Wells.
Council members seemed to reach a consensus that the city would sell water shares at a price based on the average cost over the past three years.
However, Councilman Scott Bryan wondered if the city should charge the going price, instead of the average of three years.
Giving local businesses a break is part of being business-friendly, said Councilman Brent Nation.
Councilman James Powers urged city officials to keep an eye on how businesses are buying water shares, so they would not be able to speculate on them to make a profit.
Any company which would want to buy a large amount of water, say 40 or 50 shares, would be helped by the city acting as a kind of broker, but the city would not sell that many shares directly, Wells said.
Powers also insisted that any money the city receives from water share sales go into a fund for purchasing more water, not just into the general water department revenue. In the past, that happened and the money seemed to get lost. Different organizations handle water sales differently, but the Morgan County Quality Water District does use the proceeds to buy more water and that seems to work, Nation said.
Businesses which bought water from the city directly would pay a $500 transaction fee for the work the city put into the sale — over and above the cost of the water, Dreessen said. Given the water market, this policy would likely change in the future, but it should work for now, Nation said.
The price for a business buying a city share of water would be $7,433 this year, which would be an average of the 2009, 2010 and 2011 prices.
This was a work session, which meant the council could not vote on the policy, but it will go on the agenda for the next meeting in two weeks.
Fort Morgan: The city is partnering with CSU Morgan County Extension to offer ‘Water Smart Turf Management’ classes
March 23, 2011
From the CSU Extension office (Joanne Jones) via The Fort Morgan Times:
In an effort to help save water – and money, Colorado State University Extension in Morgan County is partnering with the City of Fort Morgan to offer a series of presentations titled “Water Smart Turf Management.”
Presentations begin on April 7, 2011 and will be held on Thursday`s at the Extension office, 914 E. Railroad Ave in Fort Morgan beginning at 6:30 p.m.
April 7 presentation title is Soils and Soil Amendments with Matt Givens, Parks Superintendent for the City of Fort Morgan, presenter; April 14 Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Turf Species with Joanne Jones, Horticulture Agent, CSU Extension; April 21 Fertilizing, Mowing and Aeration of Home Lawns with Steve Cramer, retired Horticulture Agent, CSU Extension; April 28 Turf Pests (insects, diseases and weeds) with Dr. Tony Koski, Professor and Turf Specialist, CSU; May 5 Irrigation Systems with Joel Schneekloth, Regional Water Resource Specialist, CSU Extension; and May 12 Sprinkler Audits of Home Systems with Jacque Weimer and Deb Schauermann, Colorado Master Gardener volunteers. Weimer and Schauermann will discuss the sprinkler audits that participants will schedule for later in the season.
Presentations and audits are available to the public at no charge; however, the City of Fort Morgan has offered an incentive to Fort Morgan utilities users. Participants who attend five of the six presentations and have an audit completed will be eligible for a chance at $25 off one month`s utility bill.
This is not a sprinkler maintenance class; sprinklers should be in good repair before the audit is scheduled. Sprinkler audits show residents how to irrigate more efficiently, in turn reducing the amount of water used and saving money.
To register for the series of presentations and the audits, or for more information, contact Jones at CSU Extension in Morgan County at 970-542-3540, joanne.jones@colostate.edu, or Doak Duke with the City of Fort Morgan at dduke@cityoffortmorgan.com.
More conservation coverage here.
Colorado Trout Unlimited’s new video ‘Tapped Out’
March 23, 2011
From email from Colorado Trout Unlimited (Sinjin Eberle):
In Colorado, cold, clean water is our most precious resource. Healthy, free-flowing rivers support recreation opportunities like fishing, kayaking and rafting, while also supplying drinking and irrigation water to Colorado’s families and farms. Unfortunately, many of the rivers and streams that we depend on to sustain life and our western way of living are on the brink of collapse. The Colorado River is one such river on the brink.
Today, over 50% of the Upper Colorado River’s water is permanently removed and shipped across the Rocky Mountains to growing Front Range cities and suburbs, threatening the health of fish, wildlife and local headwaters communities. And Now, despite this, proposals like the Moffat and Windy Gap Firming Project threaten to TAKE MORE, leaving less for fisherman, farmers, and West Slope communities and threatening the very survival of our state’s namesake river.
In honor of World Water Day, please take a moment to watch our new video, ‘Tapped Out,’ then take the pledge to use our water resources wisely and keep the Colorado River flowing.
More Colorado River basin coverage here.
2011 Colorado legislation: Governor Hickenlooper signs HB 11-1177 (Healthy Rivers Fund Tax Donation)
March 23, 2011
From the Vail Daily:
On Tuesday, House Bill 11-1177, Healthy Rivers Fund Tax Donation, sponsored by Sen. Jean White, R-Hayden, was signed today by Gov. John Hickenlooper. This bill continues the work of the Colorado Healthy Rivers Fund, which works to protect outdoor areas across the state.
More instream flow coverage here.
From The Telluride Daily Planet (Matthew Beaudin):
The EPA is tasked with permitting the waste product storage at the would-be uranium mill near the Colorado-Utah border between Telluride and Bedrock, Colo. From now through April 8, the agency will conduct another comment session though it’s not a regulatory requirement. The comments, like the EPA’s involvement, must be narrow in scope and limited to “uranium by-product impoundments,” or waste storage, according to the agency. A passel of citizens and governments in the region have flooded regulators, such as the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the EPA, with letters asking for more review of the mill. “We got a lot of inquires from San Miguel County and others around the mill,” said Deborah Lebow Aal, the acting director of the EPA’s air program. “If there are some really relevant and good comments we will look at them.”
The mill still needs to collect water and air permits from the State of Colorado…
“I think it’s great that the EPA paid attention to the requests that were made. I think all of these processes should be a public process,” [Hilary White, the executive director of Sheep Mountain Alliance] said. “Ultimately, a victory would be for them to deny the permit. I think we understand that that’s a long shot. What we’re really going for is a strong independent analysis.” White said the EPA is reviewing radon emissions, specifically. Radon, a gas, is a uranium mining byproduct that is estimated to cause about 21,000 lung-cancer deaths a year, according to a 2003 EPA study…
Currently, Sheep Mountain Alliance is in a fight with both the state and Energy Fuels. It filed a suit that accused state regulators of violating federal and state laws in the run up to approving the mill and ignoring dangers to air and water quality. The CDPHE and Energy Fuels have both asked the court to throw the suit out. “The Department disputes the vast majority of SMA’s allegations, many of which are misstatement of fact and law, irrelevant, exaggerations and mischaracterizations,” reads the state’s suit, filed by Colorado Attorney General John Suthers.
Arkansas River basin: The Pueblo Board of Water Works leases additional water to the Fort Lyon Canal
March 23, 2011
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
The Pueblo Board of Water Works will sell an additional 5,000 acre-feet of water to the Fort Lyon Canal this year. That will bring total sales through short-term leases to 15,000 acre-feet, with revenues of $715,000…
Outside water sales, through short- or long-term leases, make up about one-fourth of the $29.8 million in operating revenue in this year’s budget. Xcel will pay $4.9 million for water used at the Comanche Plant, while Black Hills will pay $360,000 when its new plant starts up later this year. Aurora pays $1.58 million under two long-term agreements to trade and move water. There are several smaller long-term contracts.
More Pueblo Board of Water Works coverage here.
World Water Day 2011
March 22, 2011
So how is humankind going to get drinking water and grow food for an ever-increasing population? The participants at World Water Day 2011 are hoping to figure out that riddle before more of a crisis builds. Here’s a report about the goings on in Cape Town, South Africa from The Guardian (Lee Middleton):
In Africa, where the rate of urbanisation is the world’s highest and urban populations are expected to double in the next 20 years, water services have been on the decline since 1990. Amcow highlighted the opportunities provided by the conference for African ministers, mayors, civil society organisations and representatives of development banks and the private sector to discuss how they can move faster and more effectively in closing this gap and achieving millennium development goals. The critical need for collaboration and communication between sectors, and the need for visionary leadership to manage the planet’s limited water resources were recurring themes.
Conference sessions covered topics as diverse as how cities can decentralise urban water management systems to make them sustainable, the role of water in urban green growth, and how cities can address sanitation issues in rapidly growing informal settlements and slums. “Urbanisation, a greener world, and coping with climate variability – those are the three issues that just about every session is looking at in some way or another,” said Margaret Catley-Carlson, executive board chair of the Global Crop Diversity Trust.
Numerous speakers highlighted the need for a shift away from “old models” of water management and business-as-usual thinking. “I see a transition from people being consumers of water to people being custodians of water. We need to manage water as a flux instead of a stock,” said Anthony Turton, director of TouchStone Resources, a natural-resource management company based in South Africa, at a World Bank panel on public-private partnerships.
The privatisation of water supplies has been a controversial issue in the past, sparking protests when attempted in Bolivia and South Africa. Last year, the African Development Bank recommended privatisation as the only way to meet the continent’s water and sanitation needs. However, Richard Makolo, leader of the South African Crisis Water Committee, reportedly called privatisation “a new kind of apartheid”.
“I think the issue of who owns the utility and who provides the service is much less than it used to be,” said Julia Bucknall, sector manager of the central unit for water at the World Bank’s Energy, Transport and Water department. “There are some basic fundamentals of good governance of water that need to be respected, independent of who owns them.”
Snowpack/Lake Mead news
March 22, 2011
From KOLD.com (Erin Jordan):
Above Lake Powell, upstream of Lake Mead, the average snowpack for the Colorado River watershed is 112% of average. As the snow melts, it’s expected to raise water levels in Lake Powell, which will then allow an increased release of water downstream into Lake Mead. The Bureau of Reclamation forecasts a 97 percent probability that more than 2.5 million acre-feet (more than 850 billion gallons) of additional river water will be released from Lake Powell into Lake Mead this year. The above average release from Lake Powell will raise water levels in Lake Mead about 25 feet.
Sterling: The city is partnering with CSU Logan County Extension to offer ‘Water Smart Turf Management’ classes
March 22, 2011
From the Sterling Journal Advocate:
Presentations begin on April 5 and will be held on Tuesdays at the Extension office, 508 South 10th Ave. Suite 1 in Sterling, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
The April 5 presentation title is “Soils and Soil Amendments” with Joanne Jones, horticulture agent, CSU Extension, presenting. On April 12, the topic will be “Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Turf Species” with Jones. April 19 will be “Fertilizing, Mowing and Aeration of Home Lawns” with Steve Cramer, retired horticulture agent of CSU Extension. Dr. Tony Koski, CSU professor and turf specialist, will present “Turf Pests (insects, diseases and weeds)” on April 26. May 3 will be “Irrigation Systems” with Joel Schneekloth, Regional Water Resource Specialist, CSU Extension. May 10 will be “Sprinkler Audits of Home Systems” with Tammy Maggard and Pat Harrington, Colorado Master Gardener volunteers. Maggard and Harrington will discuss the sprinkler audits that participants will schedule for later in the season.
More conservation coverage here.
Arapahoe County Water and Wastewater Authority deals are the subject of a Denver Post investigation
March 22, 2011
From The Denver Post (Karen Crummy):
Arapahoe County Water and Wastewater Authority, known as ACWWA, proposes delivering its excess water to Castle Rock, even though the water isn’t yet approved for residential use. Castle Rock officials are wary. “We’re comparing projects. We’re not rushing into anything,” said Ron Redd, the town’s utilities director. “We need to make sure we partner up in a secure, long-term water deal. We can’t afford to make a mistake.”[...]
“Given ACWWA’s current surplus of treated and untreated water capacity and Castle Rock’s future water demands, a joint solution involving Castle Rock, ACWWA and United could be advantageous for all parties,” wrote Jim Dyer, ACWWA’s government-relations director, in a Feb. 11 letter to Redd…
Ten days ago, Redd gave the Town Council a memo that outlined the proposed project: South Platte River Basin water would be treated near Barr Lake and conveyed south through a pipeline to a delivery point near E-470 and Smoky Hill Road. Castle Rock would then have to build infrastructure to get the water to the Rueter-Hess Reservoir in Parker and then to the town service area. Redd’s memo points out his initial concerns, which include the town’s reliance on water that must be changed from agricultural use to municipal use…
Redd and his staff are analyzing the ACWWA/United proposal and another one from WISE — Water, Infrastructure and Supply Efficiency. WISE is a joint collaboration among Denver Water, Aurora Water and the South Metro Water Supply Authority (of which Castle Rock is a member and Redd is board president).
More South Platte River basin coverage here.
2011 Colorado legislation: HB 11-1286, Clarify [State Engineer] Nontributary Rule [Authority]
March 22, 2011
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Patrick Malone):
The House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee voted 13-0 to adopt HB1286, sponsored by Reps. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, and John Becker, R-Fort Morgan. The bill aims to streamline the decision-making process on water permits. A 2009 Colorado Supreme Court decision found that water used in coal-bed methane natural gas extraction is subject to the requirements of tributary water permitting. The ruling granted Water Courts authority over permitting conflicts and appeals…
Nontributary water can be exempt from permitting, Following the court’s ruling, the state engineer developed rules to govern permitting within the framework of the court’s decision, and developed a map that reflects extraction operations subject to permitting under it. Among them were some wells in the Raton Basin near Trinidad. Under HB1286, the state engineer’s rules would be acknowledged in statute, appeals of permit decisions would be routed through the rule-making process instead of through Water Court and further appeals of those decisions to a Water Court would require a higher standard of proof to overturn earlier rulings in the chain of appeals.
The chief opponent of the bill to testify Monday was lawyer Philip Lopez of the firm White & Jankowski, which represents the plaintiffs who were victorious in the 2009 case. He characterized the bill as an attempt to legislate around judicial decisions, argued the ruling has not led to the shutdown of any gas wells and said the state engineer’s map confers by default a water right to the oil and gas industry that other water users must follow process to attain.
More coverage from Joe Hanel writing for The Durango Herald. From the article:
House Bill 1286 raises the legal standard the ranchers will need to prove to win their lawsuits against State Engineer Dick Wolfe. Last year, Wolfe drew maps that showed which gas and oil wells needed to get water permits and which ones could drill without going to court to fight about who owns the water…
The Vance and Fitzgerald families took Wolfe’s office to court several years ago for not protecting their water rights from gas wells, and they won at the state Supreme Court in 2009. The ruling shocked the gas industry, and legislators worried all 40,000 gas and oil wells in the state would need to get water permits. So they gave Wolfe’s office the power to draw maps that show where gas wells interact with surface water. Gas wells outside the zone do not need to replace the water they use because the water is assumed to be so deep underground that it will have no effect on surface streams.
But the Vance and Fitzgerald families sued again, along with the San Juan Citizens Alliance, the Oil and Gas Accountability Project and the city of Sterling. Several lawsuits are active, and the main one is working its way through the water court in Greeley…
Mike King, director of the Department of Natural Resources, urged legislators to pass the bill. Wolfe’s office is in King’s department, and King cited the extensive work the engineer’s office did to draw the maps. “What we’re asking is an affirmation of that to remove all doubt,” King said. “This is critical that we resolve this issue and that it doesn’t get litigated and then appealed to the Supreme Court, and we have a two-year window of uncertainty that would not be good for oil and gas production in Colorado.”
More 2011 Colorado legislation coverage here. More coalbed methane coverage here and here.
2011 Colorado legislation: HB 11-1093 clears state House 65-0 on the way to Governor Hickenlooper’s desk
March 22, 2011
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Patrick Malone):
On Monday, the Colorado House by a 65-0 vote passed an amended version of HB1083, which now moves to Gov. John Hickenlooper’s desk awaiting his signature to become law. It passed unanimously through two committee hearings, two votes in the House and a vote in the Senate — more than 180 votes cast, and not one in opposition.
The bill adds hydroelectric and pumped-hydro operations to the list of new energy technologies that the Public Utilities Commission can consider. Those projects would now qualify for cost recovery through rates…
An amendment to the bill that guides the PUC to consider projects’ impacts on aquatic life and another that firmed-up that downstream water users would not be adversely affected by new hydro projects helped the legislation to sail through the Legislature. In the Senate a provision was added that directs the PUC to consider the costs and benefits associated with projects when mulling their approval.
More 2011 Colorado legislation coverage here. More hydroelectric coverage here and here.
Yampa River: American Whitewater survey of river users
March 21, 2011
Here’s the link from the American Whitewater website.
American Whitewater is working to identify the range of flows that support the full range of boating opportunities for the main stem and tributaries of the Yampa and White Rivers. As part of our Yampa River Project, we are working with the Colorado Water Conservation Board and the Yampa-White Basin roundtable to identify and define flows needed for continued recreational uses on Northwestern Colorado’s iconic rivers. THe results of our assessment will be used in future negotiations over water supply planning, and resouce management actions.
We have developed this survey so individuals can help American Whitewater represent recreational interests in deciding what the future of the Yampa and White Rivers will look like. Our goal is to utilize information from the survey to help us quantify flow preferences for whitewater boating, which will identify the range of flows necessary to provide whitewater recreation experiences, from technical low water to challenging high water trips. The information will provide us with the data necessary to describe flow-dependant recreation experiences and to protect and manage flows for river-based recreational opportunities.
AW is currently working with local governments, conservation groups, and State and Federal agencies to decide the future of the Yampa and White Rivers and their tributaries. Your honest participation in this study, will help American Whitewater Staff develop new instream flow guidelines for the Yampa and White Rivers.
Please encourage your fellow paddlers to participate in this study. The more responses we get the more robust our results will be. We will publish results of this survey for the benefit of paddlers with an interest in recreational opportunities on the Yampa and White Rivers.
From Steamboat Today (Mike Lawrence):
Survey results will be part of an extensive multiyear assessment of demands on the Yampa and could be used in future discussions of water policy and resource management. “This recreational flow survey is definitely something that’s pretty exciting for us,” said Kent Vertrees, a recreational representative on the Yampa/White River Basin Roundtable. “It’s just one of the components of the environmental and recreational nonconsumptive needs (assessments) of our basin.”[...]
“This has nothing to do with the recreational water right or establishing water rights in the future,” Vertrees said. “This is basically a study that the roundtable is doing to comply with what the state asked us to do, way back in 2005.”
From the Ag Journal:
Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet announced today that general sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for Colorado landowners and producers begins today and continues through April 15. During the sign-up period, farmers and ranchers may offer eligible land for enrollment at their county Farm Service Agency (FSA) office. The 2008 Farm Bill authorized the U.S. Department of Agriculture to maintain CRP enrollment up to 32 million acres.
“CRP has helped farmers and ranchers preserve top soil, enhance wildlife habitat and protect our land and water,” Bennet said. “The program is a win-win for producers and the people of Colorado. I encourage those interested in taking advantage of this opportunity to contact their FSA office right away.”
CRP is a voluntary program that assists farmers, ranchers and other agricultural producers to use their environmentally sensitive land for conservation benefits. Producers enrolling in CRP plant long-term, resource-conserving covers in exchange for rental payments, cost-share and technical assistance. By reducing water runoff and sedimentation, CRP also protects groundwater and helps improve the condition of lakes, rivers, ponds and streams. Acreage enrolled in the CRP is planted to resource-conserving vegetative covers, making the program a major contributor to wildlife population increases in many parts of the country.
More conservation coverage here.
From the Glenwood Springs Post Independent (John Colson):
A draft of the Roaring Fork Watershed Plan, which is a project of the Roaring Fork Conservancy and the Ruedi Water and Power Authority, aims to increase awareness of, and involvement in planning for a likely scarcity of water in the coming decades. The draft of the plan is available at the conservancy’s website, www.roaringfork.org…
More than 40 percent of the water in the Roaring Fork and Fryingpan river drainages is diverted each year, and sent to cities and counties on the Front Range. Similar diversions are in operation in other Western Slope drainages, to satisfy the needs of a Front Range population that is expected to grow from roughly 5 million today to approximately 8 million by 2030, according to published estimates. At present, it is unknown whether future transmountain diversions will take ever greater amounts of water from the Western Slope, since no new diversion projects currently are under study, the draft plan states. But existing diversion rights are not being fully used, according to a Jan. 7 “Front Range Water Supply Planning Update.” The possibility of increased diversions has galvanized water planners and local governments into figuring out how to cope with the difficult issues surrounding water policy in this region…
The draft plan also relates that nearly 140 miles of streams surveyed in the Roaring Fork Watershed, out of 185 total miles of streams, show “moderately modified to severely degraded riparian habitat.” This habitat zone, although comprising less than 3 percent of the landmass in the watershed, sustains “75-80 percent of wildlife species” in the region. In addition, according to the draft plan, “functioning riparian areas reduce the risk of flooding and increase stream base flows.” Increasing diversions, and resulting lowered water levels in rivers and streams, pose a threat to riparian habitat, as well as to the availability of water for municipal, agricultural and industrial needs.
More Roaring Fork River watershed coverage here.
Lake Powell: Is the reservoir in permanent decline?
March 21, 2011
From The Salt Lake Tribune (Tom Wharton):
Some say Lake Powell and Lake Mead are slowly dying. Others maintain the Colorado River reservoirs, two of North America’s largest, are doing just fine. These experts say they not only meet current needs but have the potential for pipelines that bring water into Denver and St. George as well as a nuclear power plant on the Green River. How the water is managed over coming years has enormous consequences for the West. At stake are the growth potential for many major Western cities that rely on Colorado River water for drinking, crops grown in California, cheap hydroelectric power, recreation enjoyed by millions each year, the ecological health of the Grand Canyon and the survival of several endangered fish.
More Colorado River basin coverage here.
Energy policy — nuclear: Don Banner has no plans for lawsuit if Pueblo County denies permission for his proposed power plant
March 21, 2011
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Nick Bonham):
“My company will not bring suit. I’m content with what ever decision the county makes,” Banner said. “If our community isn’t interested, then neither am I. It’s that simple.” A three-day public hearing last week covered Banner’s zoning request to turn 24,000 acres in eastern Pueblo County into a Clean Energy Park, featuring wind and solar power and a nuclear plant.
From GIS and Science:
Researchers already study how various species of plants and animals migrate in response to climate change. Now, Jason Samson, a PhD candidate in McGill University’s Department of Natural Resource Sciences, has taken the innovative step of using the same analytic tools to measure the impact of climate change on human populations. Samson and fellow researchers combined climate change data with censuses covering close to 97 per-cent of the world’s population in order to forecast potential changes in local populations for 2050.
Samson’s team found that if populations continue to increase at the expected rates, those who are likely to be the most vulnerable to climate change are the people living in low-latitude, hot regions of the world, places like central South America, the Arabian Peninsula and much of Africa. In these areas, a relatively small increase in temperature will have serious consequences on a region’s ability to sustain a growing population.”It makes sense that the low latitude tropical regions should be more vulnerable because the people there already experience extremely hot conditions which make agriculture challenging. An increase in temperature over the next few decades will only make their lives more difficult in a variety of ways,” says Samson
Arapahoe County Water and Wastewater Authority deals are the subject of a Denver Post investigation
March 20, 2011
From The Denver Post (Karen Crummy):
[United Water], together with another district — the East Cherry Creek Valley Water & Sanitation District — offered what he called a “turnkey deal.” “The project at the end of the day was able to give us a delivered product at a guaranteed price through infrastructure that was already in place and constructed,” he said, pointing to a critical waterline already built by ECCV.
The authority, which serves about 25,000 customers, has paid or put into escrow $41.6 million for using the waterline but also to build more infrastructure, including a reservoir, a pipeline and a treatment plant. It’s also paid out $65 million for agricultural water rights so far — a price typically paid for water already adjudicated for municipal use — despite the fact that the change-of-use case will take several years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to litigate. And in December, the board amended its budget to pay for “higher than anticipated expenditures for water acquisition” and “unforeseen expenses” associated with the project, according to board minutes.
More South Platte River basin coverage here.
Energy policy — nuclear: What are the potential water sources for a new power plant in Pueblo County?
March 20, 2011
Everyone in the world now knows that the safety and containment of certain nuclear facilities depends on an uninterruptible water supply that depends on an uninterruptible power supply. Some questions: What will be the priority of the water for the nuclear power plant in Pueblo County? Do they get in line according to the water rights they acquire? Do they jump to the head of the line during a crisis? What will be the minimum water requirements after shut down and decommissioning?
Maybe the proponents will go with liquid metal cooled reactors like this oil shale production scheme.
Here’s a report about the possible sources of water for the power plant from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
“I really don’t want to discuss the water availability, because of the fact that I don’t have it under contract, and that’s intentional. I wasn’t going to spend the money to put it under contract unless this played out,” said Don Banner, who has applied for county zoning on a proposed site for a nuclear plant east of Pueblo…
Water has been a central issue in dealing with tsunami-damaged nuclear plants in Japan. Some nuclear plant designs require large amounts of water for cooling. Others require relatively less, by using air or gas cooling. Reactors that use a steam turbine need a great deal of water, which can either be recirculated or passed through the plant…
A nuclear plant near Holly is one possibility Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association is considering. It also could build a coal- or gas-fired plant. Regardless of which type of plant it builds, Tri-State acquired large amounts of water — nearly half of the Amity Canal, which irrigates 37,000 acres in some years. Tri-State’s yield is estimated at 20,000 acre-feet per year — about 18 million gallons per day — on average. Tri-State’s goal was to buy enough water to operate two coal-fired plants that would produce about 1,200 megawatts of electricity at the site. A nuclear plant might need at least as much, but again it depends on the design of the plant. The needs could be much less.
Banner has talked publicly about several potential sources, even mentioning Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel or Aurora as entities that might be willing to sell water at Thursday’s hearing. “There are wells located near the property, deep water wells. There is the Welton Ditch,” Banner told The Chieftain. “I don’t know if they are sufficient. That’s an engineering determination that has to be made.”[...]
The Welton Ditch has generated an average of 4,481 acre-feet annually since 1912, according to the Colorado Division of Water Resources. Its maximum year was 16,421 acre-feet in 1985. During the 2002 drought, its yield dropped to 463 acre-feet, and no water was diverted in 2003.
There is another ditch on the Huerfano River that feeds the Welton, the Huerfano Valley Ditch. It is connected to the Two Rivers Water Co. plan to renovate Cucharas Reservoir as a storage site. It has similar numbers to the Welton, with average yields of 6,229 acre-feet and a peak year of 16,691 acre-feet. There were no diversions in 2002…
Another possibility could be obtaining water from the Pueblo Board of Water Works, which had preliminary discussions with earlier backers of an energy park on the same land Banner is interested in. The water board now provides water to Xcel’s Comanche power plant and will supply the Black Hills plant now under construction…
“To serve another [power plant the size of Xcel's] Comanche, say, we would include the costs to buy new water rights so there would be no impact on rates,” [Alan Hamel, executive director of the Pueblo water board] said. “There would be major up-front costs so we could fully recover the cost of water.”
Here’s a table of the 33 most serious nuclear accidents since 1952 from The Guardian Scroll down through the article for the list. Thanks to beSpacific for the link.
Platte River basin: Will the feds fund the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program this year?
March 19, 2011
From the Kearney Hub (Lori Potter):
“There is a level of concern,” Executive Director Jerry Kenny of Kearney said Monday, because federal funds — annual appropriations — provide most of the dollars for [Platte River Recovery Implementation Program] projects in the first 13 years. “Will the federal government honor the promises it made in the authorizing legislation?” Kenny asked. “Or will other priorities force cuts? I think it’s a legitimate concern.”
During a visit to south-central Nebraska’s Rainwater Basin and Platte River Monday, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said, “I’m very concerned. At the end of the day, if we don’t invest in conservation, we take away the legacy (that’s been built). “Even though we’re in a time of crisis, this is not the time to go back on conservation,” he said, adding that Abraham Lincoln protected Yosemite from development during the Civil War.
More South Platte River basin coverage here. More North Platte River basin coverage here.
