Curtis Kimbel (EPA): ‘The material appears to be coming from Suncor property, migrating under the Metro Wastewater property and daylighting in Sand Creek’

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

“The material appears to be coming from Suncor property, migrating under the Metro Wastewater property and daylighting in Sand Creek,” said EPA emergency response manager Curtis Kimbel.

State health department managers today told the Associated Press that Suncor Energy reported a break in a spur of an underground pipe that runs between a storage tank and refinery about a half mile from where the oily ooze is leaking into the creek.

Hazardous Waste Corrective Action Unit supervisor Walter Avramenko said more tests are needed to confirm the break is the source…

The EPA also has launched comprehensive water and soil sampling along Sand Creek and the South Platte. The first lab results from earlier tests are expected this afternoon, and EPA contractor said.

First responders are still using vapor monitors that indicate an ongoing need for respirators.

Meawhile Reuters Africa is reporting the Suncorp says they’ve stanched the leak. Here’s an excerpt:

Suncor Energy said on Wednesday it has contained a leak of an oily substance near its Commerce City refinery in Colorado that was running into Sand Creek…

The Canadian energy firm said it had not yet identified the source of the leak, but acknowledged it was likely coming from its 93,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in the area. It said plant operations were unaffected…

EPA spokeswoman Karen Edson said workers were using absorbent booms to contain the substance along a 200- to 300-meter stretch of the Sand Creek. Suncor workers are also building a ditch to keep it from flowing further, she said…

Suncor’s Commerce City plant recently underwent a $540 million upgrade to enable it to handle more heavy oil sands crude from Canada.

While minor spills and leaks are not uncommon near major energy facilities, a series of larger pipeline leaks in recent years and fierce resistance to a proposed major new conduit from Canada has heightened awareness of the environmental risks they pose.

Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment issued Suncor’s Commerce City plant a compliance order on October 26, 2011, a copy of which was sent to Reuters.

The order says that a department investigation indicated “that recent releases of hazardous waste and hazardous constituents on-site, are now migrating off-site in excess of applicable standards.”

The order set specific dates for Suncor to show it was complying with health and safety orders at its facility.

“The seeps that began on Sunday would appear to be different from the issues that are discussed in the compliance order,” said Mark Salley, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “However, that is going to be subject to investigation.”

More coverage from Anthony Swift writing for the Switchboard. From the article:

The spill was discovered on Sunday morning by Trevor Tanner, a fisherman who saw sheen on the South Platte River and said the area smelled like a gas station. In his account:

“I walked several hundred feet up Sand-Creek and there was an oil sheen the whole way and there was even a weird milky chocolaty sludge trapped in the small back-eddy below the confluence. My fly smelled like gasoline. My fingers smelled like gasoline. I could see micro-currents and upwells in the water column that you usually just can’t see. Something was terribly wrong.”

When Mr. Tanner found the hotline number and called it, the spill response coordinator initially wanted him to call back in twenty minutes. On Monday officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) arrived onsite and Suncor reported a leak. On Tuesday evening Suncor and EPA officials decided to dig a trench. This afternoon, EPA officials announced that three small booms erected on a bank of Sannd Creek appear to be containing the oil and preventing further contamination.

More coverage from David O. Williams writing for the Colorado Independent. Here’s an excerpt:

Boulder-based Western Resource Advocates linked the spill, which is now being investigated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to the recent announcement by Anadarko Petroleum that up to a billion barrels of oil may be recoverable in the Wattenberg Field over the Niobrara Shale formation in Weld County.

WRA officials are concerned that the Suncor spill into Sand Creek north of Denver has already made it into the South Platte, which is a major water source for Colorado’s Front Range. Stepped up drilling by Anadarko and other companies in the state’s most populous areas could have similar consequences, the group argues.

“Municipal water systems are designed to treat bacteria and pathogens, but not hydrocarbons like those that might come from an oil refinery,” said Drew Beckwith, WRA’s water policy manager. “That’s not to say that the water can’t be kept safe, but we need to consider the potential consequences before something like this happens on a larger scale. The potential for problems becomes exponentially greater as drilling moves closer to population centers.”

More coverage from the Environmental News Service. Here’s an excerpt:

Suncor is the oldest of the tar sands producers; up to 90 percent of its production is derived from tar sands bitumen. Suncor recently upgraded the Commerce City facility so it could refine more heavy tar sands crude coming in from northern Alberta, Canada via the Express and Platte pipelines.

The extent of the contamination is still unclear, said Mogerman, who says much of the spill could be escaping the booms set out to contain it. “If the leak involves tar sands diluted bitumen, the contamination could be more severe,” he said. “Tar sands diluted bitumen spills are associated with significantly more submerged oil, which cannot be contained by surface booms.”

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District board meeting recap

From the La Junta Tribune Democrat (Bette McFarren):

The financial report was presented by Director Wayne Whitaker, treasurer. October revenues were $17.91. Expenses were $37,575.37, for a net deficit of $37,557.46 for the month of October. “Sounds like farming,” commented Director Leroy Mauch. There are other assets, as shown on the LAVWCD Enterprise-Activity Account Balance Sheet as of Oct. 31, 2011. Total current assets are $462,903.82 and total property and equipment are $16,916,269.78. Total current liabilities are $125,686.97.

More Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District coverage here and here.

The Round Mountain Water and Sanitation District has approved its 2012 budget

I could not find a deep link to the article from the Wet Mountain Tribune (Nora Drenner). Here’s an excerpt:

Projected revenues total $522,575 and expected expenditures total $521,905.

Of the anticipated revenues, $246,062 or 48 percent is from metered water sales and $167,759 or 32 percent is from metered sewer charges. The remaining dollars — $108,754 or 20 percent will come from property taxes, the sale of new taps, leases and interest.

On the expense side, $192,908 or 32 percent are salaries, $97,625 or 19 percent are administrative, $62,500 or 12 percent is water costs , $60,377 or 12 percent is the Johnson Place Ranch lease payment, $59,000 is wastewater/sewer system costs, $34,740 or seven percent is loan payments and $14,755 or three percent is health insurance.

Proposed projects to be completed in 2012 are adding four new fire hydrants and replacing two existing ones for a cost of $12,000; various wastewater plant maintenance including sludge dredging, grit and grease removal, and odor prevention at a cost of $35,000; a seepage study for $5,000; water and sewer line mapping at a cost of $2,000 to $5,000; and billing upgrade for $2,000 to $5,000.

More Arkansas River basin coverage here.

Final EIS for Windy Gap Firming Available to Public

Here’s the release from Reclamation (Kara Lamb):

The Bureau of Reclamation announces the availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed Windy Gap Firming Project.

To access the Final EIS, Executive Summary, and supporting technical reports please visit www.usbr.gov/gp/ecao. A list of libraries where the Final EIS is available is also included on the website.

To receive a copy of the Final EIS on compact disk, please submit a written request to the attention of Lucy Maldonado through regular mail or e-mail:
Bureau of Reclamation
11056 W. County Rd. 18E
Loveland, Colorado 80537
lmaldonado@usbr.gov

The Windy Gap Firming Project was proposed to Reclamation by the Municipal Subdistrict of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District. Reclamation prepared the Final EIS in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

The Final EIS discloses and summarizes the anticipated effects of the proposed project and four alternatives, including a No Action Alternative. It also recommends a preferred alternative and outlines environmental commitments and mitigations.

More coverage from Tom Hacker writing for the Loveland Reporter-Herald. From the article:

Chimney Hollow, just west of and slightly smaller than Carter Lake, is the key feature of the Windy Gap Firming Project and would store 30,000 acre feet of water. Thirteen municipalities and utilities, including Loveland, share ownership of the project…

The project, like its Colorado-Big Thompson predecessor, would divert Western Slope water from the upper Colorado River Basin to the east slope, where it would be stored at Chimney Hollow and delivered to Front Range water users.

More Windy Gap coverage here and here.

Sand Creek: The Environmental Protection Agency has taken over at the spill site near Commerce City

Here’s an in-depth report about the spill and cleanup efforts from Bruce Finley writing for The Denver Post. Click through and read the whole thing, check out the cool video and photo slide show. Here’s an excerpt:

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment officials have known about hazardous leakages in the area for at least a month, documents show. And for a week, toxic vapors at the nearby Metro Wastewater Reclamation District facility have forced workers to wear respirators. But nobody checked the rivers or tried to stop the seepage. Damage remains unassessed.

Suncor Energy cleanup crews slogged through the muck and used vacuum trucks Tuesday to remove surface material caught in booms strung across Sand Creek northwest of the company’s oil refinery. Late Tuesday, they began digging a trench to try to catch the muck as it leaks out of the bank of Sand Creek.

“We want to keep that out of the river — protect the river,” said Curtis Kimbel, the Environmental Protection Agency’s on-scene coordinator.

Lab tests of water and soil samples taken late Monday and early Tuesday have not been completed, and the source remained a mystery in an industrial area where refineries have existed since 1938. “But based on the odor and the sheen, we don’t want it to go in the river,” Kimbel said.

More coverage from 9News.com (Jeffrey Wolf/Brandon Rittiman/Kyle Clark):

State officials say the refinery suspected of leaking the possibly hazardous liquids into Sand Creek has been under a corrective order for several decades because of contaminated groundwater. Colorado health department spokesman Warren Smith says the state has been monitoring contaminated plumes from the Suncor Energy refinery and he says it’s likely the source of an oily liquid that has been seeping into the creek about a mile from the refinery…

“We don’t how much went downstream. We do know now that it is contained,” Karen Edson with the EPA said. The EPA says the amount that went downstream isn’t enough to cause major alarm, but it’s still worth taking precautions around the South Platte near Commerce City…

“There’s a good possibility the material could be from us. We don’t know for sure. But we’re not gonna mess around with that. We’re going to take responsibility. The environment needs to be protected,” John Gallagher with Suncor said.

More water pollution coverage here.

Restoration: CCC ditch site mitigation on the San Miguel River helps fish, irrigators and improves boating safety

From The Telluride Daily Planet (Benjamin Preston):

Built in the 1950s, the diversion had wreaked havoc on the riparian ecosystem, posed a hazard to boaters and kept a 1,500-foot stretch of the riverbed dry. Noting the need to reestablish fish habitat and improve safety for boaters, a coalition of environmental groups, state and federal agencies, and the CCC embarked on a 10-year restoration project. That project is now complete.

“There were a whole lot of partners in this, the most important of which was the CCC,” said Dan Kowalski, an aquatic biologist with the Colorado Parks and Wildlife. “They own the diversion structure and the water rights, so without them this wouldn’t have been possible.”

Construction, which entailed building a fish ladder and a low-flow channel, wrapped up last month. When it was built, the dam bypassed several thousand feet of the river before reentering downstream. To fish, the low concrete structure seemed an impenetrable wall, particularly to the Flannelmouth sucker, which aren’t particularly good jumpers. The fish ladder was designed to accommodate both nonathletic fish like suckers and agile sport fish like brown and rainbow trout.

As with any project involving water rights and multiple jurisdictions, hatching a practical venture involved careful planning and piecemeal fundraising by environmental groups, as well as cooperation between them, the owner, and state and federal agencies…

“This was one of those projects where different people pushed the rock up the hill at different times,” said Amy Beatie, executive director of the Colorado Water Trust. “Over 10 years, people came and went.”

Funding came from a variety of sources, including the Nature Conservancy, the Southwest Water Conservation District, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the Walton Family Foundation, the Telluride Foundation and a sizeable grant from the state’s Fishing is Fun program, which uses money from federal excise taxes on boating and fishing.

Here’s the Coyote Gulch post with the announcement from the Colorado Water Trust

More San Miguel River watershed coverage here and here

The Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District board approves a $2.9 million budget for 2012

From The Mountain Mail (Joe Stone):

Directors approved a budget resolution adopting the $2.9 million 2012 budget prepared by Swartz and Young Certified Public Accountants [November 10] during the monthly Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District board meeting in Salida. The total budget includes the general fund and the enterprise fund, and Rich Young of Swartz and Young said the 2012 budget includes $465,779 in projected property tax revenue, an increase of $2,000-3,000 compared with this year.

More Arkansas River basin coverage here.

Teller County Environmental Health and Colorado State University Extension are hosting a septic and well system workshop December 10

From the Pikes Peak Courier View:

Ground water is an important resource in Colorado, supplying approximately 18 percent of the water used in the state. Nineteen of Colorado’s 64 counties rely solely on ground water for drinking water and domestic uses. Private wells are the primary source of water for many Colorado families, farms and ranches. Protecting these private water supplies is essential to the welfare of those who depend upon ground water. Good quality water is an invaluable resource.

Since wells are directly linked to ground water, they can become contaminated if agricultural chemicals, runoff from animal enclosures, fuels, household wastes or other contaminates accidently enter them. Because of this, all rural residents should view their well as a vital asset that needs to be protected.

This program is intended to help you understand more about your water and septic system and help you evaluate activities around the home or ranch that may contaminate wells and ground water…

Directly related to water quality is the maintenance of your septic system. We will explore the basic structure of the septic system, what it does, how it works, and how to maintain it. A septic system record folder will be provided as well as what should be recorded and how often.

More water pollution coverage here.

LaFarge settles Clean Water Act violations in five states, including Colorado

From The Denver Post:

Following federal inspections of Lafarge facilities that involved a pattern of violations since 2006, Lafarge and its four U.S. subsidiaries will evaluate all its 189 concrete facilities to ensure they meet federal Clean Water Act standards and will pay $740,000 in penalties. The work will insure that stormwater that flows over Lafarge concrete manufacturing facilities does not carry pollutants that impact water quality in nearby watersheds.

Lafarge also will protect land using conservation easements in Maryland and Colorado on l66 acres valued at $2.95 million.

The comprehensive evaluation will involve permit reviews at each facility and an analysis of all discharges into U.S. waters. Lafarge also will install an environmental team of managers and directors overseeing stormwater compliance standards at its facilities. Lafarge will spend about $8 million over five years developing and maintaining its new environmental compliance program.

More water pollution coverage here.

The strategy of switching federal agencies for the permitting of the Flaming Gorge pipeline project may not lead to a faster approval

From WyoFile (Allen Best):

“(Million) has been suggesting that he could get this project done in a significantly shorter amount of time (through FERC). My [Matt Rice, director of Colorado conservation for American Rivers] first reaction is this: He’s totally forgetting about the federal hydropower licensing requirements under the Federal Power Act. The process can be incredibly complex, especially for a project of this size, geographic scope and complexity.”

Based on his experience working on hydropower projects seeking permits in South Carolina and Alabama, Rice expects a process that lasts at least a decade. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this project took at least 10 years…and more like 12 to 15 years,” he says. “Augusta, Ga., just got a license for a small project, and that process took more than 30 years.”

And before a permit is awarded by FERC, it must also get review under the applicable environmental laws – possibly including the Clean Water Act, which is what had triggered the original review by the Army Corps.

Million needed a section 404 dredge-and-fill permit under the provisions of that law because of proposed use of fill at Flaming Gorge Reservoir for his proposed take-out structure and possibly at other wetlands locations along the pipeline route.

A spokeswoman for the Army Corps describes a process that was delayed because of Million’s foot-dragging. “It had to do with the many delays and the applicant continuing to ask for more extensions and more time,” says regulatory specialist Rena Brand. “Toward the end of July, his group explained that they were thinking about moving to energy production.” And that, she said, meant a new purpose and need.

More Flaming Gorge pipeline coverage here and here.

Aquate Group reservoir covers lessen evaporation and generate solar energy in Israel

Here’s the release from the Aquate Group:

ISRAELI COMPANY RESOLVES NATIONAL RESOURCE CHALLENGES IN GENERATING RENEWABLE ENERGY

Aquate Group Ltd. signs landmark agreement with Chevrat Moshve Hanegev to increase national water resources, enable increased agricultural production in the Negev, and generate clean energy without exploiting land

 Aquate’s infrastructure investment will total approximately NIS 300,000,000 (U.S. $80 million)

 Through Aquate’s reservoir enhancement services the four Chevrat Moshve Hanegev reservoirs can increase their total water availability by 900,000 cubic meters of water each year

 Aquate’s infrastructure will add 1500 dunams [now defined as exactly one decare (1000 m²)] of irrigated agricultural land in the Negev

 Aquate’s infrastructure, which is installed only on a reservoir’s water surface, will preserve over 460 dunams of land from exploitation

 Aquate’s infrastructure will provide 16 megawatts of clean solar energy capacity

Aquate Group Ltd. (“Aquate”) and Chevrat Moshve Hanegev have entered into an unprecedented long-term cooperation agreement this week under which Aquate will provide Israel’s largest agricultural company with Aquate’s reservoir enhancement and clean energy infrastructure and services. Under the agreement, Aquate’s services will increase the volume and quality of water available for irrigation from Chevrat Moshve Hanegev reclaimed water reservoirs.

Aquate regional companies provide water reservoir enhancement and clean energy infrastructure and services throughout the world. Under this initial agreement in Israel, Aquate plans to invest NIS 300 million ($80 million). This investment by Aquate will increase the total amount of water available in the Chevrat Moshve Hanegev reservoirs, improve water quality in the reservoirs, enable the irrigation of new land devoted to agriculture, and prevent overuse of open areas.

Shimon Tal, Israel’s former Water Commissioner, Director of Aquate Group Ltd., and President of Aquate’s operations in Israel remarked, “Israel’s numerous irrigation reservoirs are critical to supporting agricultural production in Israel as well as to reducing pressure on supplies of drinking water. The services Aquate is providing Israel will produce clean electricity on a large scale and enhance the capacity of these reservoirs to support agricultural production without interfering with the operation of the reservoirs. The Aquate team has experience planning and installing cover systems on hundreds of reservoirs around the world, and that experience spans over more than thirty years. By implementing existing knowledge and methods in the design and installation of reservoir covers, we can provide a system-wide solution that will preserve and enhance the original designation of the reservoirs for agriculture.”

Aquate provides reservoir enhancement services by installing on water reservoirs a proprietary flexible floating cover, durable for twenty-five years or more, that incorporates photovoltaic cells and water quality monitoring and treatment systems. The company will begin installing reservoir enhancement and clean energy infrastructure and services in Israel this year.

“We believe that this cooperation is one of the most important ones we have undertaken,” said Ilan Peretz, CEO of Chevrat Moshve Hanegev. “For our company, Aquate’s reservoir enhancement infrastructure and services will prevent income loss that we have suffered in the past due to declining water quality and evaporation. At the local and national level, the Negev and Israel will benefit from increased agricultural outputs and an increase in water availability. Of equal importance, our farmers can proudly play a leading role in achieving the country’s ambitious renewable energy goals without having to relinquish precious farm land to do so.”

According to Barak Yekutiely, the Chairman and CEO of Aquate Group Ltd., “We believe this is the right approach to predictable development of large scale renewable energy sources that reduce dependence on fossil fuel generated electricity while increasing food and water supplies and preserving green open spaces. Aquate provides proven solutions that enhance and maintain national resources – in Israel’s case significantly increasing national water resources and agricultural output and protecting rather than exploiting scarce land for clean energy generation.”

* Aquate Group Ltd. develops sustainable assets on a global basis through regional operating companies that provide both climate change mitigation and adaptation services. Aquate’s regional operating companies deliver two primary services: reservoir enhancement to reservoir owners and operators and clean energy generation for electric utility companies. Through the delivery of these two bundled services, Aquate provides additional climate change mitigation and adaptation benefits such as reducing the need to build new power generation facilities on scarce agricultural land; promoting biodiversity; and stimulating increased agricultural production through greater availability of water at higher quality levels.

** Chevrat Moshve Hanegev is Israel’s largest agricultural company and is a partnership between 34 Moshavim which cultivate over 150,000 dunams. The company was established in 1958 and specializes in field crops (wheat, potatoes, peanuts, sunflower, chickpeas, corn and carrots), citrus fruits, almonds, pomegranates and more.

More coverage from GreenProphet.com (Shifra Mincer). From the article:

At Watec Israel, an international conference and exhibition on water technologies, renewable energy and environmental control, hosted from November 15-17 this year in Tel Aviv, Israeli national water company Mekorot agreed to a 20-year lease of a 100,000 square meter reservoir to Israel-based Aquate Group. Aquate specializes in floating reservoir covers that prevent a significant amount of the water from evaporating while providing a platform for renewable energy generation.

According to Aquate, the 20-year project with Mekorot will save 4 million cubic meters of water from evaporating and will create about 6 MW of clean power for the Israeli grid. Aquate will bear the operations and maintenance costs of the project.

“Signed in the national level and alongside national committees for assessing best options for green growth, this agreement may position Israel as a leading national actor that quantifies the economic costs of alternative solutions as well as conventional solutions with the aim of maximizing national long-term economic benefits,” said Aquate Group Marketing Communications Director Maya Ben Dror.

More conservation coverage here. More solar coverage here.

Reflections on the Colorado-Big Thompson Project — W.D. Farr

Here’s a video with W.D. Farr explaining the origins of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. Thanks to Greeley Water for posting the video.

Next year is the 75th anniversary of the 1937 act that established the water conservancy districts and the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

Farr explains that Congressman Taylor would not support the project unless Green Mountain Reservoir — for west slope supplies — was built first.

“The biggest cloud of dust I ever saw came out of that tunnel [Adams Tunnel],” Farr says, “I never saw men so happy in my life.”

More Colorado-Big Thompson Project coverage here.

CWCB Proposed 2012 Instream Flow Appropriations Water Divisions 1,2,3,4, 5 and 6

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

This notice complements previous notice, made pursuant to ISF Rule 5c., which identified the streams to be considered for instream flow appropriations in 2012. At the January or March 2012 meeting of the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), staff may request that the Board form its intent to appropriate Instream Flow (ISF) water rights for the streams listed on the attached Instream Flow Appropriation List. The attached list contains a description of the ISF recommendations including: water division, stream name, county, and recommending entity.

Copies of the Instream Flow Stakeholder Recommendations and Appendices submitted into the Official CWCB Record are available for review by the public during regular business hours (8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) at the Colorado Water Conservation Board’s Office, located at 1313 Sherman Street, Room 721, Denver, Colorado, 80203. In addition to the CWCB office, copies of the Instream Flow Stakeholder Recommendations are available on the CWCB website at

Here’s the announcement from the CWCB website.

More instream flow coverage here.

Restoration: An objective for the Mancos Conservation District is to achieve a greater balance between ranching and healthy ecosystems and especially water

Here’s an in-depth look at restoration and conservation efforts in the Mancos River watershed from Jeanne Archambeault writing for The Mancos Times via The Durango Herald. From the article:

There are many organizations in Mancos that have a direct influence on the river, the watershed that surrounds it and the condition and health of the river itself. The Mancos Conservation District is concerned with the river water and soil that is moved by the water.

The Mancos Valley Watershed Project was started in 2005 by the Mancos Valley Watershed Group, formed because of a need to conserve soil and water in the Mancos River. Integral partners of the watershed project are the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Mancos Conservation District (formerly the Mancos Soil Conservation District) and the town of Mancos. The project also has brought together riverfront landowners, farmers, ranchers, environmentalists, irrigation companies, recreationalists and community members to address a number of goals.

Goals include improving fishing along the river, reducing the loading of dissolved copper from the east fork, working with irrigators and irrigation companies and landowners along the river to rebuild and restore functioning of the diversion systems, and improving the riparian ecosystem and in-stream flows through the summer…

The Mancos River supplies water to the town of Mancos and outlying residents, to ranchlands and farms for irrigation, to Mesa Verde National Park, and the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe and its agricultural interests. It also provides essential habitat for wildlife.

Ann Oliver is the watershed project manager contracted by the MCD. She has been instrumental in bringing interested parties together.

Russell Klatt, conservation technician for the project, also serves the landowners in the Mancos Watershed. Klatt designs the way the river is going to flow, and Keith Duncan Construction helps him move the rocks and do the work. “The large boulders in the water block and divert the water to where you want it to go,” Klatt said…

The project is a further positive step toward the MCD’s objective of achieving a greater balance between ranching and healthy ecosystems and especially our water.

The MCD also offers workshops and classes throughout the year, all free to the public, on such subjects as irrigation-water management, weeds and rangeland.

More Mancos River watershed coverage here and here.

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

Here are the summaries for this week from the Colorado Climate Center. Click on the thumbnail graphic to the right for the precipitation summary.

Buena Vista: Mount Princeton Geothermal is hosting a public meeting November 30 about a planned magnetotelluric survey of the Chalk Creek area

Here’s the link to a brochure about the upcoming assessment. Thanks to Mt. Princeton Geothermal, LLC for sending it over to me.

Precipitation news: Snowfall in the central mountains has been about average

From the Summit County Citizens Voice (Bob Berwyn):

For the season so far, precipitation is close to average, and winter hasn’t even started yet. And Friday night’s storm exceeded expectations, dropping a few inches (at least in Frisco) before 10 p.m.

Let’s recap. Beginning last August, the Climate Prediction Center forecast warmer-than-average temperatures for Colorado, along with equal chances for above- or below-normal precipitation. That outlook remained unchanged through the late summer and into autumn.

The biggest storms came before most of the ski areas opened. Since early November, the weather pattern has been a bit moribund, characterized by a pesky split-flow pattern that breaks approaching Pacific systems apart, with the biggest snowfall in the far south and far north.

Both Steamboat and Wolf Creek have benefited from this pattern, tallying the biggest snow totals so far, while the mountains in the central part of the state are, for the most part, near average.

The Glen Canyon Institute has a new website

Say hello to the shiny new Glen Canyon Institute website. They’re working tirelessly to decommission Glen Canyon Dam and restore the reach of the Colorado River from Cataract Canyon to Lake Mead.

More Colorado River basin coverage here.

Gothic shale play in Southwestern Colorado is in the early stages of leasing, conservationists are using the lull in activity to plan

From the Cortez Journal (Nathalie Winch):

“I think it’s possible to have natural gas development and to do it right,” [San Juan Citizens Alliance’s leader Jimbo Buickerood] said. “I think it can be a helpful economic drive. I think we can protect the water and the air quality and wildlife values and take good care of resources, if there’s adequate structure and integrity to the plan the agency puts together.”

Buickerood supports a master leasing plan in order to make this happen. Ideally, he’d like everyone at the table for discussion, including the energy developers, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, citizens, environmentalists, etc.

A portion of the plan suggests fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, through shale within Dolores and Montezuma counties.

The public has until Nov. 25 to comment on this plan. Comments should be mailed to comments-planrevision-sanjuan@fs.fed.us or SJPL Supplement Comments, Attn: Shannon Manfredi, 15 Burnett Court, Durango, CO, 81301-4216, or faxed to (970) 375-2331.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Public scoping begins on Paradox Valley salinity control projects, scoping meetings announced

Here’s the release from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Terry Stroh/Justyn Hock):

Reclamation announced today that it will hold public scoping meetings concerning the Paradox Valley Salinity Control Unit, located near Bedrock, Colo. The meetings will be held 1) in Paradox, Colo. at the Paradox Community Center, 21665 6.00 Road on December 6, 2011 with a presentation at 6 p.m. and an open house from 5 to 7 p.m. and 2) in Montrose, Colo. at the Holiday Inn Express, 1391 S Townsend Ave, on December 8, with a presentation at 6 p.m., followed by a question and answer session.

Historically, the Dolores River picked up an estimated 205,000 tons of salt annually as it passed through the Paradox Valley. Since the mid-1990′s much of this salt has been collected by shallow wells and then injected into deep subsurface geologic formations. The deep well injection program has removed about 110,000 tons of salt annually from the Dolores and Colorado rivers.

The existing deep well injection facility may be approaching the end of its useful life and alternatives are being considered to continue the successful efforts to prevent salt from entering the river. One initial alternative is to collect brine from shallow wells along the Dolores River and evaporate the brine and encapsulate the produced salts in surface evaporation ponds. The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum, representing the seven basin states, has recommended that an evaporation pond pilot study be conducted in order to better evaluate potential future large scale evaporation ponds as an alternative to deep well injection.

Reclamation will host public scoping meetings to discuss the pilot study. The project will be described and questions will be answered at the meetings; comments may be provided at the scoping meeting, emailed to tstroh@usbr.gov or mailed to Bureau of Reclamation, 2764 Compass Drive, Suite 106, Grand Junction CO 81506.

More coverage from the Montrose Daily Press (Katharhynn Heidelberg):

The Bureau of Reclamation is seeking public input on whether to continue using deep-well injection methods to reduce salinity loads where the river flows through the Paradox Valley, or to consider evaporative ponds. The evap ponds are among alternatives BuRec is considering to prevent salt from entering the river, and area scoping meetings are slated in Montrose County for next month (see below for details).

More Dolores River watershed coverage here.

Pitkin, Delta, Routt and San Miguel county commissioners and Boulder County Public Health officials all provide hydraulic fracturing comments to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission

From the Associated Press (Catharine Tsai) via The Denver Post. From the article:

In written comments submitted before a deadline Friday, Pitkin County commissioners pushed for full disclosure of all chemicals used in fracturing, not just the nonproprietary ones. Gunnison County Democrats, Citizens for Huerfano County and others have criticized the rule for protecting trade secrets rather than requiring full disclosure…

County commissioners for Delta, Routt and San Miguel counties and Boulder County Public Health officials said the rule should clarify how operators declare something to be a trade secret.

And companies should be held responsible for inaccurate or incomplete information, county commissioners in Pitkin and Routt counties said. Operators have said they shouldn’t be held responsible for inaccurate information provided by third-party vendors…

Delta County commissioners praised a provision that would have companies provide 48 hours’ notice of fracking activity but requested that local authorities be notified too.

Routt County commissioners requested that the rule also apply to fracking by non-liquid means, because at least one company has used technology involving fracking using butane and propane in gel form.

San Miguel County commissioners and Boulder County health officials are among those pushing for disclosures to be posted directly on the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission website rather than www.FracFocus.org.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

There are differing opinions to be found in eastern and western Wyoming counties with respect to the Flaming Gorge Pipeline

From WyoFile (Allen Best):

Yet the idea of a pipeline has a certain allure in Torrington, Cheyenne, and in Laramie County, each of which has chipped in $25,000 as members of the Colorado/Wyoming Coalition, a rival to Million’s plan.

“If someone is going to provide water through a pipeline near our water system, we are going to be interested,” says Tim Wilson, director of the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities.

The Cheyenne urban area, with 70,000 people, has sufficient water to meet growth during the next 15 to 25 years, Wilson says. Most of the city’s water comes from snowmelt in streams west of the city, including some water from the Colorado River headwaters near the Colorado-Wyoming border, with water brought through a tunnel and then an exchange of rights.

Cheyenne’s Wilson says many unanswered questions remain about a possible new supply piped in from Flaming Gorge, including the costs and the water rights.

Laramie County has a similar position. “If, in fact, there is additional (Colorado River) Compact water, and it can be brought into Laramie County, we want to tap into that,” says Gary Kranse, planning director. Almost exclusively dependent on groundwater, the county wants more diversity of supplies as population growth continues.

Torrington, population 6,000, is also at the prospective pipeline table. City engineer Bob Juve says conservation and efficiency measures have dampened demand in Torrington 30 percent, with more savings possible. But with the city growing 1 percent annually, those savings will have been exhausted in a few decades. And the North Platte River, which flows through the town, is already spoken for. Nebraska and Wyoming in 2001 signed a legal settlement that reaffirmed the longstanding arrangement that majority of the water in the river goes to Nebraska. A current expansion of the Pathfinder reservoir west of Casper, however, will allow some future new water supplies from the river for Wyoming communities along the Platte, along with some water to sustain whooping cranes, least terns and other endangered species downstream in Nebraska.

Supporting a Flaming Gorge pipeline has not, Juve acknowledges, made him popular in Southwestern Wyoming. He’s OK with that. “I don’t mind fighting with anybody, but I first want to know what we’re fighting about,” he says. “We are not trying to be adversarial with people in Sweetwater County. Obviously, they have interests that they have not fully defined yet.”

More Flaming Gorge pipeline coverage here and here.

Noble joins Anadarko with exploration plans in the Wattenberg Field, they plan to pony up $1 to $1.5 billion

From The Denver Business Journal (Cathy Proctor):

Noble plans to invest $8 billion over the next five years in the Denver-Julesburg Basin, an area that includes northern Colorado and southern Wyoming, said Ted Brown, Noble’s Denver-based senior vice president in charge of its northern region operations, which includes Colorado.

In the Wattenberg area of the play, “it will be $1 billion to $1.5 billion a year,” Brown said in an interview Wednesday…

Noble said it think its can get 1.3 billion barrels of oil from its 840,000 net acres of mineral rights in the Wattenberg. The company said its wells in the area are currently producing oil and natural gas equivalent to 67,000 barrels of oil per day, and expects production to double by 2016.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

The Colorado Farm Bureau wants to see non-augmented out of priority pumping from the South Platte alluvial aquifer permitted in wet years

From The Greeley Tribune (Eric Brown) via Windsor Now!:

…the farm bureau’s approved policy also supports allowing “pumping of existing wells to lower ground water level, creating space for Alluvial aquifers to be recharged during spring run off.”

The Colorado Farm Bureau supporting such policy likely comes as a relief for farmers in Weld County and elsewhere. Many in the region are dealing with high groundwater issues, stemming from what they and others believe is caused by the state curtailing the pumping of about 8,000 groundwater wells — 2,000 of which were completely shut down — all along the South Platte River…

Arnusch and others understand that shutting down the wells at a time of drought was necessary, but they say that common sense is needed now, and the state’s water courts need to allow the state engineer’s office to turn on those wells when water in the basin is abundant to lower groundwater levels in the area before further damage is done.

More South Platte River basin coverage here.

CNET: The Department of Homeland Security and FBI today dismissed the conclusions of a report that a cyber intrusion caused a pump at an Illinois water utility to burn out

From CNET (Elinor Mills):

“After detailed analysis, DHS and the FBI have found no evidence of a cyber intrusion into the SCADA system of the Curran-Gardner Public Water District in Springfield, Illinois,” DHS spokesman Chris Ortman said in the statement provided to CNET. “There is no evidence to support claims made in initial reports–which were based on raw, unconfirmed data and subsequently leaked to the media–that any credentials were stolen, or that the vendor was involved in any malicious activity that led to a pump failure at the water plant. In addition, DHS and FBI have concluded that there was no malicious traffic from Russia or any foreign entities, as previously reported. Analysis of the incident is ongoing and additional relevant information will be released as it becomes available.”

Control systems expert Joe Weiss unearthed what appeared to be the first report of an attack on a U.S. water utility last week. According to a report titled “Public Water District Cyber Intrusion” and released in the Illinois Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center Daily Intelligence Notes of November 10, a pump at a water utility in Illinois burned out when a SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system was repeatedly switched on and off. The report said an intruder was apparently able to get access to the SCADA system after stealing customer usernames and passwords from a SCADA vendor.

The Pueblo Board of Water Works has the correct security strategy in place according to this report from John Norton writing for The Pueblo Chieftain.