Entities hope to coordinate restoration efforts for the High Park fire burn scar

From The Greeley Tribune (Dan England):

The snows that fell again and again this spring did more than just annoy you. It saved this year’s rafting season on the Poudre River. In fact, outfitters and kayakers are looking forward to a normal year, whatever that is . The snowpack hovers around 100 percent of average, and the flows are pretty standard for this time of year. The river should peak around June 10, and it should be good for Memorial Day.

No one’s taking those flows for granted after the last two years. In 2011, an historic snowpack turned the river into a monster, with high, fast flows, and last year’s barely-there snowpack not only killed the season early, it stopped it all together for a few weeks in May because of the wildfires. Outfitters lost a quarter of their business just from the closures, said David Costlow, executive director of the Colorado River Outfitters Association.

Outfitters fretted this year before the spring because the snowpack was low and the reservoirs were almost empty. Outfitters need both for a good year. The cool spring not only saved the snowpack, it preserved it until rafting season opened on May 15. “The outlook’s really changed in the last six weeks,” Costlow said. “The river didn’t really start running until last week, and last year, it was March and April. We’ll enjoy it until August at least. It’ll be great.”

Still, because of those fires, the Poudre Canyon as a recreation area and a water provider won’t be normal for quite some time, maybe a decade or more, despite the efforts of volunteers, city and county officials in northern Colorado and a nonprofit group that should start operating in June. The burn area is closed, and that includes some popular spots such as the Mount McConnel/Kruetzer and Young Gulch trails. But the closed area will shrink after July 1, when mulching operations are complete, said Reghan Cloudman, spokeswoman for the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and the Pawnee National Grassland. All campgrounds are open and will close only for the season, not because of the burn. The area commonly referred to as the “Crystal Wall” climbing spot is open. The Old Flowers, West White Pine and Monument Gulch roads remain closed.

Falling trees are a safety concern, both in burned and unburned areas that were hit by the pine beetle. Rolling and falling rocks can also become a hazard in the burned areas. Flash floods in the burn area are a great concern now, and those visiting the canyon should check the weather for potential rains that can trigger flooding.

Crews are already doing preliminary work on the Young Gulch, and volunteers should help complete some rehabilitation during designated days this summer, Cloudman said. Additional road and trail work will also take place.

If you do visit the canyon, you could see helicopters flying overhead. They are mulching approximately 4,700 acres of forest service land with agricultural straw to protect the soil from erosion, the water supply from runoff and the area from flash flooding. Larimer County hopes to use the $9 million expected from Emergency Watershed Protection funds to mulch about 4,000 more acres of private land, said Suzanne Bassinger, fire recovery manager, but that mulching, along with other projects, will have to wait until the money arrives. She hopes to start the work by mid-June.

Bassinger said she’s the only fire recovery manager in the state and, because of that, she’s still learning on the job. She’s frustrated by the lack of resources, both in manpower and money, to get the work going. “It’s surprising how hard it’s been to get the recovery moving forward,” she said. “We all had jobs and responsibilities in the city and county and this came on top of it all. It’s a large amount of work that needs to be done.”

Much of her work will help private landowners. About half of the burn was on forest service land and half was on private property. A lot of the immediate work includes the mulching and other projects to help with flood protection. Even then, the runoff means cities that draw water from the Poudre, including Greeley, will struggle with water quality for the next five years, Bassinger said.

That’s why the Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed will start work in June after the initial effort by non-profits and volunteer organizations who care about the river to monitor and coordinate recovery efforts. The mix of public and private land means “an alphabet soup” of agencies and private entities will be involved in restoration, and the coalition will help make sense of it all. “What if we did $30,000 worth of restoration, only to have a month later someone come along and rip up 300 yards of roadway?” asked Dick Jefferies, president of the Rocky Mountain Flycasters. “We hope to look at the big picture and coordinate all the efforts.”

The efforts also meant putting aside personal agendas. As an angler, fire can bring more nutrients into the river, and that can bring more bugs and, therefore, not only healthier fish but more of them. “But this has to do with 300,000 or 400,000 and their drinking water,” Jefferies said. “I have a biased perspective, but anyone who opens a tap to take a drink of water should probably be concerned about this.”

If sediment continues to run into the river, Greeley may have to stop using it again, as it did last summer, or clean it, which will be much more expensive, Jefferies said. There’s some speculation that it will cost a utility a million more dollars per year to treat it. But the restoration, such as mulching, could help with that, he said.

The Coalition plans to host several volunteer days to help control flooding and erosion. When the group was called the High Park Restoration Committee, it hosted 14 events with 785 volunteers to treat 185 acres of land.

It will take years for the Poudre Canyon to look the way it was before the fires. Bassinger visited the famous Hayman fire, which burned 138,000 acres 35 miles northwest of Colorado Springs 11 years ago, and the land still looks charred. The burned land up the Poudre looks the same, and it will for a decade, at least. But there’s hope, too. There were many areas licked, not consumed, by the flames. “With all the snow, it’s now green all over those areas,” she said. “It looks like Ireland.”

More Cache la Poudre River coverage here and here.

Parachute Creek spill: No benzene detected in creek on Tuesday and Wednesday #ColoradoRiver

From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Dennis Webb):

Tests showed no benzene in Parachute Creek Tuesday and Wednesday, in another sign that remediation efforts related to a natural gas liquids leak there are proving effective. Aeration treatment of the creek and groundwater “has done a good job,” Parachute town administrator Robert Knight said Thursday.

Williams estimates that about 10,000 gallons of natural gas liquids leaked this winter into soil and groundwater from a pipeline leaving its gas processing plant up the creek valley. It has been using air sparging and related methods to remove carcinogenic benzene in groundwater and the creek at a point 1,300 feet downstream where the benzene has been moving from the groundwater into the surface water.

Benzene in surface water once barely topped the state drinking water standard of 5 parts per billion (although the standard doesn’t apply to the creek), and for a time showed up at lower levels at a few points downstream. However, Williams noted in a recent update at its http://www.answersforparachute.com website that those benzene levels have steadily declined since May 2, although trace levels at the one measurement site had continued to linger. “Surface water samples from Parachute Creek indicate that Williams continues to make progress in its remediation efforts to remove benzene from a defined area of Parachute Creek, as well as from groundwater,” the company said in that update.

No benzene has ever been detected where Parachute diverts water for its town irrigation system farther downstream. Knight said diversions into that system began about two weeks ago. He said that with the success in efforts to clean up the creek, he’s not hearing any concerns from residents about the irrigation water.

Of greater concern to him is the low level of the creek due to the lack of snowpack, he said. The leak situation has raised questions about how benzene conditions might change when spring runoff occurs, but Knight said he flew over the creek watershed and the snowpack that feeds it already was gone. “We’re down to August levels. We haven’t even seen the creek rise,” he said.

As of last Friday, Williams had estimated that it had recovered about 6,766 gallons of the leaked natural gas liquids. It is projecting that a water treatment system it will use to remove and clean groundwater before returning it to the aquifer will be in service by June.

From the Glenwood Springs Post Independent (John Colson):

Two ranchers who live and work downstream from a natural gas liquids spill near Parachute Creek said on Wednesday that they remain concerned, but not alarmed, about the cleanliness of the water that flows past their ranches. The ranch owners, Sidney Lindauer and Howard Orona, live along Parachute Creek about three miles north of the Town of Parachute, on opposite sides of the creek. Both have previously voiced concerns about the cleanup of a large spill of natural-gas liquids about one mile upstream from their properties. The two have said they worried about the potential contamination of their domestic and irrigation water supplies from the spill, which according to state and industry officials has dumped tens of thousands of gallons of potentially toxic chemicals into the soils and groundwater near a natural gas processing plant owned by the Williams Midstream company…

Lindauer runs horses on a ranch that has been in his family for decades.

“I’d like to say they’ve cleaned it up,” said Lindauer on Wednesday, referring to the combined efforts of Williams Midstream and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE).

But he said he is skeptical about the wisdom of leaving the cleanup in the hands of the company that owns the facilities from which the liquids leaked. “We need an independent agency that isn’t associated with the industry, or any industry, to monitor that creek,” he said on Wednesday, lamenting that “they [the CDPHE] pretty much leave it up to Williams.”

He said he has seen unexplained layers of dingy, brownish foam on the creek’s surface in recent weeks, something he has occasionally seen in the past but in masses that were less dense than those he has spotted recently.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

The very hot and dry 2012 helped change Nolan Doesken’s approach to discussing climate change #COdrought

Nolan is one of my favorite people. I noticed in the past that he was cautious about mentioning climate change in his public talks. That changed as the High Park fire raged west of his office at Colorado State University, according to this article from Bobby Magill that is running in the Fort Collins Coloradoan. Click through and read the whole thing. Here’s an excerpt:

…after the High Park Fire swept the foothills in 2012, Doesken decided to talk more openly about the reasons behind Colorado’s changing weather when talking to the agriculture community. Doesken, Colorado’s state climatologist based at Colorado State University, said Tuesday that he never really feared talking about climate change, but it gave him pause…

Before the 2012 drought, Doesken rarely included many of his thoughts on human-caused climate change in his drought and water reports to Colorado’s agriculture and water communities.

“Some folks in my position have experienced certain amounts of persecution for speaking out boldly one way or the other,” Doesken said. “I have feared that at times in the past. I don’t fear it now.”

The future, Doesken often says, is full of uncertainty — variability in the weather will trend to the more extremes, with drier dry years and wetter wet years, sometimes back-to-back.

“What has come out of my mouth has never been driven by a fear of what somebody was going to say or do as a result,” he said. “It’s mostly been me thinking my way through a challenging subject, which is a polarizing topic that I want to communicate as clearly and understandably as possible without an agenda.”

The High Park Fire began to change how he talks about climate change, a story he told to a national audience for last weekend’s “This American Life” episode, which aired on radio stations across the country…

Climate data and nothing else strictly dictates what he reports, Doesken said. It’s hard to argue that carbon emissions are not behind climate change, he said, calling the science “very defendable.”

“If we know what we as a human race is doing could be fouling our nest, then the sooner we figure it out and do something different, the better,” he said.

Drought news: Denver Water’s rate payers get a one month reprieve from drought surcharges #COdrought

From the Denver Water Blog:

If you’ve been following our weekly posts, you’ve seen our snowpack and precipitation graphs jump upward after the April and May snowfall. This is great news for our water supply, which had been abysmal since July 2011.

As you probably know by now, the snowpack above the diversion points in Denver Water’s watersheds ended up below the average peak at 91 percent in the Colorado River watershed and 92 percent in the South Platte River watershed. We’ve also stressed the importance of May and June weather as it will impact how much mountain snow will make its way into our reservoirs as water. The wetter the better!

So what’s new? Today at its meeting, the Denver Board of Water Commissioners voted to delay drought pricing by one month. Why? Depending on how much water makes its way to our reservoirs, we may be in a position to change our drought response from Stage 2 to Stage 1, which would remove drought pricing entirely. But, we won’t make that decision until we have a better sense of our reservoir situation and summer conditions after runoff is over in late June or early July.

The temporary drought pricing was scheduled to appear on bills beginning in June to encourage customers to use even less water and help reduce revenue loss to maintain our treatment and distribution system. We’ve seen customers use even less water, thanks to their savvy water-saving habits and letting Mother Nature take care of watering this spring. And, we believe that by delaying the pricing, the benefit to customers outweighs the revenue we may lose in June. The last thing we want to do is put drought pricing in place, just to remove it if we change direction.

While it’s too soon to move to Stage 1 drought restrictions, we will continue to closely monitor conditions and remain flexible in our response.

From The Denver Post (Nic Turiciano):

Denver Water has some good news for customers worried about the cost of keeping their lawns green: The Denver Water Board of Commissioners voted at their meeting Wednesday to delay drought pricing by one month.

Stage 2 drought pricing, which raises rates for watering and aims to encourage less usage, was supposed to go into effect June 1. Denver Water users remain under Stage 2 drought rules, which dictate that customers water their lawns no more than two times per week and adhere to a strict schedule.

Denver Water may be able to eliminate all drought pricing and watering restrictions for the 2013 summer depending on precipitation during the month of June, according to spokeswoman Stacy Chesney.

From the Fort Collins Coloradoan (Bobby Magill):

Warm and dry weather may be about to take hold again for the time being as severe and extreme drought conditions keep their grip on much of Colorado, according to a drought report issued this week from the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University.

Northern Colorado is the only bright spot in the report. Eastern Larimer, western Weld and nearly all of Denver, Boulder, Clear Creek, Gilpin and Jefferson counties are merely “abnormally dry.”

Western Larimer County is considered to be in a moderate drought.

The quickly-melting mountain snowpack in the South Platte River Basin, which includes the Poudre River, is 125 percent of normal for this time of year, the best in the state, according to U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service data.

Most of the snowpack in southwest Colorado has already melted, contributing to ongoing severe drought conditions in the San Juan Mountains and much of the Western Slope.

Extreme and exceptional drought conditions continue to plague southeast Colorado.

The National Weather Service is calling for the drought to all but disappear between Denver and Fort Collins while improving in northeast Colorado and persisting through most of the rest of the state.

Governor Hickenlooper orders work to begin on Colorado Water Plan — draft due December 2014

From the Summit County Citizens Voice (Bob Berwyn):

Colorado water experts will try to figure out how to manage the state’s most precious resource in an era when all signs points to increasing shortages and the potential for growing conflicts within the state and the region over its allocation. Under an executive order issued this week by Gov. John Hickenlooper, the Colorado Water Conservation Board will lead the effort to address the growing gap between supply and demand. Especially worrisome is the gap in the South Platte Basin, the state’s most populous and at the same time, the most productive agricultural basin.

Hickenlooper acknowledged that the recurring drought could hasten the impacts of the gap between supply and demand, noting that the past two decades have been Colorado’s warmest on record, dating back to the 1890s.

More CWCB coverage here.

Weekly Climate, Water and Drought Assessment of the Upper Colorado River Region #ColoradoRiver

Click on the thumbnail graphic for the May month to date precipitation map. Click here to read all the summaries.

More Colorado River Basin coverage here and here.

Drought news: The CWCB May 2013 Drought Update is hot off the press #COdrought

Click here the read the update with graphics. Here’s an excerpt:

Activation of Phase 2 &3 of the State Drought Mitigation and Response Plan, and the activation of the Agricultural & Municipal Impact Task Force remain in effect to respond to ongoing drought conditions throughout Colorado.

Late April and early May storms brought increased precipitation in the northern portion of the state and continued cool temperatures helped to maintain snowpack. However, storms largely missed the southern half of the state, which is experiencing increasingly severe drought conditions. Storage remains below average throughout most of the state and water providers are preparing for continued drought conditions throughout the spring and summer.

Governor Hickenlooper activated the Municipal Impact Task Force on May 10th in response to dry conditions is portions of the state, below average reservoir storage and continued water restrictions by municipal water providers.

As of the May 14, 2013 US Drought Monitor, 100% of Colorado continues to experience some level of drought classification. There have been improvements along the northern Front Range and northeastern plains while conditions have declined to the south. D0 (abnormally dry) and D1 (moderate) conditions cover 28% of the state; while D2 (severe) covers 47% and D3 (extreme) accounts for an additional 9%. 16% of the state is now experiencing exceptional drought (D4), a slight increase from last month.

Spring snow storms brought significant gains in the snowpack to the Colorado and South Platte River basins, which both achieved near normal peak accumulation with 94 and 105% of the average peak snowpack, respectively. The Yampa/ White basin also had a near normal peak at 91% of normal. All three basins experienced later than normal peaks, by nearly two weeks. All other basins had less than normal peak snow accumulation. The lowest peak snowpack, as a percent of normal, was in the Upper Rio Grande basin (68%) while the Southwest basin had 74% of average. The Arkansas and Gunnison had similar peak snowpack accumulations of 73 and 76% of average respectively.

Despite recent gains in snowpack, municipalities and water providers are still responding to drought conditions with watering restrictions. The CWCB drought response portal http://www.COH2O.co continues to help individuals determine the restrictions in their specific community. Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District continues to hold the C-BT quota at 60%.

As of the first of May, statewide reservoir storage is at 74% of average. The highest storage levels are in the Yampa/ White River Basin, at 107% of average, while the lowest storage in the state is the Arkansas River basin at 52% of average. All other basins range from 54% to 88% of average. Last year at this time the state was at 112% of average reservoir storage.

Streamflow forecasts for the spring indicate below average streamflow across the state. The Colorado and South Platte have the highest streamflow forecasts ranging from 70-100% of normal, with forecasts better in the headwaters than downstream. Forecasts in the Colorado downstream of Glenwood drop to 62-68% of average. The lowest forecasts in the state are in the Upper Rio Grande, with flows ranging 24 to 54% of normal. The Southwestern basins and the Arkansas also have low forecasts ranging from 30-68% of normal.

Surface Water Supply Index (SWSI) values remain negative despite improvements in the north. Below average reservoir storage and low streamflow forecasts contribute to these values and data reflect conditions on May 1, 2013.

Colorado Tornado History from Brian Bledsoe #COwx

Here’s a blog post from Brian Bledsoe posted on KKTV.com. Click through and read the whole thing. Here’s an excerpt:

Strongest Tornado in Colorado History: This tornado occurred on November 4th, 1922. It started in southern Crowley County near Ordway and Sugar City before 5am. Yeah that’s right a big tornado that started in Colorado, in early November, before 5am. Crazy… Anyway, that tornado went on to move rapidly northward and struck the town of Holyoke around 9:30am. The distance as a crow flies between those two towns is about 180 miles and when you do the math, that twister was haulin’! It destroyed many farms/ranches along the way and when it struck Holyoke it killed one person. This is often a forgotten tornado when it comes to Colorado history. In typical Colorado fashion, a blizzard shut down Pueblo for that entire afternoon after the severe storms moved out that morning.

Say hello to CoRiverBasin.org — interactive mapping application for the Colorado River basin from Western Resource Advocates #ColoradoRiver

Here’s the release from Western Resource Advocates (Jason Bane):

With the Memorial Day Weekend just a few days away, Western Resource Advocates is proud to announce a new interactive online map of the Colorado River that helps everyone— from outdoor enthusiasts to casual explorers—to learn and understand more about the river that is truly the lifeblood of the entire Southwest. CoRiverBasin.org presents scenic points of interest, snowpack and river flow data, recreation businesses and other useful information on two interactive maps intended to engage and inform people of all ages.

“The helpful new interactive maps at CoRiverBasin.org illustrate our connection to the Colorado River and its importance in sustaining our outdoor recreation economy, irrigating our crops, and keeping our cities and towns running,” said U.S. Senator Mark Udall (D-Colo.). “Wayne Aspinall once said, ‘When you touch water, you touch everything.’ Nowhere is this more true than the Colorado River.”

The Colorado River is the most endangered river in the United States, according to the 2013 list of America’s Most Endangered Rivers®, and it is the primary source of water for 36 million people. Western Resource Advocates created CoRiverBasin.org to provide a visual understanding of how water from the river is used, through diversions to urban areas, water for power plants, and regular updates on snowpack and river flows.

“What I love about CoRiverBasin.org is that it lets the user determine how much information they want to see on the map,” said Bart Miller, Water Program Director at Western Resource Advocates. “This is truly a 21st century tool for a new way of thinking, and learning, about water issues. After all, there may be no more important issue than having clean water to drink.”

Western Resource Advocates has long advocated that water conservation and reuse should be the backbone of any plan for meeting future water demands in the Colorado River Basin. This is particularly critical in the face of climate change scenarios that experts agree will lead to increased frequency and severity of drought.

“CoRiverBasin.org shows how important the Colorado River is to businesses across the basin and beyond,” said Molly Mugglestone, Co-Director of Protect the Flows, a network of more than 800 businesses that depend on the Colorado River. “The tools on the site allow visitors to see a big picture view of the entire Colorado River Basin and how it connects into a $26 billion recreation economy.”

Added Senator Udall: “We need all the tools we can to better understand the demands we put on this precious resource and how to keep the Colorado River healthy and able to supply clean water to millions of Coloradans and Westerners.”

More Colorado River Basin coverage here and here.

Drought/snowpack news: The Western Governors’ Association supports reauthorization of NIDIS #COdrought

From You Colorado Water Blog (Carlee Brown):

Gov. John Hickenlooper and other members of the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) recently offered support for reauthorization of the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS). In letters to Senate sponsors of pending NIDIS legislation (S.376) and House Science, Space & Technology Committee leadership, the Western Governors emphasized the importance of this program for drought preparedness and response.

NIDIS provides a single, authoritative portal for drought information on its website, drought.gov. It coordinates observations and research from various federal, state and academic experts while providing a “one-stop shop” for the agricultural community, state water resource managers, private sector, media and others affected by drought…

Even with a wet spring, drought conditions still plague most of the state and will likely remain through the summer. Southern Colorado is particularly hard hit, where streamflow forecasts are at half of average levels.

Drought preparedness and response remains a priority for Western Governors, who will continue to work with Congress to ensure that NIDIS is reauthorized and that decision makers continue to have access to the best drought information available.

From The Durango Herald (Emery Cowan):

Though April brought more than 20 inches of snow to Colorado’s Front Range, Southwest Colorado has seen little of that spring moisture. And with a drier-than-normal winter coming on the heels of one of the driest years on record, this season is shaping up to be as bad as last year and possibly even worse for the region’s ranching and agricultural operations. Initial indicators show reservoir storage, field crops and native plants are going into the growing season in worse shape than 2012…

Large squares of supreme-quality alfalfa hay in Southwest Colorado are $230 to $245 per ton, according to the latest Colorado Hay Report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service. Two years ago, the prices ranged from $160 to $170 per ton. Prices increased dramatically as drought spread across the Southwest in 2012, but prices since have leveled out because hay consumers simply cannot afford to pay more than the current market price, said Randy Hammerstrom, officer in charge of USDA’s market news service. The tight hay market, combined with poor high-country and pasture grazing conditions has led many local ranchers to sell off part of their herds, said Chris Cugnini with Hi-Country Auction…

Meanwhile, local hay farmers expect to produce even less than last year in large part because of bleak irrigation forecasts. The region’s major reservoirs entered the water year with 24 percent to 69 percent less water than 2012 and then were hit with a season of below-average snowpack. Now, warm spring winds combined with dry soils are greatly depleting runoff flows…

Irrigators depending on McPhee, Lemon and Vallecito reservoirs are slated to receive a fraction of their allocated stored water – Vallecito Reservoir irrigators will get about 80 percent, McPhee Reservoir irrigators are expecting about 23 percent and Lemon Reservoir irrigators are expected to receive 35 percent. Florida Mesa farmers will receive irrigation water only through early to mid-July and will likely get just one cutting of hay, said Phillip Craig, a local hay farmer and president of the Florida Water Conservancy District’s board of directors. Eyeing current water forecasts, farmers have left fields fallow or planted crops such as oats that don’t take as much water as hay. Doug Thurston, a farmer on the Florida Mesa, said he will be able to irrigate about two-thirds of the number of hay acres that he was able to last year.

It can take years for crop yields to return to normal after a season or two of drought, Craig said. “It took us five years to recover from (the) 2002 (drought),” he said. “We’ve never gotten back to production we had pre-2002.”[...]

Researchers at Colorado State University have studied drought’s ripple effects. In a survey about last year’s drought conditions, 90 percent of respondents from Southwest Colorado reported below-average forage yields while 35 percent reported selling livestock in response to the drought. If the drought persists, 34 percent of Southwest Colorado respondents said there was a 50 percent or greater chance they will leave the industry in the next five years while a third suggested they sought additional off-farm employment in response to the drought.

From Denver Water:

Now that snow runoff season is well underway, we will continue to see the snowpack charts decline and the reservoir levels increase. But, we are always monitoring conditions, and even with the great late season snow storms we’ll need conditions to continue working in our favor to help our lagging reservoirs recover…

We know that the soil is extremely dry in these areas and will soak up as much moisture as it needs. And, even though runoff will continue to flow into our reservoirs, we’ll need wetter than normal weather throughout June to help our water supply conditions get back to normal.

There are also many benefits to the rain in our service area. Every gallon of water saved by not watering the lawn is another gallon saved in our reservoirs. Since the mandatory watering rules took place April 1, we’ve had enough snow or rain that there has been no need to water two days a week.

USGS: Deficit in Nation’s Aquifers Accelerating

Here’s the release from the USGS (Jon Campbell/Leonard Konikow):

A new U.S. Geological Survey study documents that the Nation’s aquifers are being drawn down at an accelerating rate.

Groundwater Depletion in the United States (1900-2008) comprehensively evaluates long-term cumulative depletion volumes in 40 separate aquifers (distinct underground water storage areas) in the United States, bringing together reliable information from previous references and from new analyses.

“Groundwater is one of the Nation’s most important natural resources. It provides drinking water in both rural and urban communities. It supports irrigation and industry, sustains the flow of streams and rivers, and maintains ecosystems,” said Suzette Kimball, acting USGS Director. “Because groundwater systems typically respond slowly to human actions, a long-term perspective is vital to manage this valuable resource in sustainable ways.”

To outline the scale of groundwater depletion across the country, here are two startling facts drawn from the study’s wealth of statistics. First, from 1900 to 2008, the Nation’s aquifers, the natural stocks of water found under the land, decreased (were depleted) by more than twice the volume of water found in Lake Erie. Second, groundwater depletion in the U.S. in the years 2000-2008 can explain more than 2 percent of the observed global sea-level rise during that period.

Since 1950, the use of groundwater resources for agricultural, industrial, and municipal purposes has greatly expanded in the United States. When groundwater is withdrawn from subsurface storage faster than it is recharged by precipitation or other water sources, the result is groundwater depletion. The depletion of groundwater has many negative consequences, including land subsidence, reduced well yields, and diminished spring and stream flows.

While the rate of groundwater depletion across the country has increased markedly since about 1950, the maximum rates have occurred during the most recent period of the study (2000–2008), when the depletion rate averaged almost 25 cubic kilometers per year. For comparison, 9.2 cubic kilometers per year is the historical average calculated over the 1900–2008 timespan of the study.

One of the best known and most investigated aquifers in the U.S. is the High Plains (or Ogallala) aquifer. It underlies more than 170,000 square miles of the Nation’s midsection and represents the principal source of water for irrigation and drinking in this major agricultural area. Substantial pumping of the High Plains aquifer for irrigation since the 1940s has resulted in large water-table declines that exceed 160 feet in places.

The study shows that, since 2000, depletion of the High Plains aquifer appears to be continuing at a high rate. The depletion during the last 8 years of record (2001–2008, inclusive) is about 32 percent of the cumulative depletion in this aquifer during the entire 20th century. The annual rate of depletion during this recent period averaged about 10.2 cubic kilometers, roughly 2 percent of the volume of water in Lake Erie.

More USGS coverage here.

Colorado-Big Thompson shares commanding a steep price as farmers deal with shortages and oil and gas demand #COdrought

From the Northern Colorado Business Report (Steve Lynn):

The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, which operates the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, doesn’t officially track water prices, but spokesman Brian Werner said water sales this year are registering at as much as $17,000 per share, or more than $28,300 per acre foot. Three years ago, prices were about $7,000 an acre foot. At Water Colorado in Fort Collins, a water brokerage, one client wants to sell 150 C-BT shares for $20,000 apiece, water broker Hannah Kleinhans said. The last C-BT transaction at Water Colorado involved shares sold for almost $16,000 recently…

Still another measure of water prices is how much cities charge developers. Greeley, for instance, requires developers to pay cash for water if developers can’t provide their own can’t provide their own supplies. This year, according to Greeley Water and Sewer Director Jon Monson, the city is charging $16,800 an acre foot, up from $9,300 in May 2010, an 81 percent increase…

In addition to high sale prices, Northern Water has seen rental prices of $400 per acre foot this year, said Dennis Miller, Northern Water operations manager. Rental prices still remain below the $650 per acre foot charged in 2003, another drought period.

Water experts say producers’ demand for water for oil and natural-gas drilling has led to higher rental and sale prices. “Those are the only people that can afford to pay that,” Miller said. “That’s what they’re willing to pay for it so that it doesn’t go to somebody else.”

Tom Cech, director of Metropolitan State University’s One World One Water Institute and former manager of Greeley’s Central Colorado Water Conservancy District, concurs with Miller’s view. “I think it’s going to be a challenge for many years, because the oil and gas industry is going to be placing demands on local water supplies for quite a while as they continue drilling and fracking,” he said. “So that will keep the price high for rental water.”

Governor Hickenlooper orders work to begin on Colorado Water Plan — draft due December 2014

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

Gov. John Hickenlooper’s charge to the Colorado Water Conservation Board to develop a state water plan could have the same sort of impact as the 1969 overhaul of state water law. “It is major, and truly significant,” said Alan Hamel, the Arkansas River basin representative on the CWCB. “There is the need to not only look out for growth, but to deal with climate change and the validity of our water systems.”

Hickenlooper unveiled an executive order last week at the board’s meeting in Grand Junction that directs the CWCB to deliver a draft plan to him no later than Dec. 10, 2014. It will be completed by Dec. 31, 2015. “Throughout our state’s history, other water plans have been created by federal agencies or for the purpose of obtaining federal dollars,” Hickenlooper said in his written order. “We embark on Colorado’s first water plan written by Coloradans, for Coloradans.”

While the order is no surprise — Hickenlooper has talked about having a plan in place by 2016 for months — it clearly defines the CWCB as the lead agency in developing the plan. Hickenlooper also incorporated other state agencies into the planning process, including the Department of Natural Resources, which includes Parks and Wildlife; the Department of Public Health and Environment, which includes the Water Quality Control Commission; the Water Resources and Power Development Authority, which like the CWCB can make water project loans; the Department of Agriculture; and the Colorado Energy Office, which will incorporate the water-energy nexus. The plan also directs the CWCB to include input from the Interbasin Compact Committee and basin roundtables, because they have developed a grassroots approach and a framework for discussing water issues.

However, the plan suggests a more top-down approach to coordinate, streamline and align existing state processes with input from state water groups — much the same way the CWCB used to create the Statewide Water Supply Initiative reports.

It also comes during a shakeup in CWCB leadership. Executive Director Jennifer Gimbel will leave in June and the selection process for her replacement has already begun.

The biggest major change in state water law came in 1969, when the state Legislature revamped the law to combine tributary groundwater and surface rights. Changes since then have been influenced by court decisions more than decisions by the executive branch.

Other sweeping changes came in 1937, when the CWCB was created in response to the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, and through sweeping federal programs like the Clean Water Act in 1972.

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

Storage must be a key part of any statewide water plan, because other goals such as conservation, more efficient supply and water quality cannot occur without it. “There is an underlying understanding that storage is needed and it will be a vital component of a state water plan,” said Alan Hamel, who represents the Arkansas River Basin on the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

The state has been looking at water strategies that include conservation, completing existing and proposed projects and sharing water. Those things can’t happen unless the state has enough places to keep water until it’s needed, Hamel said.

Hamel is just one vote on the board that Gov. John Hickenlooper has charged with developing a state water plan by 2016. But he has been a consistent voice for increasing storage since he led the push for the Preferred Storage Options Plan as president of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District in the late 1990s.

He mentioned a new idea for the Arkansas River basin during an interview this week: A summer storage program. In the 1970s, after Pueblo Dam was built as part of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project the Southeastern district crafted a winter storage program that allows farmers to store flows from Nov. 15 to March 15. The same concept could be used during extremely wet summers to capture and save water for both municipal and agricultural use, Hamel said.

The major difficulty in developing a plan is the state’s prior appropriation system, which allocates water according to its first historic use. Large storage projects like Lake Pueblo provide flood control by capturing excess water, but also decrease the peak flow of rivers, which can hurt junior rights. The key is to develop an accounting system, as the winter storage program did, that would protect junior rights, Hamel explained.

Hamel also pointed out that the CWCB already is working toward other aspects that eventually will be in the plan. One of those efforts is developing water-sharing arrangements, such as the Arkansas Valley Super Ditch, through demonstration projects under HB1248, already signed into law by Hickenlooper.

From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Gary Harmon):

Colorado water officials are to draft a state water plan by December 2014 under an executive order issued on Wednesday by Gov. John Hickenlooper. The plan calls on the Colorado Water Conservation Board to head the planning process, working with other state agencies, river basin roundtables and other organizations to preserve agriculture in rural Colorado and while accommodating population growth.

The water conservation board met Wednesday in Grand Junction.

“Colorado deserves a plan for its water future use that aligns the state’s many and varied water efforts and streamlines the regulatory processes,” Hickenlooper said in a statement. “We started this effort more than two years ago and are pleased to see another major step forward. We look forward to continuing to tap Colorado’s collaborative and innovative spirit to address our water challenges.”

Ute Water Conservation District General Manager Larry Clever said the response to the governor’s call was guarded. “The devil’s in the details,” Clever said.

According to the Statewide Water Supply Initiative, the gap between water supply and demand could exceed 500,000 acre feet by 2050.

The report is to be complete by 2015.

More CWCB coverage here.

‘Trouble on the Colorado River’ — Fort Collins Coloradoan #ColoradoRiver

Bobby Magill is a terrific writer. Click here to read his in-depth report on the current state of the Colorado River, running in the Fort Collins Coloradoan. Here’s an excerpt:

The Colorado River — the carver of the Grand Canyon and the chaotic stage for river runners in Glenwood, Westwater, Cataract and numerous other canyons — is bridled by urban growth from its headwaters at La Poudre Pass at the Larimer-Grand county border all the way to its dry delta in Mexico…

Top to bottom, the story of the Colorado River is one of a plumbing system for the west’s cities, farms and backyards — a story that is both national in scope and intensely local to Northern Colorado even though the course of the river itself never touches Front Range cities.

The first drops are stolen from the Colorado River by the Grand Ditch, which girdles the Never Summer Mountains near La Poudre Pass, diverting spring snowmelt into the Poudre River for the benefit of farmers far below on the plains.

A few miles south, Colorado River water filling Lake Granby and Grand Lake is piped beneath Rocky Mountain National Park to provide water to Fort Collins, Loveland, Boulder and other cities via the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. That project supplements the water Fort Collins takes from the Poudre River — a lifeline for the city after the High Park Fire dirtied Fort Collins’ Poudre River water.

Denver diverts even more water from the Colorado River, and as ongoing drought leaves the mountain slopes bare of snow, those who rely on the Colorado River farther downstream worry about what the river’s future means for them…

Nearly all Colorado River water managers agree that the river’s headwaters are likely to become hotter and drier as the climate changes, making flows more erratic and less predictable from year to year. So, the problem is this: Because 90 percent of the people who rely on the Colorado River for water live in the Southwest, but 90 percent of its water comes from Colorado and Wyoming’s mountains, the laws of supply and demand on the Colorado River don’t benefit Coloradans.

Sometime down the line — maybe 20 years, maybe 30 or more — Colorado residents may be forced to cut back how much of the river’s water they use if there isn’t enough water in the river basin to give Front Range cities the water they need while sending Colorado’s legal quota of water down the river to Arizona and California, said Eric Kuhn, general manager of the Colorado River District.

More Colorado River Basin coverage here and here.

Drought/runoff news: April and May moisture has helped but drought is still statewide #COdrought

From the Leadville Herald-Democrat:

Heavy snow in April and May have helped alleviate drought conditions in the Arkansas River basin and Colorado. However, that doesn’t mean the drought is over. That was the main message expressed by the four speakers at the Water Where? workshop on May 8. The workshop was sponsored by the Lake County Watershed Advisory Committee and Board of Commissioners.

Through April 1, the snowpack levels for the Arkansas Basin were looking dangerously low, said state climatologist Nolan Doesken. In fact, for most of the winter, snowpack levels were below last year’s levels. However, Doesken said, the heavy snows that started in mid-April and have continued into May helped boost the snowpack and put it near average levels. Doesken noted that the climate in the Arkansas Basin is highly variable and can change greatly over the course of a year or two.

For example, he said, above- average snowpack in 2011 pushed most reservoirs to above-average levels, but low snow pack in 2012 then greatly reduced those levels to below average. Right now, Doesken said, most forecasts indicate that drought indicators will persist in most areas of the state.

Parkville Water Manager Greg Teter echoed a similar sentiment. “The drought really isn’t over by any means,” he said. Like Doesken, Teter noted that variability of the snow pack in the area. “Every year has been so different for our water supply,” he said.

Teter spent some time explaining the Canterbury Tunnel, which the district brought into operation in November. Throughout its history, the district has had some issues with water supply around late winter, he said. Putting the tunnel online has helped alleviate some of those issues. “We’re so thankful to have that water,” Teter said.
Several speakers also touched on the state of local reservoirs. Kara Lamb, public involvement specialist for the Bureau of Reclamation, said that projections show that both Turquoise Lake and Twin Lakes should be just below their high-water marks sometime in May. Those reservoirs should stay around those levels throughout the summer, she added.

Lyle Whitney, water conservation specialist for Aurora Water, said that Aurora Water’s supply reservoirs are higher than last year, but still lower than average. The best-case scenario, he said, is that Aurora’s Water’s supply reservoirs, including Turquoise Lake, will be around 75 percent of normal at the end of the summer. “No matter where we are, it’s going to take several years to get back to normal,” he said.

From the Leadville Herald-Democrat:

Unseasonably cool and wet weather throughout April allowed Colorado’s snowpack to increase to near-normal accumulation totals. After an entire month of favorable storm tracks, May 1 snow surveys showed that the statewide snowpack percentage climbed to 83 percent of median from 74 percent of median measured on April 1, according to the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service.

“Those wet storms really improved our water supplies, especially along the Front Range and Upper Colorado River basin,” said Phyllis Ann Phillips, state conservationist with the NRCS. April is typically the month in which the snowpack in Colorado begins to melt and the runoff season begins. This season, peak snowpack totals for the state were not reached until April 24, more than two weeks later than the long-term average date of peak accumulation. Statewide maximum accumulation totals for 2013 ended up being 80 percent of the normal seasonal maximum.

The moisture-laden storm systems that moved through in April were mainly focused on northern Colorado, while completely missing the southwest portion of the state.

From the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):

Colorado Division of Water Resources Division 3 Division Engineer Craig Cotten reported to the Valley-wide water group, the Rio Grande Roundtable, yesterday that predicted annual flows on the Rio Grande and Conejos River systems are even lower this month than they were in April. If those predictions hold true, he added, that would make this the fourth lowest year in recorded history on both the Rio Grande and Conejos Rivers.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) decreased its May 1 annual forecast for the Rio Grande by 40,000 acre feet from what it had predicted on April 1, “a very big drop, and we were pretty low already,” Cotten said.

The new forecast from NRCS on May 1 for the Rio Grande was 295,000 acre feet, which is 45 percent of the long-term average, Cotten reported. The delivery obligation to downstream states based on the new forecast would be 74,000 acre feet. To meet that obligation the Valley is currently delivering 4 percent of the flow on the Rio Grande to New Mexico.

The current delivery obligation on the Conejos River system, however, is zero. As with the Rio Grande, NRCS on May 1 decreased its forecast for the Conejos River by 40,000 acre feet, down to 145,000 acre feet, which is 44 percent of the long-term average. If that prediction holds true, the Conejos will share with the Rio Grande in the fourth lowest year on record.

The obligation under the Rio Grande Compact for the 145,000-acre-foot forecast on the Conejos River system is 18,000 acre feet, which Cotten said will not be difficult to make, considering what has already gone downriver and what will be delivered during the winter months after the irrigation season is over.

“We are not currently delivering water off the Conejos,” he said. “It’s pretty much dry at Los Sauces.”

From the Cortez Journal (Luke Groskopf):

Early in 2013, the weather outlook for Southwest Colorado looked promising. Storms swept through Cortez at a steady clip. Snowpack levels in the San Juan mountains were the best in state. The parched Front Range, by comparison, was struggling. Conditions grew so bad that a 1,300-acre wildfire broke out near Fort Collins in the middle of March. While human-caused, the blaze was a grim reminder of how much destruction a careless human decision or isolated lightning strike can wreak during dry years.

But then relief came.

Late-season storms through April, and into May, have taken the edge off the drought in northern Colorado. As of May 3, the four northernmost river basins – Yampa/White, North Platte, South Platte and Colorado – were at or near 100 percent of average snowpack.

Temperatures have been kind to Colorado. Except in the very southwest corner and the San Luis Valley, temperatures were up to eight degrees below normal in April, according to the High Plains Regional Climate Center. The cooler air helped snow stick in the high country instead of melting quickly.

Agonizingly, the storms bypassed most of southern Colorado. From Cortez to Trinidad and into the Eastern Plains, towns have been left out to dry.

The Gunnison and Arkansas river basins sit at 75 percent of average snowpack, while the San Juan/Dolores basin is a meager 41 percent. The Upper Rio Grande is faring the worst, at 37 percent.

Local meteorologist Jim Andrus recorded only 0.22 inches of precipitation in April, about 25 percent of normal…

As of May 1, McPhee Reservoir’s active storage was only 49,000 acre-feet. Mike Preston, general manager for the Dolores Water Conservancy District, gave some context for how much projected inflow (runoff) has dropped. On Feb. 1, DWCD hoped for 205,000 acre-feet; at that level full-service irrigators would have, just barely, received their full water allocations, Preston said. By May 1, projected inflow plunged to 107,000 acre-feet, meaning only a 30 percent allocation supply.

“A month ago we were telling people not to count on any irrigation water in September. Now we’ll see how far we get into August,” he said. “It’ll depend how heavily farmers draw from their allocations early in the season, which is influenced on rainfall and other factors.”

From the Delta County Independent (Hank Lohmeyer):

The Cedaredge Town Board, acting on April 18, opted to move its water management regimen into official “Stage I” drought conditions. The move was expected following a very low 2011-12 water year that left reservoirs and springs that draw water from them in a low carryover condition into the current water year. Trustee Ray Hanson said, “We need to be pro-active on this.”

Uppermost in the town board’s consideration of drought conditions during an April 11 discussion of the subject was an abnormally low water equivalent content in the current Grand Mesa snowpack. Trustees noted the low water content at that time and low reservoir carryover during their April 11 work session. Also, the town public works supervisor recommended that the Stage I drought conditions be recognized now.

The trustees’ action took place just as a series of storm systems passed through the area raising hopes that water content might increase.

None of the proposed actions aimed at water consumers would be mandatory under the Stage I declaration, board members said. “It’s really just a voluntary kind of thing,” said Mayor Pat Means.

From The Norwood Post (Patrick Alan Coleman):

“It’s not looking so good in southwestern Colorado right now,” said CCC Research Associate Wendy Ryan. She explained that the CCC had considered recommending that the drought status for the region, currently categorized as severe, be downgraded to exceptional. However, due to a slight precipitation increase and below-average temperatures in late April, the CCC held off on recommending the change.

While the Front Range saw enough snow in April to boost the statewide average snowpack to over 90 percent of normal, the San Jauns saw little benefit from the weather systems that blanketed the eastern slope.

The most recent wet weather events in the region, which appeared the first full week of May, did deposit snow on the Uncompaghre Plateau and higher elevations. Unfortunately, the presence of dust layers from late-April storms, combined with a warming trend, will likely undo any benefits rather fast, Ryan said…

Recent data suggests that a predicted warming trend combined with dust will see the snowpack dwindling at a pace similar to that seen in 2012. With the snowpack only reaching 75 percent of normal in the region this year, the melt could go quickly. Compounding water woes is thefact that the region is seeing its second year of remarkable drought conditions. Melt from run-off will generally bolster the water supply in reservoirs and increase stream flow in average years. Due to last year’s dryness, the spring runoff isn’t reaching streams or storage…

While the snowpack and runoff has been poor, Ryan suggested that there was hope in the mid-to-late summer monsoonal flow. The three month precipitation outlook from the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center suggests that the region has a high probability for precipitation being below normal for the region through July. For the same period, temperatures had a high probability of being above normal.

Q&A with State Climatologist Nolan Doesken

The Fence Post is running a Q&A with Nolan Doesken. Click through and read the whole thing. Here’s an excerpt:

Q: You’ve been Colorado’s state climatologist for a number of years. Have the last couple years — with the 2011 record snowpack, the 2012 drought and the rapid bounce back in snowpack seen last month — represented the most extreme changes you’ve seen? How have other years compared to the volatility we’ve seen recently?

A: The flip flop from very, very wet (winter and spring 2011 and the high waters on the Yampa, Colorado, N. Platte and South Platte) to very, very dry (statewide in 2012) was definitely impressive.

The warmth of the 2012 spring followed by the cold this spring is surely attention grabbing.

In terms of back-to-back, year-to-year change, the high water of 2011 followed by low water in 2012 was the largest change in surface water supplies I’ve seen in such a short time (meanwhile both years were very dry in southern Colorado).

Vote Today in the 2013 Union of Concerned Scientists Editorial Cartoon Contest

Click here to vote. Great cartoons but the underlying message is not funny.

More education coverage here.

Searching for Colorado’s Water Future: Q&A with professor Mark Eiswerth

From Northern Vision from the University of Northern Colorado the introduction:

Colorado’s population is expected to reach 10 million residents by 2050. The projected increase, double what it was in 2008, along with competing water needs and periods of drought will present a challenge. “Even if water providers are completely successful in implementing [planned] projects, state water experts predict that we will meet only about 80 percent of the forecasted needs in the municipal and industrial sectors by 2050,” says UNC Economics professor and water expert Mark Eiswerth, who moderated a conversation on Colorado’s water future during a campus forum. Eiswerth elaborates on the topic, including solutions being discussed, in a Q&A at northernvision.unco.edu

NV: How does winter precipitation affect Colorado’s water resources in the summer?

Dr. Eiswerth: Our winter precipitation and snowpack levels play key roles in determining how much water will be available for use during upcoming summer seasons, as well as throughout the year. In Colorado, about 80 percent of surface water supplies originate from melting snowpack.

NV: What can the four main water stakeholders—agricultural, industrial, municipal and recreational users—do when confronted with an especially dry year?

Dr. Eiswerth: Generally, there are three alternatives to employ during the course of a dry year. First, agricultural, municipal and industrial users will rely to a greater extent on water storage supplies that we have accumulated in prior years, for example, in reservoirs and aquifers. However, this depends on the specific water rights of individual users—that is, exactly where they get their water. The second alternative is to use less water in a dry year (conservation). The third alternative is to transfer water from one sector to another. We have seen this in recent years in Colorado when water is transferred, in some fashion, from agricultural uses to municipal uses, either temporarily or permanently. None of these short-term options works for recreational water users who rely upon water flows in rivers and streams and who depend on current-year precipitation.

NV: Is Colorado in a drought? If so, can scientists predict how long it will last?

Dr. Eiswerth: Most scientists who follow these matters agree that Colorado is currently in its third consecutive year of drought—the worst since 1977—and its fifth year of below-average snowpack levels. Scientists have improved their ability to predict some types of trends but it still remains a very tricky business laden with a lot of uncertainty.

NV: What long-term solutions could help ease the effects of drought?

Dr. Eiswerth: In Colorado, institutions and processes have been developed to bring together different water stakeholders to discuss approaches that could reduce projected gaps between water supply and demand. At the level of river basins, there are Basin Roundtables and, at the state level, we have the Interbasin Compact Committee. These groups, with the support of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, are developing ways to better evaluate future uncertainties about water supply and demand. With these tools, they can examine how particular combinations of new water supply projects, conservation, and agricultural transfers might work to reduce water shortfalls in various scenarios, such as climate change and population growth. Although many people are working on these challenges, projected supply and demand gaps are still substantial. Even if we find a partial solution that would decrease the gap significantly, it is almost certain that not everyone would be happy with the approach.

NV: At the Community Conversation, more and bigger water storage reservoirs were discussed as a possible solution. Is this a promising and viable answer?

Dr. Eiswerth: Many who study the issue believe that, to sustain the projected levels of population growth along Colorado’s Front Range and, at the same time, minimize the dry-up of agricultural lands, it will be necessary to invest in more and bigger water storage reservoirs. In addition, building extra storage capacity helps keep more of Colorado’s water in Colorado in wet years, rather than allowing it to leave the state. Lastly, new reservoirs would offer new locations for recreation. At the same time, many citizens have concerns that new water storage projects could have adverse impacts on the rivers that would feed new reservoirs, including reduced streamflows and negative consequences for species, ecosystems, and the quality of river-based recreation. Some who oppose either new water storage or new water supply development may also have concerns that it would simply enable more population growth in Colorado, which some people oppose. Some observers are asking, “What is the maximum population that can or should be sustained in Colorado?”

NV: What does the future hold for Colorado’s water? Can we “run out?”

Dr. Eiswerth: The population of Colorado passed five million in 2008, and experts expect it to double to 10 million by 2050. This growth will be a major determinant of the need for additional water.

To address increasing demands, many water providers have developed Identified Projects and Processes (IPPs). Some of these fall into the categories I mentioned earlier—new water supply projects, conservation, and agricultural transfers—but other projects involve things such as the reuse of consumable water supplies or growth into existing supplies.

However, even if water providers are completely successful in implementing all of these projects, state water experts predict that we will meet only about 80 percent of the forecasted needs in the municipal and industrial sectors by 2050. If some of the IPPs are not implemented or are not successful, then the 20 percent municipal and industrial water supply and demand gap will be even larger and will be encountered sooner. It is, or should be, the job of policymakers to strive to balance the different, and sometimes competing, wants and needs of different citizens and stakeholders.

2013 Colorado legislation: Governor Hickenlooper signs HB13-1044 (Authorize Graywater Use) #COleg

From the Northern Colorado Business Report (Steve Lynn):

Rep. Randy Fischer, D-Fort Collins, and Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, introduced House Bill 1044. Hickenlooper signed the bill at Colorado State University on Wednesday. The bill directs the Colorado Water Control Commission to create statewide standards for gray water systems. It defines graywater as water coming from bathroom and laundry room sinks, bathtubs, showers and laundry machines. “Graywater does not include the wastewater from toilets, urinals, kitchen sinks, dishwashers or non-laundry utility sinks,” the bill states…

The new law lets cities, towns and counties decide whether to approve graywater use in residential and commercial settings.

More HB13-1044 coverage here. More 2013 Colorado legislation coverage here.

Arvada Insights — Drought

Colorado Springs Utilities video: Drought and our water supply

Drought/runoff news: The NOAA Monthly Climate Update is hot off the press #COdrought

Click here to view the briefing. Spoiler: 47.7% of the U.S. is experiencing drought conditions

From the Summit County Citizens Voice (Bob Berwyn):

California has reported its driest year to-date on record, with only 27 percent of normal precipitation for January through April. That doesn’t bode well for the state’s water supplies, although at least reservoir storage is close to normal in California. New Mexico and Nevada are in bad shape when it comes to reservoir storage and there’s little relief in sight at the end of the snow season. Forecasters with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said dry soil conditions in the southwest could contribute to higher than average temperatures this summer. During the monthly climate briefing from the National Climatic Data Center, the experts said they expect drought conditions to persist and perhaps worsen stretching westward from West Texas through New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California. Drought persistence is also expected in southeastern Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. More moderate drought conditions prevail across South Dakota westward through Wyoming, southern Idaho and parts of Oregon.

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

The good news: Snow has begun to melt.

The bad news: The snow has begun to melt.

The spring runoff is not bringing much relief to the parched Arkansas Valley, as reservoir levels continue to drop and streamflow projections show little improvement. “More junior water rights will come into priority next week,” Water Division 2 Engineer Steve Witte told the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District board Thursday.

That said, there was little good news for farmers. He could not say how long the rights would hold up, even though snowpacks have built up from mountain storms during the past month. The Bessemer, Oxford and High Line canals are running the last of their winter water stored over a record-low winter. Holbrook, Fort Lyon and Catlin have used all of theirs.

Running stored water has been problematic as well. The Buffalo Ditch, near the Kansas border, lost 56 percent of the water released from John Martin Dam, while Fort Lyon’s transit loss for water from Pueblo Dam was 35 percent.

The vast majority of wells in the valley remain curtailed, while ditches aren’t expecting much water.

“At this rate, we’ll be done by July 1,” said Dan Henrichs, superintendent of the High Line Canal. “There will be some water, but not enough to farm with.” Even with statewide snowpack near normal, and 83 percent in the Arkansas River basin, streamflow is expected to be just two-thirds of normal throughout the summer. Reservoir storage is half of normal in the basin, compared with 74 percent statewide.

David Mau, head of the local U.S. Geological Survey office, said the outlook for the next three months is for higher than normal temperatures and lower precipitation. “Fire conditions have eased, but the next 30 days will determine if that holds,” Mau said. “Soil moisture has shown a slight improvement, but it’s very bad right now.”

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

Every drop counts.

Mountain snowstorms in April doubled the expected yield of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project and have turned a bleak year for imports into a merely sub-par one. “I think that we’re very fortunate that we wound up with some extra water,” said Bill Long, president of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District.

The Bureau of Reclamation estimated on May 1 that 47,000 acre-feet of water will be brought over, meaning more than 37,000 acre-feet will be available for allocations. About 20,000 acre-feet will go to cities, and 17,000 to farms, a 54-46 split that has been shaped by years of complicated decisions.

But the Southeastern district will hold back 20 percent of that amount until mid-July just in case the yield falls short. And that’s a big concern in what has so far been a roller-coaster water year largely headed downhill. “I am concerned about a number of things,” said Jim Broderick, executive director of the district. “If the runoff comes too quickly, can we capture it? What are the limits to the Boustead Tunnel? Will we have the return flows for augmentation? . . . But, 37,000 is better than 12,000 acrefeet.”

Last year was the second-worst allocation in history, and this year was shaping up to be equally dismal. However, storms in April brought snowpack back to normal in the central and northern parts of the state — including the Fryingpan-Hunter watershed that the Southeastern district draws water from in the Upper Colorado River basin. The physical limitations of the Boustead Tunnel, coupled with legal obligations to leave water on the Western Slope, could reduce the yield of the Fry-Ark Project if runoff occurs rapidly. All indications are that it will melt fast as the weather is expected to be hotter and drier than usual through the end of July.

That’s not all of the story, said Roy Vaughan, manager of the Fry-Ark Project for the Bureau of Reclamation. “I’ve seen a good monsoon keep the tunnel full for three days,” he said, adding that much of the snowpack is at higher elevations not recorded by official measurements.

From the Sky-Hi Daily News (Reid Tulley):

The ice melt is a week or so behind when ice normally melts off of the area’s reservoirs due to colder temperatures during the beginning of May and late April, according to Noble Underbrink, Northern’s collection systems manager at the Farr Pump Plant on Lake Granby. The historical average date that ice is off of the area’s lakes and reservoirs is April 30, according to Underbrink. Willow Creek Reservoir and Lake Granby currently have no ice on them and the ice on Grand Lake and Shadow Mountain Reservoir is quickly depleting. In 2012, the lakes and reservoirs in the area were free of ice by April 9, and in 2011, ice was gone by May 8.

2013 Colorado legislation: Governor Hickenlooper signs HB13-1044 (Authorize Graywater Use) #COleg

From email from Governor Hickenlooper’s office:

Gov. John Hickenlooper signed 12 bills into law today and yesterday…

HB13-1044, Authorize Graywater Use, Fischer/Schwartz, Concerning the authorization of the use of graywater.

More HB13-1044 coverage here. More 2013 Colorado legislation coverage here.

Sand Creek spill: The South Platte is still testing positive for Benzene downstream of the spill

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

Dealing with the Suncor spill north of Denver, detected in November 2011, still ranks among the toughest environmental challenges in the region. Another oil and gas industry spill this year tainted Parachute Creek in western Colorado with benzene. Spills from industry pipelines and storage facilities at 12 other locations have contaminated groundwater with benzene, prompting state health department orders for corrective action. About 20 percent of the 300-400 oil and gas spills reported annually to state commissioners reach groundwater.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is pressing companies responsible for the big spills to quickly remove all benzene from soil, water and air. But a review of Suncor case documents and interviews show that, even though benzene technically is easier than other toxic chemicals to remove, full cleanup can be complicated and slow…

CDPHE officials have identified a broken “dead-leg” pipe beneath a storage tank as the source of the Suncor spill. It was capped in February 2011, yet liquids that flowed from that pipe into an underground toxic plume continue to foul surface water in Sand Creek, which flows into the South Platte. Benzene-laced groundwater also has spread in other directions: along the concrete-lined Burlington irrigation ditch, beneath the adjacent Metro Wastewater Plant and under the bed of Sand Creek. The plume does not reach the river directly. The overall size is said to be stable or shrinking. But the levels of benzene — a widely-used a chemical contained in petroleum, known to cause blood cancer — this month remained around 33 parts per billion in the South Platte, state data show. The federal safe drinking water standard is 5 ppb. The river concentrations are down from 45 ppb in April and about 240 ppb a year ago. One mile downriver, the benzene dissipates to around 4 ppb, and 3 miles downriver the level is negligible. In Sand Creek, however, benzene remains significantly elevated, according to the data that comes from tests done by Suncor contractors…

Since 2011, he and other CDPHE officials have issued Suncor at least 10 formal orders to complete about 200 actions, including repairs near another storage tank. Today, underground walls of clay have been built around nearly half the known perimeter of the plume. Suncor crews have removed more than 1.2 million gallons of liquid hydrocarbons from trenches that crews dug after the spill was revealed. “The footprint of the contamination continues to shrink. The extensive remediation systems Suncor has designed and installed … are working effectively to reduce the contamination,” company vice president John Gallagher said in an e-mailed response to queries. “It is unlikely that there are other underground sources of contamination of a size that would reverse the positive trend we are seeing.”[...]

CDPHE officials in recent months have ordered the installation of more walls, monitoring wells to track toxic plumes, and aeration systems that suck benzene vapors from soil. More than 100 aeration wells have been placed between the refinery and Metro Wastewater, where required construction projects are in progress. Extracting benzene from soil is tricky because this transfers toxic material into the air. State air officials recently ordered Suncor to install emission controls, including charcoal filters, to minimize air pollution. They’ve directed Suncor to apply for an air pollution permit.

The CDPHE team also is demanding documentation of when and how broken pipes near storage tanks were repaired, including work orders. And CDPHE has ordered Suncor to hire an independent auditor to review its system for maintaining and inspecting storage tanks.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Runoff news: The Eagle River jumps 1,000 cfs since the weekend #COdrought

From The Denver Post (Scott Willoughby):

After winter’s late run put spring on ice into May, temperatures in the high country have suddenly spiked, triggering a rise in river levels as a massive meltdown gets underway. The Eagle River below Beaver Creek Resort, for example, rose roughly 1,000 cubic feet per second since the weekend. Below the Eagle’s Confluence with the Colorado, the increase in water flow was more than 1,500 cfs. Similar spikes can be seen on the Yampa, White, Roaring Fork and other freestone rivers across the state…

Although the upper Arkansas River is rising steadily, the promised recreational rafting releases of 700-plus cfs have yet to arrive for the summer and the river has been fishing well. As the snowmelt pushes into late May, however, members of the Arkansas River Outfitter Association say they expect runoff to crank up soon and linger a little longer.

“A key factor that plays out in May just about every year is the changing of the sun angle on the high elevation snowfields,” said Bob Hamel, owner of Arkansas River Tours. “This brings down whatever snow is there, no matter the amount of snow that is present. Of course other factors contribute like wind, dust in the snowpack, etc. Front Range weather is not always indicative of what is occurring up high. That is why we are keenly observant of the high elevation and monitor headwater Snotel sites.”