Here’s the State of the State address from Governor Hickenlooper’s office (Eric Brown). Here’s an excerpt:
John B. Stetson left Pennsylvania in the early 1860s, suffering from tuberculosis, and came west. He soon found himself panning for gold in the Colorado Rockies. Fierce storms, without warning, would come up over the mountains and drench the mining camp. Mr. Stetson saw a problem in need of a solution, and he had a unique skill. His father had taught him hatting as a kid, and he made a felt hat that could protect him from wind and cold. The other miners were envious. One fellow bought the hat right off his head for a $5 gold coin. A business was born. By 1906, Mr. Stetson was selling 2 million hats a year. Cowboys would sleep on their Stetson or bend it to provide better visibility. They would fill the hat up with water – ever heard of the 10 gallon hat? – because it was water proof on the inside. Cowboys still do this … and even a smattering of our legislators…
…costly litigation and endless court battles have characterized the state’s water policy over many years – the Interbasin Water Roundtable Process represents a better way forward. The process created a historic agreement announced last year between Denver and the Western Slope…
We must preserve Colorado’s great landscapes, protect the state’s water and keep the air clean. Not just because this will attract businesses, but also because it is part of our moral obligation to future generations.
More 2012 Colorado legislation coverage here.
San Luis Valley: Steve Vandiver — ‘The commodity markets are going to drive this (retiring acreage irrigated by groundwater)’
January 12, 2012
Farmers and the Rio Grande Water Conservation District have been working for a number of years now on rules for groundwater sub-districts that will incent farmers to remove land irrigated from the Valley’s aquifers. The Colorado Supreme Court recently blessed their work so all is well, right?
The short answer is nope. Senior surface irrigators are still claiming injury and now, it appears, high commodity prices are affecting farmers decision process when it comes to removing acreage from production.
Here’s a report from Brett Walton writing for Circle of Blue. Click through and read the whole article. Here’s an excerpt:
Simply put, the San Luis Valley no longer has enough water to support the abundant farm production that is becoming increasingly supercharged by rising prices for the crops grown here.
There may be a way out. Water officials in the region’s six counties are working with the federal government on a voluntary plan that would pay farmers to take land out of production. If things turn out as planned, up to 16,000 hectares (40,000 acres) of the valley’s roughly 240,000 irrigated hectares (600,000 acres) will not be farmed.
Though it is still being negotiated, the plan has a significant obstacle: the explosive rise in food prices, which are making the sums offered by the water-conservation program less enticing. Prices for the valley’s mainstay — potatoes — have increased 25 percent in the last five years. Wheat, alfalfa, and barley prices have done even better, more or less doubling over the same period.
“The commodity markets are going to drive this,” said Steve Vandiver, the general manager of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, in an interview with Circle of Blue. “If prices stay high, it’s going to be harder to get farmers to sign up.”
If the voluntary program does not work, Vandiver went on to say, the result would be worst for farmers. The state, he said, would then step in — like it did in not long ago in the nearby South Platte Basin — and force well owners to shut down, without compensation. “We’re trying to keep that from happening here,” he said. “We’re trying to provide a soft landing.”[...]
Climate change plays a role in the new river patterns, Gibson told Circle of Blue. Wind storms from the deserts in Arizona and New Mexico are more frequent, and they drop dust on the mountain snowpack, which is the primary water source for the valley’s rivers. The warming effect of the dust, combined with higher temperatures, means that the spring melt has moved several weeks earlier in the year. With a longer dry period in the summer, more groundwater is required to balance the changes in the river.
New reservoirs to store the altered flows are prohibited under a compact between Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, Gibson told Circle of Blue, but existing reservoirs are being renovated to maximize their storage capacity.
From the Canyon Courier (Vicky Gits):
Aerating the lake during the summer months is expected to increase dissolved oxygen at the bottom of the lake, help lower the lake’s water temperature, produce cooler water going downstream over the dam and help reduce the amount of lakeweed or elodea in the water.
“The biggest concern we have is dissolved oxygen at the bottom of the lake,” said Gerry Schulte, executive director of the [Evergreen Metro District]. “If there isn’t enough (oxygen), the fish have a hard time, and it results in a process that releases iron and manganese into the water, and that creates a bigger treatment problem,” Schulte said.
The diffused aeration system is expected to increase dissolved oxygen concentrations. The new system is projected to run 10 hours at night only and recirculate the entire body of water every two days. The only visual effect will be bubbles on the lake.
Similar systems are currently at the wastewater plant in Kittredge and the Bear Creek reservoir east of Morrison. The Cherry Creek Water Authority is installing one in the Cherry Creek reservoir as well.
Aqua Sierra Inc. of Morrison will provide and install the equipment, which consists of eight underwater diffuser modules placed at an average depth of 20 feet or more. Modules will be placed 100 to 700 feet from the edge of the dam in the deepest part of the lake.
In addition to increasing the amount of dissolved oxygen, aeration is expected to counteract the heat-related water quality issues that occur in the summer months by creating a more constant temperature from top to bottom of the lake. So when the sun is out, it heats the top layer of water. The top layer goes over the dam and contributes to higher downstream temperatures.
More Bear Creek watershed coverage here.
From the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):
Currently snowpack in the Rio Grande Basin (the Valley) is at [86] percent of normal according to Colorado Division of Water Resources Assistant Division Engineer Matt Hardesty who gave an update on water issues to the Rio Grande Roundtable on Tuesday. He said early snows in November and December brought the basin-wide snowpack to more than 100 percent in December, but the trend did not continue, so the snowpack is only [86] percent of normal at this time. He added that the 90-day forecast would not likely affect that percentage much, either. “We are in a weak La Niña they predict to last a couple of months so I don’t expect much difference,” Hardesty said.
On a brighter note, however, he said Colorado appears to have ended the 2011 year with a slight over delivery of Rio Grande Compact water to downstream states, “which is where we like to finish the year.” Both the Rio Grande and Conejos River systems appear to have over delivered to the compact by a slight margin, he said. He particularly commended the Conejos River water users for cooperating with the state water division in making sure compact obligations to downstream states were met.
From the Summit County Citizens Voice (Bob Berwyn):
Right now, for example, the buzz is about a shift in the storm track, which sometime next week is supposed to start moving across the country in a zonal west to east flow. Out in California, where they need the moisture even more than we do, there is some anticipation that the realigned storm track may start to deliver some moisture. Here’s the official word from the National Weather Service forecasters in Grand Junction:
“SIGNIFICANT HEMISPHERIC PATTERN CHANGE AS WE SAY GOOD RIDDANCE TO THE BLOCKING HIGH PRESSURE THAT HAS DOMINATED THE PATTERN FOR SEVERAL WEEKS. THIS DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN THAT WINTER STORMS WILL BECOME FREQUENT OVER THE WESTERN SLOPE…BUT DOES IMPROVE OUR CHANCES OF RECEIVING SOME MOUNTAIN SNOW DURING THE EXTENDED PERIOD.”
The reality is that this winter has on the cusp of being one of the warmest and driest in recent memory. Snow cover is only present across about 19 percent of the U.S. (excluding Alaska); normal for this time of year would be 50 percent. Last week, more than 1,000 locations set high temperature records. Bellingham, Wash.hit 60 degrees in the first week of the year and Fargo reached 44 degrees. In some regions of the Midwest temperatures are 40 degrees higher than average.
Commerce City: Ban on hydraulic fracturing not in the cards
January 12, 2012
Update: Barbara Green has posted a correction in the comments below.
From The Denver Post (Monte Whaley):
About 100 people wary of extraction operations near their homes listened quietly as they were told any effort to outlaw those procedures would likely be overturned by a judge. Attorney Barbara Green also said there is little a city can do to regulate the chemicals used during hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. But cities can have a say over the impacts a fracking well will have on local wildlife and other environmental concerns, Green said…
Green was part of a panel of experts who spoke on the issue of fracking, which is becoming more popular with energy companies as they try to nudge oil and gas out of shale rock deep underground…
Debbie Baldwin, environmental manager with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, told residents that oil and gas operations in Colorado are heavily regulated and that it’s highly unlikely fracking will contaminate groundwater. Jim Jones, general manager of the South Adams County Water and Sanitation District, said fracking operations in the east part of Commerce City likely won’t affect potable water on the west side of the city.
Meanwhile, residents packed an Erie town hall meeting about hydraulic fracturing recently. Here’s a report from John Aguilar writing for the Boulder Daily Camera. From the article:
Scientists and regulators from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, Encana Corp. and the Sierra Club took to the podium in front of a Town Hall board room packed to standing and spilling over into a side room.
Several town trustees mentioned the possibility of imposing a 120-day moratorium on new drilling applications so the town could further study the issue, but no action was taken by the end of the night. Instead the board said it would direct town staff to deal with future drilling applications on a well by well basis and ask for specific restrictions, such as larger setbacks or water and air monitoring, when necessary…
At the heart of Tuesday’s meeting was a proposal from Encana to drill eight wells and use hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — to extract gas at a site near Red Hawk Elementary and Erie Elementary…
[Angie] Nordstrum and other opponents of fracking — the practice of pumping fluid underground at high pressure to crack rock and release oil and natural gas — argue that the chemicals used and the pollutants emitted during the process are causing serious medical issues, such as asthma and gastrointestinal distress. She said an entire street of residents in her neighborhood have reported feeling ill, and the effects are particularly pronounced in children. Erie, she said, should demand that fracking chemicals, some of which have been cited as carcinogenic, be proven safe in third-party scientific studies before any more drilling is allowed. “This is a heinous science experiment unfolding outside our students’ classroom windows,” she said. “We don’t want our children to be the canaries in the natural gas mine.”[...]
Town Attorney Mark Shapiro explained that Erie’s hands are essentially tied with regard to regulating oil and gas drilling as the industry is under state jurisdiction. Municipal rule-making, he said, is limited to enforcing land use issues, like noise controls, lighting mitigation and operational appearance.
But April Beach, who counts herself a part of Erie Rising, said the town can pursue a ban on drilling, as has happened in other municipalities across the country. She said her group would remain active in the fight against drilling and fracking.
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
The Arkansas Basin Roundtable agreed to seek another $76,000 toward an engineering tool that is expected to reduce water court costs related to Super Ditch. The Colorado Water Conservation Board has already approved a grant of $121,000 toward the study, while local water agencies are providing another $157,000 in in-kind services, said Terry Scanga, general manager of the Upper Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District. “This is a fallowing accounting and administration tool that is designed to reduce transaction costs in water court for objectors and proponents of a lease-fallowing program,” Scanga said. “Lease programs are different from applications to buy and dry. We need a way to assess historic use and impacts to the river.”
Conservancy districts, municipal users, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and state agencies are all interested in developing a common platform to assess the impacts. If a change of use application is filed by Super Ditch in water court, it would cut across as many as seven ditches and perhaps individual farms within those ditches, Scanga said…
The additional $76,000 is to compile documentation that could be used in water court…
One major hurdle will be accounting for winter water, while operating under a court decree to store water in valley reservoirs during winter months for use later, [Dan Henrichs, superintendent of the High Line Canal] said. Winter water can affect the timing of return flows because it is used in different ways — sometimes to start a crop, sometimes to finish one. In certain years, some of the winter water stored in Lake Pueblo is carried over for use in the next year. Much of the water is stored in ditch company reservoirs without a prescribed date of release.
NIDIS Weekly Climate, Water and Drought Assessment Summary of the Upper Colorado River Basin
January 11, 2012
Click on the thumbnail graphic to the right for the precipitation map for the first week of 2012. Here’s the link to the summaries from the Colorado Climate Center.
Here’s an explanation of the uncharacteristic winter weather pattern from Discovery News (Emily Sohn):
Several forces are at work, experts say. To begin with, La Niña conditions have pushed warm water toward Australia in the western Pacific, leaving ocean waters off the American West coast about 5 degrees F colder than usual. As a result, moisture levels are currently low in the atmosphere from California to Washington State.
To understand why, you can think of a La Niña-dominated Pacific like a cold bathtub, said Jeff Weber, a climatologist at the University Corp for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. Compared to a hotter and steamier vat, water is less likely to evaporate from a chilly ocean. And since weather patterns generally move west to east, very little rain or snow is falling from the jet stream right now. La Niña also pushes the jet stream northward, so that it flows near the border between Canada and the United States.
A widespread lack of snow cover explains the recent spell of high temperatures, Weber said. Snow normally acts to reflect the sun’s energy, adding more moisture to the air and causing even cooler conditions. Without snow on the ground, though, exposed brown soils and green grasses are absorbing solar radiation, warming the ground, and feeding back into exceptionally warm temperatures from Michigan to California’s Sierra Nevada mountains.
But last winter was a La Niña year, too, and conditions couldn’t have been more different — with massive and relentless snow storms pounding much of the West and Midwest. It turns out that, even though La Niña and El Niño get all the press, they are not the only drivers of seasonal weather patterns.
“A few months ago, just about everyone was predicting colder and snowier for northern tier states based on La Niña,” Douglas said. “We are discovering that every La Niña is different. And there are larger forcings on the atmosphere that really transcend anything La Niña can do.”
There are two forces that have made the difference between last year’s relentless series of snowmaggedons and this year’s January blooms. They are the Arctic Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation, and they work together like gears to alter jet stream patterns across the U.S.
NRCS: January 1 Basin Outlook Report is hot of the press
January 11, 2012
It’s the time of the year when irrigators and water suppliers keep one eye on the sky, hoping for a copious snowpack everywhere across the state, so that conversation can center on how much water Colorado bypassed to other states rather than on allocating a short supply.
The January 1, 2012 Basin Outlook Report from the Natural Resources Conservation Service was made available for download today and many water wonks are not going to like what they see. Remember, the NRCS maintains that they can forecast runoff to within 10% based on the data they collect from selected snow courses around the high country so many rely on the forecast for planning purposes. It’s going to be a dry year, so far.
Click on the thumbnail graphic for the streamflow forecast map.
Here’s an excerpt from the report:
Summary
The water year got off to a good start with October posting 136 percent of average precipitation. Since the end of October, statewide year-to-date precipitation has fallen to 86 percent of average. January 1 snowpack totals for Colorado are also below average at 71 percent of average. This year the southern basins in Colorado have received more frequent storms than the rest of the state resulting in near average snowpack conditions in those basins. Reservoir storage remains in good condition across most of the state. The combined average for Colorado reservoir storage is 105 percent of average as of January 1. Early season runoff forecasts call for below average runoff for most of the state with the streamflow in the southern basins projected to be nearer to average. This month’s Water Supply Outlook Report is compiled using precipitation and snowpack data provided by SNOTEL sites only. With a little luck, the jet stream will shift and provide a more favorable storm track for the rest of the season.
Snowpack
Snowpack totals are below average in all major river basins in Colorado as of January 1. Statewide, snowfall has been below average each month since the start of the water year. While precipitation during the month of October was well above average, temperatures were too warm to allow that precipitation to be stored in the snowpack. In late November, concerns about lack of snowpack across Colorado increased as most of the storms tracked either north or south of the state. In general the jet stream has tracked to the north of the state which has allowed the weather to be dominated by high pressure. As of January 1 the snowpack was measured at 71 percent of average which is 52 percent of the snowpack measured this time last year. With 60 percent of the winter snowpack accumulation season remaining a lot can still happen. The state needs above average snowfall for the next three to four months to return conditions to normal before spring and summer runoff begins.
Precipitation
Precipitation across Colorado’s high county was well above average for the first month of the 2012 water year. Statewide total precipitation during October was 136 percent of average. November was a somewhat drier month across with 80 percent of average precipitation reported at SNOTEL sites across the state. Total precipitation amounts for the month of December were considerably lower than the previous months at just 52 percent of average. Only the Upper Rio Grande basin reported above average precipitation for December with totals at 101 percent of average. Northern basins reported notably below average precipitation for the month of December. The Yampa, White and North Platte basins received only 28 percent of their monthly precipitation average in December, and the Colorado River basin recorded just 32 percent of its average December precipitation. Despite December precipitation measuring well below average statewide, the above and near average precipitation totals during the previous two months has somewhat compensated; leaving year-to-date precipitation for Colorado at 86 percent of average. The Yampa, White and North Platte basins recorded 75 percent of average year-to-date precipitation as of January 1 and the Colorado basin was at 72 percent of the year-to-date average. The Arkansas, Upper Rio Grande, combined San Miguel, Dolores, Animas and San Juan basins all report year-to-date precipitation totals equal to or slightly above average as of January 1.
Reservoir Storage
Reservoir storage across Colorado continues to track near the mid-winter average. Statewide storage on January 1 was 105 percent of average and was 105 percent of last year’s storage volumes reported at this same time. Broken down by basin the Colorado, South Platte and combined Yampa, White and North Platte basins all reported above average reservoir storage on January 1. Likely a lingering effect of the above average streamflow volumes recorded in those basins last spring and summer. The Gunnison, Arkansas and combined San Juan, Animas, Dolores, and San Miguel basins all reported near or slightly above average storage for January 1. The only basin in the state reporting below average reservoir storage is the Rio Grande which was at 64 percent of average on January 1.
Streamflow
At this point in the water year streamflow volumes are forecast to be below average statewide. The only forecasts issued that predict average or above average conditions for this spring and summer are located in the Arkansas River basin. Forecasts for the Purgatoire and Huerfano Rivers located in the lower portion of the Arkansas basin were at 106 and 100 percent of average respectively as of January 1. April to September runoff forecasts for streams located in the Upper Rio Grande basin range from 73 percent to 99 percent of average. The forecasts for the Colorado, Gunnison, Yampa, White, and North Platte and the San Miguel, Dolores, Animas, and San Juan basins are all in the 60 to 85 percent of average range. The South Platte basin faired a little better with April to July forecasts ranging from 68 percent of average for Bear Creek at Morrison to 95 percent of average for the Inflow to Antero Reservoir. At this point above average snowfall is needed for the remaining winter months to improve runoff conditions for the state this spring and summer.
Here’s the release from Environment Colorado (Heather Kryczka/Patrick Stelmach):
Elected Leaders, Local Farmers, Business Owners Speak Out for Cleaner Colorado Waterways
WHAT: Environment Colorado will release letters of support from over 100 Colorado elected officials, farmers, and businesses who are urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to safeguard the Colorado River, the South Platte River and waters across Colorado and the country from pollution.
After more than a decade of risk for waterways such as the South Platte, the Colorado, the Arkansas and other rivers nationwide, Environment Colorado is urging President Obama to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act by restoring critical protections to these waters immediately through final guidelines and a new standard.
WHEN: Thursday, January 12th, 12:30 pm
WHERE: Colorado State Capitol, west side steps, Lincoln Street
between 14th and Colfax AvenuesSpeakers:
James Martin, US Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8 Administrator
Dominick Moreno, Mayor pro tem, Commerce City
Bill Dvorak, Dvorak Expeditions, Owner
Alex Manzo, Confluence Kayaks, Owner
Patrick Stelmach, Environment Colorado, Field Organizer
Heather Kryczka, Environment Colorado, Field Organizer
More Colorado River basin coverage here.
NSAA Litigates Forest Service Water Rights Clause
January 11, 2012
Here’s the release from the National Ski Areas Association (Troy Hawks):
The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) filed a lawsuit in Federal court in the district of Colorado today against the U.S.D.A. Forest Service (USFS) to challenge a new water rights clause that results in an unconstitutional taking of property.
“We greatly value our longstanding and successful partnership with the United States Forest Service in delivering outdoor recreation experiences for millions of Americans that are unmatched in the world,” said NSAA President Michael Berry. “As always, we will continue to work positively and cooperatively with the agency to provide these opportunities on public land, but water rights are simply too critical and valuable to our operations not to defend ourselves against this outright taking of private property by the U.S. Government.”
The controversial water rights clause requires ski areas operating on Forest Service land to transfer ownership of many types of water rights to the United States government, including water rights that have been purchased with private dollars by ski areas for business operations. From NSAA’s view, requiring ski areas to transfer ownership or limit the sale of water rights without compensation is no different than the government forcing a transfer of ownership of gondolas or chairlifts, grooming machines, or snowmobiles without compensation—except for the fact that water rights are significantly more valuable than these other ski resort assets.
NSAA’s lawsuit should be a wake up call for cities and counties and other entities that have invested in the development of water rights that are in any way associated with National Forest System lands. Because of the significant percentage of water that originates on National Forest System lands, this change in policy could impact other water owners including cities and counties, owners of recreation residences, marinas and summer resorts, ranchers, mining interests and utilities.
The new water clause also poses a threat to the current system of state allocation and administration of water rights. The Forest Service acted unilaterally in changing its policy, and did not consult with states on its impacts on the state system of allocation and adjudication of water rights.
Prior to litigating the matter, NSAA urged the agency to set aside the controversial water clause and start over on a clause that was within the bounds of the law and protected all parties’ interests. NSAA was not alone in making this request, as Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), Sen. James Risch (R-ID), Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO), Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (D), Colorado representatives Scott Tipton (R) and Jared Polis (D), Doc Hastings (R-WA), Chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, Frank Lucas (R-OK) Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, Mike Simpson (R-WY), Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment, and Jack Kingston (R-GA), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, also requested in writing that the agency issue a moratorium on implementation of the controversial clause.
When the agency refused to withdraw the clause, NSAA was forced to go to federal court to seek judicial review and injunctive relief and protect the rights and interests of its member ski areas. Three ski areas have already been required to accept the clause, effective November 8, 2011, as a term in their special use permit in order to operate. Those ski areas include Powderhorn in Colorado, Alpine Meadows in California, and Stevens Pass in Washington.
More coverage from the Summit County Citizens Voice (Bob Berwyn). From the article:
The water rights issue surfaced publicly in November, when the National Ski Areas Association, represented by attorney Glenn Porzak, complained in Congress that the Forest Service was trying to “take” privately held water rights by revising a ski area permit condition that was adopted in 2004. Since then, the ski industry has threatened to sue the Forest Service over the new water rights clause. But Ed Ryberg, who headed the agency’s ski area program from 1992 to 2005, says it’s the other way around. According to Ryberg, the ski industry used its political connections in the Bush administration to lobby for regulatory changes that were subsequently implemented without public input or review under federal environmental laws…
According to Ryberg, the latest move by the Forest Service to revise the language merely restores the balance that existed before 2004 and ensures that water that originates on national forest lands and has been developed for ski resort use remains with the ski areas.
Click through to read the text of a letter from Ryberg to U.S. Senator Udall.
More coverage from Troy Hooper writing for the Colorado Independent. From the article:
“Frankly, litigation may be the best way forward on this issue,” Ed Ryberg wrote in a letter last week to Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colorado, commending foresters for redressing “the abuses of crony capitalism.” In his letter, Ryberg, who coordinated the Forest Service’s ski area program from 1992 until his retirement in 2005, excoriates “the ‘bad actors’ in the ski industry who welshed on their agreements with the United States, and obtained water rights, justly belonging to the American people, through fraud and deception. These are the ski areas on who’s behalf NSAA has been lobbying.”
Asked for a response, Geraldine Link, the policy director for NSAA, emailed the Colorado Independent to say “the 2011 clause … is retroactive in nature. It resurrects old, invalid and replaced clauses that are no longer in effect. It resurrects them from the past even though at this time the ski area and the water rights could very well be owned by a different entity who was not a party to the permit from 3 decades ago. The 2011 clause also applies to water that originates on private land and other non-USFS lands. Talk about shifting political winds. The ski industry is frustrated with the pendulum swinging back and forth between administrations. It is not good for business.”
Ryberg has a much different perspective but he agrees with NSAA officials on at least one point when they say they are going to sue the Forest Service: Let the dispute play out in court. “It will be advantageous to the public’s interest to get the Justice Department involved in this matter,” Ryberg wrote in his letter to Udall, on which Bennet was copied. “It will provide them an opportunity to become familiar with the facts of the matter to help them determine if criminal prosecutions should be pursued, and to expedite acquiring title to water rights that justly belong to the American people.”
More coverage from Kevin Hoffman writing for The Mountain Mail. From the article:
The industry statement says the water rights clause enacted in November last year requires ski areas operating on forest service land to transfer ownership of many types of water rights to the United States government. The clause prohibits ski areas from selling or transferring ownership of some water rights acquired on private or non-federal land. Effectively the lawsuit is based on the association claim that the clause results in an unconstitutional taking of property without compensation and is a restriction that will have a significant and adverse effect on the value of water rights…
Monarch Mountain marketing director Greg Ralph said the lawsuit will not affect the local ski area much because it doesn’t use water rights to manufacture snow.
More coverage from Jason Blevins writing for The Denver Post. From the article:
The new water-rights regulation — already employed in three new ski-area permits in California, Washington and Colorado’s Powderhorn — revises a 2004 agreement that had the Forest Service and ski- area operators sharing ownership of some water rights. In an interview in late December, the Forest Service’s acting deputy chief, Jim Pena, said the revamped clause more closely mirrors the original 1986 permitting legislation and makes sure “we don’t sever the resource from the land.” The industry, however, argues the new clause prohibits ski areas from selling and trading a valuable commodity, reduces the value of the commodity and injures balance sheets. Vail Resorts reports water rights as intangible assets valued at $18.3 million…
Former Forest Service winter sports coordinator Ed Ryberg last week sent a letter to Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo. Ryberg said the 2004 water rights clause was a “radical change to Forest Service direction” that “was a direct result of the ski industry exploiting lax regulatory environment that characterized the Bush Administration.”[...]
Colorado attorney Glenn Porzak, who has represented several ski areas and helped negotiate the 2004 water-rights clause, sent a letter to Udall rebutting “numerous inaccuracies” in Ryberg’s letter. A major contention between the Forest Service and the ski industry is the agency’s assertion that the new water-rights clause does not impact water rights secured on private or non-federal lands. “The new clause impacts water rights on no ski area permit lands regardless of whether they are federal or private lands,” Porzak wrote in his Jan. 10 letter to Udall.
More water law coverage here.
The Valley Courier Water 2012 series: Water cycle explained
January 11, 2012
Here’s the second installment of Judy Lopez’s Water 2012 series running in the Valley Courier. Here’s an excerpt:
The water cycle is an important part of how all exist; everyone learned that little fact in fourth grade. The problem today is that many have forgotten it.
So let’s have a quick refresher course. Remember that water is needed to fall in the form of precipitation, and then it does one of a few things. It is stored in the form of snow or ice, infiltrates to groundwater, runs-off to streams lakes and rivers or is used by plants. Next, as the plot continues – it evaporates from the surface or transpires through plants and then condenses in the atmosphere and starts all over again.
The key is the process recharge. When water from the surface infiltrates the ground it recharges ground water supplies. With adequate precipitation rivers, streams and aquifers are recharged allowing surface areas to stay hydrated. Even the atmosphere stays hydrated. The system stays full. But this is in a perfect world without large cities, paved streets, concrete parking lots, malls, humans and such progress. It is in this world, recharge gets inhibited, because water doesn’t always go in, but instead it gets used up or runs overland and suddenly picks up a lot of other substances before going into streams and rivers.
More Colorado Water 2012 coverage here.
Southern Delivery System update: Construction of two Pueblo County sections of the pipeline are underway
January 11, 2012
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
A 6.4-mile pipeline section through Pueblo West and a 7.6-mile line through Walker Ranches are under way. Later this month, crews will begin construction on a 4.3-mile line from Pueblo Dam to Pueblo West. Construction on the entire 66-inch-diameter line through Pueblo County is expected to be complete by the end of this year. Pueblo City Council this week approved a $198,000 payment from Colorado Springs for an easement across the Honor Farm land. That will include about 27 acres of temporary easements, 16 acres of permanent easements and continuing access to the pipeline for maintenance and repairs. Work along the Pueblo West section has been going on for several weeks, although not all claims have been settled.
“They’ve already dug two big holes in my backyard,” said Dwain Maxwell, one of about seven property owners who are awaiting court action on how much they will be paid for SDS easements…
Construction has begun on Walker Ranches as well. Gary Walker has allowed access, and said he is working with contractors on construction details. But his lawyers are still negotiating the price of that access. Construction also has begun on the North Outlet Works connection at Pueblo Dam, 4.3 miles of raw pipeline in El Paso County and treated water pipelines in Colorado Springs. A contract for the Juniper Pumping Plant was recently awarded as well.
Basin Roundtable Project Exploration Committee: Flaming Gorge process meeting Thursday in Silverthorne
January 11, 2012
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
The task force is scheduled to meet from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday at the Silverthorne Town Pavilion to identify interests, existing studies and priorities as it works to complete a report to the state by June. The task force was formed last year at the request of the Arkansas Basin and Metro roundtables to evaluate proposals to build the 500-mile pipeline. First proposed by Fort Collins entrepreneur Aaron Million, the idea is also being studied by the Colorado-Wyoming Coalition…
[John Stulp, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s water policy adviser] explained that the task force will not endorse a Flaming Gorge project, but will identify the issues that are associated with any large-scale diversion from the Colorado River to the Front Range…
“It is important that the idea for the task force came from two roundtables that thought they needed more information,” Stulp said. “While this task force is looking specifically at Flaming Gorge, the information gathered will be applicable to other transfers out of the Colorado River, and will work toward answering the question of how much is left for Colorado to develop.”
Here’s the draft agenda for the meeting. Here’s the December 13 meeting summary.
More Basin Roundtable Project Exploration Committee: Flaming Gorge process coverage here. More Flaming Gorge pipeline coverage here and here.
Sand Creek: Suncor employees tested for benzene exposure
January 10, 2012
From TheDenverChannel.com (Lance Hernandez):
State health officials tested the water in December after an employee told them he thought it had a chemical smell. Company spokeswoman Lisha Burnett said trace amounts of benzene were found in two faucets at the sprawling facility and that “all other refinery locations have been confirmed to meet drinking water standards.”[...]
Dr. Chris Urbina, the state’s chief medical officer, told 7NEWS the longer one is exposed to benzene the greater the risk. “We could see an increased heart rate, confusion, lethargy, headaches, nausea and vomiting if they consume it,” the doctor said. “And of course, it can lead to death of you’re exposed to large quantities of benzene.” Urbina said one of the long-term impacts is leukemia…
Urbina said Suncor’s water system is a closed system. He said however the benzene is getting into the drinking water at Suncor, it is not contaminating the drinking water of any other Denver Water customers.
Thanks to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Twitter feed (@cdphe) for the link.
Here’s the release from the University of Colorado (Kelly Mahoney/Jane Palmer):
Summertime hail could all but disappear from the eastern flank of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains by 2070, says a new study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of Colorado Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
Less hail damage could be good news for gardeners and farmers, said lead author Kelly Mahoney, a research scientist at CIRES, but a shift from hail to rain can also mean more runoff, which could raise the risk of flash floods. “In this region of elevated terrain, hail may lessen the risk of flooding because it takes awhile to melt,” Mahoney said. “Decision makers may not want to count on that in the future.”
For the new study, published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, Mahoney and her colleagues used “downscaling” techniques to try to understand how climate change might affect hail-producing weather patterns across Colorado.
The research focused on storms involving pea-sized and smaller hailstones on Colorado’s Front Range, a region that stretches from the foothill communities of Colorado Springs, Denver and Fort Collins up to the Continental Divide. Colorado’s most damaging hailstorms tend to occur further east and involve larger hailstones not examined in this study.
In the summer in Colorado’s Front Range above about 7,500 feet, precipitation commonly falls as hail. Decision makers concerned about the safety of mountain dams and flood risk have been interested in how climate change may affect the amount and nature of precipitation in the region.
Mahoney and her colleagues began exploring that question with results from two climate models, which assumed that levels of climate-warming greenhouse gases will continue to increase in the future, from about 390 parts per million in the atmosphere today to about 620 parts per million in 2070.
But the weather processes that form hail, like thunderstorms, occur on much smaller scales than can be reproduced by global climate models. So the team “downscaled” the global model results twice: first to regional-scale models that can take regional topography and other details into account, then again to weather-scale models that can resolve individual storms and even the cloud processes that create hail. The regional-scale topography step was completed as part of NCAR’s North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program.
Finally, the team compared the hailstorms of the future, from 2041 to 2070, to those of the past, from 1971 to 2000, as captured by the same sets of downscaled models. Results were similar in experiments with both climate models.
“We found a near elimination of hail at the surface,” Mahoney said.
In the future, increasingly intense storms may actually produce more hail inside clouds, the team found. However, because those relatively small hailstones fall through a warmer atmosphere, they melt quickly, falling as rain at the surface or evaporating back into the atmosphere. In some regions, simulated hail fell through an additional 1,500 feet of above-freezing air in the future as compared with the past.
The research team also found evidence that precipitation events over Colorado become more extreme in the future, while changes in hail may depend on the size of the hailstones — results that will be explored in more detail in ongoing work.
Mahoney’s postdoctoral research was supported by the Postdocs Applying Climate Expertise, or PACE, program administered by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and funded by CIRES Western Water Assessment, NOAA and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. PACE connects young climate scientists with real-world problems such as those faced by water resource managers.
Co-authors of the new paper include James Scott and Joseph Barsugli of CIRES and NOAA, Michael Alexander of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory and Gregory Thompson of NCAR.
CIRES is a joint institute of CU-Boulder and NOAA.
Aspinall Unit update: Reclamation is forecasting 450,000 acre-feet (67% of 30 year average) of inflow to Blue Mesa Reservoir
January 10, 2012
From email from Reclamation (Erik Knight):
The January 1st forecast is out and the prediction is for 450,000 acre-feet of inflow to Blue Mesa Reservoir during the April-July runoff period. This represents 67% of the current 30 year average. In response to this dry forecast releases at Crystal Dam will be reduced by 300 cfs on Wednesday, January 11th. This will bring releases down to 800 cfs and with no Gunnison Tunnel diversions, flows in the Gunnison River through the Black Canyon should also be around 800 cfs…
As a reminder the next Aspinall Operations meeting will be held on Thursday, January 19th, at 1:00 p.m. in Montrose at the Holiday Inn Express. We have tentatively scheduled a presentation by Vern Jetley, a retired Reclamation photographer who will be talking about the construction history of Blue Mesa dam/reservoir.
More Aspinall Unit coverage here.
Snowpack news: Colorado River basin is at 59% of average, San Juan, Dolores and San Miguel basins come in at 67% of average
January 10, 2012
From Think Progress Green (Amanda Peterson Beadle):
Auden Schendler, vice president of sustainability at Aspen Skiing Company, points out that the NASA global temperature anomaly maps show that December just keeps getting warmer, which creates the extreme swings. “It’s key to remember that warming might actually bring bigger storms to the Rockies due to there being more moisture in the air,” Schendler said. “At the same time, because the atmosphere can hold more water, it can suck the land dry of more water than before.”
From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Dennis Webb):
As of this morning [January 9], the Upper Colorado River Basin snowpack was just 59 percent of average. Portions of the basin had seen little recent snow until a storm that arrived on Saturday. The Gunnison River Basin also is at 59 percent, and the Yampa/White River is at 58 percent. Other readings include the San Juan, Animas, Dolores, and San Miguel basins, 67 percent; Arkansas basin, 83 percent; Upper Rio Grande, 86 percent; Laramie and North Platte, 64 percent; and South Platte, 76 percent.
From the Vail Daily (Jaymee Squires):
If you’ve looked at weather maps lately, you have probably noticed the dramatic shape of the jet stream as it takes weather from the Pacific Northwest and blows it north towards Canada. This leaves most of Colorado in a high pressure area, where the warm air sustains itself with the Colorado sun and deflects incoming storms. The jet stream then takes a southward dip somewhere in the Midwest, taking our much-needed moisture towards the northeast, where they just plow it into piles and wait for spring. Since most of our snow typically comes from the Pacific Northwest, it’s not likely we’ll see any of that moisture until the jet stream changes its path.
From the Vail Daily (Lauren Glendenning):
Eddie Box Jr. and his wife, Betty, of the Southern Ute Indian tribe, came to Vail Mountain [ed. last Saturday] to do a traditional prayer ritual for snow for the third time in the resort’s 49-year history. Box was first there in 1962, the resort’s inaugural year, as a teenager joining his father, Eddie Box Sr…
As people gathered around and formed a circle around the Box family and other tribe members, they looked on as the Utes performed the sacred ritual. First there was a slow waltz in a circle, followed by chants, drums and then a group dance. People all around could be heard saying “snow.” The snow got thicker and started coming down heavier. Sutner said the Utes are 3-for-3 in Vail — the snow fell consistently the first two times they did the ritual, and Saturday’s beginning was a good start. “It’s not so much about a snow dance, but it’s about honoring our rich history with the Southern Utes,” Sutner said.
Secretary Salazar Announces Decision to Withdraw Public Lands near Grand Canyon from New Mining Claims
January 10, 2012
Here’s the release from the U.S. Department of Interior (Adam Fetcher):
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced his decision to protect the iconic Grand Canyon and its vital watershed from the potential adverse effects of additional uranium and other hardrock mining on over 1 million acres of federal land for the next 20 years.
Secretary Salazar’s decision will provide adequate time for monitoring to inform future land use decisions in this treasured area, while allowing currently approved mining operations to continue as well as new operations on valid existing mining claims.
“A withdrawal is the right approach for this priceless American landscape,” Salazar said. “People from all over the country and around the world come to visit the Grand Canyon. Numerous American Indian tribes regard this magnificent icon as a sacred place and millions of people in the Colorado River Basin depend on the river for drinking water, irrigation, industrial and environmental use. We have been entrusted to care for and protect our precious environmental and cultural resources, and we have chosen a responsible path that makes sense for this and future generations.”
The Public Land Order to withdraw these acres for 20 years from new mining claims and sites under the 1872 Mining Law, subject to valid existing rights, is authorized by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. A Record of Decision was signed by the Secretary today during a ceremony held at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C.
The withdrawal does not prohibit previously approved uranium mining, new projects that could be approved on claims and sites with valid existing rights. The withdrawal would allow other natural resource development in the area, including mineral leasing, geothermal leasing and mineral materials sales, to the extent consistent with the applicable land use plans. Approximately 3,200 mining claims are currently located in the withdrawal area.
“The withdrawal maintains the pace of hardrock mining, particularly uranium, near the Grand Canyon,” said Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey, “but also gives the Department a chance to monitor the impacts associated with uranium mining in this area. It preserves the ability of future decision-makers to make thoughtful decisions about managing this area of national environmental and cultural significance based on the best information available.”
During the withdrawal period, the BLM projects that up to 11 uranium mines, including four that are currently approved, could still be developed based on valid pre-existing rights – meaning the jobs supported by mining in the area would increase or remain flat as compared to the current level, according to the BLM’s analysis. By comparison, during the 1980s, nine uranium mines were developed on these lands and five were mined out. Without the withdrawal, there could be 30 uranium mines in the area over the next 20 years, including the four that are currently approved, with as many as six operating at one time, the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) estimates.
The withdrawn area includes 355,874 acres of U.S. Forest Service land on the Kaibab National Forest; 626,678 acres of Bureau of Land Management lands; and 23,993 acres of split estate – where surface lands are held by other owners while subsurface minerals are owned by the federal government. The affected lands, all in the vicinity of the Grand Canyon or Grand Canyon National Park, are located in Mohave and Coconino Counties of Northern Arizona.
“The decision made today by the Secretary will help ensure continued protection of the Grand Canyon watershed and World Heritage designated Grand Canyon National Park,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. “As stewards of our national parks, it is incumbent on all of us to continue to preserve our treasured landscapes, today and for future generations.”
Today’s decision is the culmination of more than two years of evaluation during which the BLM analyzed the proposed withdrawal in an EIS prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service.
Numerous cooperating agencies, tribes, counties and stakeholders were fully engaged in this process, which included an extensive public involvement period which generated more than 350,000 comments, including input from more than 90 countries. Substantive comments, including those on the economic impact discussion, were addressed in the Final EIS, released on October 27, 2011 for a final 30-day review period.
Information on the withdrawal is at http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/mining/timeout.html or can be obtained by calling (602) 417-9504.
Think Progress Green (Jessica Goad) is running lists of the top five winners and losers from Secretary Salazar’s action:
WINNERS
1. The 25 million people who get their drinking water from the Colorado River
The Colorado River is the lifeblood for residents of the southwest. It is one of the most important rivers in the nation, providing drinking water to 25 million Americans. Uranium mining could contaminate this precious water source, the legacy of which is in the water contamination across Arizona and the southwest and is felt most acutely by Native American tribes. Water authorities in Arizona, California, and Nevada have stated that “federal agencies with oversight over mineral exploration and mining operations in the Lower Colorado River Basin must use their authority to prevent any potential for deterioration of this critical water supply for millions of people.”2. American businesses
The outdoor recreation industry thrives on Americans’ ability to get outside. In Arizona alone, the outdoor recreation economy annually supports 82,000 jobs, generates almost $350 million in state tax revenue, and stimulates about $5 billion in retail sales and services. Businesses like rafting companies, outfitters, and gear manufacturers all benefit tremendously from the Grand Canyon’s unpolluted water, air, and landscapes. As Black Diamond Equipment CEO Peter Metcalf has stated, “The outdoor industry depends on public land so its consumers have a place to recreate using the products it sells.”3. Arizona workers
Tourists spending money in and around the Grand Canyon create jobs. Headwaters Economics found that Grand Canyon National Park supported over 6,000 jobs in 2009 and those tourists spent more than $400 million. Arizonans feel the direct, indirect, and induced impacts of this spending in places like Tusayan and Flagstaff, but also more broadly through hotels, flights, rental cars, and other expenditures. As Sherry Henry, director of the Arizona Office of Tourism said, “No other Arizona industry produces the same economic impact to the Grand Canyon State than our travel and tourism industry.”4. Sportsmen
Hunters and anglers have been some of the most outspoken proponents of protecting the Grand Canyon from the industrialization that mining would bring. A letter from nine sportsmen groups in July 2011 noted that “Uranium mining near Grand Canyon National Park is wholly unacceptable given the best science available and the potential impacts.” The Arizona Game and Fish Commission has endorsed the mineral withdrawal. With these 1 million acres protected from new mining claims, sportsmen will not lose access to this prime fish and wildlife habitat.5. American families
The Grand Canyon is one of America’s most popular destinations. Almost 5 million people visit every year to take part in camping, hiking below the rim, viewing the sights from the window of a lodge, or otherwise taking in the canyon’s natural magnificence. By stopping excess uranium mining on 1 million acres, all Americans and future generations will have an opportunity to visit the Grand Canyon in its untarnished state.LOSERS
1. International atomic interests
A number of different mining companies have expressed interest in the uranium deposits around the Grand Canyon, many of which are foreign or multinational. Examples are Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear agency; Denison Mining, partially owned by Korea’s state-owned electric utility; and Vane Minerals, a British company.2. Reps. Jeff Flake, Paul Gosar, Trent Franks
Reps. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and Trent Franks (R-AZ) have taken the lead in relentlessly attempting to block Secretary Salazar’s temporary withdrawals and forcing the administration to open the Grand Canyon area to industrial development. Flake’s effort over the summer to attach a policy rider on a budget bill to tie the Interior Department’s hands was dubbed “the Flake earmark.” Flake has already received $12,000 in campaign contributions from mining interests for his 2012 U.S. Senate campaign.3. National Mining Association
The National Mining Association is one of the largest natural resources trade and lobbying groups in the nation. In 2011 it spent $3,580,266 lobbying Congress on various issues, and its non-coal-focused PAC has already spent $78,000 in campaign contributions for the 2012 cycle ($70,500 of which went to Republicans). A spokesman from the group in June stated that Secretary Salazar’s 6-month withdrawal “sets a troublesome precedent.”4. Scientist Karen Wenrich
Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee called a hearing in November 2011 to continue to push for uranium mining around the Grand Canyon. But it was revealed at the hearing by Grand Canyon champion Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) that the scientist whom they called to testify that there would be little impact from uranium mining on the Colorado River stood to make $225,000 from it. Securities and Exchange Commission filings show that Karen Wenrich, a retired United States Geological Survey scientist, entered into a deal to sell 61 uranium claims only if the mineral withdrawal did not go through.5. Companies seeking to exploit the public’s treasures for corporate profits
Under the 1872 Mining Law, mining companies are not required to pay royalties to the public for the mineral resources that they extract. Not only are taxpayers not properly compensated for their natural resources, but they are frequently left to foot the bill for environmental cleanup. Congress must pass legislation such as Rep. Ed Markey’s H.R. 3446 to solve this problem. However, Secretary Salazar’s withdrawal will stop additional companies from profiting off this antiquated system while endangering a national treasure.
More Colorado River Basin coverage here.
Clear Creek County scores $75,000 for greenway design
January 9, 2012
From the Clear Creek Courant (Ian Neligh):
The county was…awarded $75,000 to create design documents for the Clear Creek Greenway project connecting Jefferson County to the Twin Tunnels area through Clear Creek Canyon. The plan will also allow for easier access to the Oxbow Parcel and western Clear Creek County.
The greenway, envisioned to run along Clear Creek from the Jefferson County border to the Continental Divide, is intended to link communities with a string of open spaces, trails and parks. The project is not expected to be finished for another 10 years.
The Colorado Department of Transportation has partnered with the county on the project near the Twin Tunnels as part of CDOT’s effort to expand the area.
CDOT officials are planning to add a third eastbound lane on Interstate 70 between Idaho Springs at mile post 241 to the base of Floyd Hill at mile post 244, where the highway already opens to three lanes.
The $60 million project would likely begin construction in April 2013, with completion later that fall.
Meanwhile, according to County Commissioner Tim Mauck, as part of the first phase, CDOT will construct a greenway trail from the old game check behind the Twin Tunnels to just shy of the Hidden Valley Interchange.
As part of the second phase, CDOT will complete the trail from the game check station to the Idaho Springs Baseball Fields, although CDOT has not identified project funding and a timeline.
In addition, Clear Creek County Open Space was formally asked by GOCO to submit an application for a $4 million grant to further construct the greenway trail from the county line to as far as the funding would stretch.
“I project this GOCO grant to bring significant greenway improvements to Clear Creek County in the near future,” Mauck said. “Ultimately it will leverage further resources and willpower to complete the Clear Creek Greenway Trail through our community, providing our citizens and businesses with a tremendous recreational facility to utilize.”
The Downstream Neighbor: International Water Advocates Speak on Water Security January 27-29
January 9, 2012
From email from The Downstream Neighbor:
The Downstream Neighbor celebrates water as a connector, spiritual inspiration, and nurturance for our lives and explores some of the best practices for protecting water for the benefit of future generations, in a symposium January 27-29, 2012 in Denver.
This extraordinary weekend symposium brings together people from all walks of life in dialogue around the Front Range connection to the South Platte watershed. Critical conversations about our water future will be guided and inspired by international voices for Earth, water, and human rights: Maude Barlow and Elizabeth Peredo Beltrán.
The symposium takes the view that by considering Colorado water in the context of the cosmos, the global hydrologic cycle, and the entire family of life on Earth, we can better understand our home watershed and face what we must do to be responsible to the downstream neighbor.
The symposium opens Friday afternoon at 4 pm at the Theater at Colorado Heights University with a screening of Journey of the Universe. Written by religion scholar Mary Evelyn Tucker and mathematical cosmologist Brian Thomas Swimme, this film establishes an inspiring context for the beginning weeks of Colorado Water 2012.
At 7 pm on Friday, January 27, keynote speaker Maude Barlow—National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and chair of the board of Washington-based Food and Water Watch—will present the relationship of water to the entire family of life on Earth, valuing water as a commons, and intrinsic right, and a public trust.
At 8:30 am on Saturday, January 28, the Bolivian civic leader, Elizabeth Peredo Beltrán will speak in celebration of water as a common good and a human right. “The planet is not a resource, it is our home,” Beltran emphasizes.
The Saturday session will include regional and local experts on a range of topics that increasingly focus on our home watershed the South Platte, how we may become more connected with the river and what the river needs to flourish. Saturday topics include the cosmic origins of water, deep transition, water ethics, water and food justice, respecting nature’s ways in our approaches to solving the water crisis, getting involved in watershed groups, and the nexus between water and energy choices such as coal, natural gas, and renewables.
Sunday’s session beginning at 12 noon engages participants in further discussion on concerns like those that brought the conference planning committee together. For our watershed—like most of Earth—faces a water crisis:
· Much of our water comes from another watershed—and partly as a result, a major river no longer reaches the sea.
· More water has been promised than can be delivered.
· Controversial water uses greatly diminish the water available to farmers, a swelling human population, and the rest of nature.Yet, the waters flowing in and through our watershed belong to Earth, to all species, to future generations.
The symposium will close with an opportunity for participants to inspire one another and become more aware of the great shift required as old notions of “separation from nature” slip away.
· What are the urgent concerns of our near and farther neighbors?
· What does it mean for the public to own the water?
· What does water need from us?
· How does water connect us, inspire us?We are all downstream neighbors.
For more information: http://downstreamneighbor.org/.
NRCS Colorado Snow Survey and Water Supply News Release
January 9, 2012
Here’s the release from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (Mage Skordahl):
Despite a decent start to the water year with above average precipitation and near average snowfall in October; drier conditions in November and December have resulted in a below average mountain snowpack for all the major basins in Colorado. As of January 1, Colorado’s statewide snowpack was 71 percent of average and 52 percent of last year’s readings, according to Phyllis Philipps, State Conservationist, with the NRCS. This is the fourth lowest January 1 snowpack measured in the last 30 years and the lowest since January 1, 2002 when the snowpack was at 65 percent of average.
Snow accumulations on the eastern side of the Continental Divide and in south-central Colorado are closer to average than on the western slope and southwest Colorado. Early season upslope storms in October and November have kept the South Platte basin at 80 percent of average as of January 1. The Arkansas and Upper Rio Grande basins currently boast snowpack’s that are 96 and 92 percent of average respectively, the highest in the state. Current conditions in these basins are a welcome change considering both recorded well below average snowfall last season.
The start to this winter season is not as positive for the western basins. Snow accumulation in these basins is well below average for this time of year; ranging from 57 percent of average in the Yampa and White basins, to 73 percent of average in both the San Juan, Animas, Dolores, and San Miguel basins and the North Platte basin. In comparison, last year at this time these basins had snowpack’s that were at 145 percent of average in the Yampa and White, and 144 percent of average in the San Juan, Animas, Dolores, and San Miguel basins.
Statewide the current snowpack is well below what was measured last year on January 1 in all the major river basins. This trend is especially prevalent in the northwest and western portions of the state where measured snowfall totals are less than half of what was measured one year ago.
Due to last spring’s above average snowpack and subsequent runoff throughout most of the state, reservoir storage remains in good condition in Colorado. Only the Rio Grande Basin has significantly below average reservoir storage for this time of year.
Click on the thumbnail graphic above and to the right for a screen shot of the table that accompanied the release.
Precipitation news: Aspen Mountain and Snowmass receive about eight inches of snow from the weekend storm
January 9, 2012
From The Aspen Times:
Aspen and Snowmass both picked up 8 inches of much-needed new snow Saturday and Saturday night, according to the Aspen Skiing Co.’s Sunday morning snow report. Aspen Highlands saw 5 inches of fresh stuff while Buttermilk also gained 8 inches…
Around the state, most resorts reported fresh snow in the 5- to 8-inch range. Tiny Echo Mountain on the Front Range picked up 9 inches, as did Beaver Creek, but ski areas in southwest Colorado came up short this time. Wolf Creek reported 1 inch and Telluride had 4 inches. Durango reported no new snow. Elsewhere, Vail and Copper Mountain both reported 8 inches, Steamboat had 6 inches of fresh stuff, and Crested Butte and Powderhorn both reported 5 inches. Sunlight Mountain Resort near Glenwood Springs picked up 4 inches.
The closest Urban Drainage station to Gulch Manor is reporting sixteen hundredths of precipitation on the three day map.
From the Colorado Independent (David O. Williams):
“We have had some very unusual weather so far this season,” Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz said Friday. “For the first time in 30 years, a lack of snow has not allowed us to open the back bowls in Vail as of January 6, 2012, and, for the first time since the late 1800s, it did not snow at all in Tahoe in December.”[...]
Ski industry woes aside, state water watchers and firefighters are nervously eyeing the miniscule mountain snowpack, which supplies so much of the water used by Front Range cities. As of Dec. 30, snowpack in the Colorado River basin was 44 percent of last year’s record level and just 63 percent of the annual average…
The last time Colorado’s high country was even close to this dry in mid-winter was during the 2001-02 ski season, which was followed by the worst wildfire season in the state’s history. June of 2002 saw the massive Hayman Fire scorch nearly 138,000 acres of land in the mountains southwest of Denver, darkening Front Range skies and loading key water storage facilities with debris from subsequent erosion.
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
“There has to be better ways of using agricultural water,” said John Stulp, water policy adviser for Gov. John Hickenlooper, at a Super Ditch summit meeting Friday. “Rotational fallowing is one of the tools in the tool box,” he said…
The Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, which supported and funded the startup of Super Ditch, plans to file a substitute water supply plan in February that would allow the program to be up and running by April. State Engineer Dick Wolfe said he believes the Super Ditch fits into the 2002 legislation that allows substitute water supply plans under certain conditions. The law initially was applied to the High Line Canal’s lease of water to Aurora in 2004-05. It allows for a three-year program with return flows accounted for over a five-year period…
If the leasing program continues, it would require a change of use decree in Division 2 water court, a process some have called “the mother of all change cases.” That would be an expensive proposition for both sponsors and objectors, so the Arkansas Basin Roundtable, part of the IBCC process, has discussed ways to develop a common platform to look at engineering as Super Ditch grows.
“Lease-fallowing does a lot of good things and preserves ag water. We might want to use it in the upper valley,” said Terry Scanga, general manager of the Upper Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, primary sponsors of a grant to develop an administrative tool for measurement during water transfers. “We need to know how to calculate water use. We are in this together.”
More coverage from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
“We need to be working on new water projects, but that takes time,” said Alan Hamel, executive director of the Pueblo Board of Water Works. “We don’t want ag dry-up to be the main fallback.”
Hamel and fellow CWCB member Travis Smith addressed a water summit Friday on a proposed pilot program that would allow the Arkansas Valley Super Ditch to sell 500 acre-feet of water next year to El Paso County water providers. “Super Ditch is not without controversy, but is a local solution to determining our future,” Smith said…
Smith, superintendent of the San Luis Valley Irrigation District, hailed the state Supreme Court’s decision last month to approve a plan for subdistricts, which are needed to prevent overpumping of Rio Grande groundwater. “We’re going to fallow 80,000 acres, and the question is how do you do that and take care of the local economy,” Smith said. “In the San Luis Valley, we hurt ourselves with uncontrolled pumping up until 2002. We’re still recovering from the drought.”
Smith said the plan, like Super Ditch, was developed as farmers worked together to find ways out of a dilemma. “I’m optimistic that the ag community can work together and be successful,” Smith said.
Snowpack news: ‘Mountain communities are hoping to get the attention of Ullr, Mother Nature and Old Man Winter with snow dances’
January 8, 2012
From the Summit County Citizens Voice (Bob Berwyn):
With below-normal snowfall — in some cases less than half the seasonal average — mountain communities are hoping to get the attention of Ullr, Mother Nature and Old Man Winter with snow dances, sacrificial bonfires and other ceremonies aimed at eliciting at least a few flakes.
The build the vibe, Colorado Ski Country USA is inviting everyone to spread the word via social media channels by posting videos on a special snow dance website.
Despite the lack of snow, Colorado is in better shape than some other parts of the country, thanks in part to extensive snowmaking, high elevation and relatively cold temps that have helped maintain the meager snow cover.
From the Summit County Citizens Voice (Bob Berwyn):
According to the January 6 readings from automated SNOTEL sites around the [Blue River basin], the snowpack at Copper Mountain is just 55 percent of average, with only 3.4 inches of snow-water equivalent, compared to the average 6.2 inches for this date. The Copper SNOTEL site is located at 10,550 feet. Precipitation for the weather year-to-date (starting Oct. 1) is a little closer to average, at 68 percent, with 5.2 inches compared to the average 7.7 inches, but the gap between the precipitation total and the snowpack total reflects the warm and dry weather which has eaten away at the snowpack. The other stations in Summit County are reporting similar readings. The Fremont Pass SNOTEL site (11.300 feet) is reporting a snowpack at 53 percent of average, with 4.2 inches of snow-water equivalent compared to the average 7.9 inches. Grizzly Peak (11,100 feet), near Loveland Pass and the Continental Divide, reports the snowpack at 62 percent of average, with 5 inches of snow-water equivalent compared to the average 8.1 inches. The snowpack at Hoosier Pass (11.400 feet) is at 67 percent of average, the highest reading in the basin, and Summit Ranch, in the Lower Blue, is at 56 percent of average. Farther west, the Vail Mountain SNOTEL site reports the snowpack at just 43 percent of average, with 4.3 inches of snow-water equivalent compared to the average 10 inches, while Independence Pass, above Aspen, is at 45 percent.
From Reuters (Rene Pastor):
The prolonged phenomenon [La Niña], although weaker than it was a year ago, threatens to roil commodity markets from corn to coffee as dry conditions in Argentina and Brazil whither crops while the southern United States — a prime growing area for cotton and some wheat — suffers through a once-a-century drought…
The effects of the current phenomenon are already being felt keenly in Latin America, where estimates for the 2011/12 corn crop from Argentina, the world’s No. 2 supplier, have been slashed by as much as a fifth, while Brazil’s soybean crop is also withering due to a prolonged dry spell. Without persistent rains within the next two months, Argentina’s soybean crop could also be at risk.
In the United States, an extended dry period could cause problems for farmers from the Carolinas to Kansas planning for sowing cotton in the spring, anlaysts said, particularly in top growing state Texas.
Ron Lawson, managing director of brokerage logicadvisors.com in Sonoma, California, said La Nina is worrying because conditions in parts of Texas are worse this year and could easily spread into the U.S. grain belt. “The conditions that exist today are identical to what existed before the Dust Bowl,” he said.
2012 Colorado election: The Colorado Water Congress issues an alert for Public Trust Initiatives #3 and #45
January 8, 2012
From email from the Colorado Water Congress (Doug Kemper):
On Wednesday, the Title Board approved ballot titles on Public Trust Initiatives #3 and #45. The Water Congress will request a Rehearing on Initiative #45. That should take place on January 18. (Rehearing on Initiative #3 has already occurred.) Copies of the initiatives, ballot titles, and related information are attached and may be found on our website.
The Colorado Water Congress Board has unanimously voted to authorize appealing to the Colorado Supreme Court the action by the Title Board on both Public Trust Initiatives. We are seeking financial contributions for these appeals. If you are wish to contribute toward this effort (in any amount), please send me an email at dkemper@cowatercongress.org.
The sponsors’ basic premise is that the Colorado legislature and the courts have contravened the public’s ownership interest in water and the public trust initiatives are their way of tackling numerous injustices. If these initiatives pass, every water right in the state will be subject to reconsideration as to whether it is in the public’s interests. Further, discharges that are found to cause harm to the natural environment will also be subject to reexamination. And anyone could travel through private property to access the public’s waters (now all water in the Colorado) as long as they stay within the natural high water line.
After the unpleasant experience with Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101; the days are gone where we can afford to let such ballot initiatives travel through the system without challenge. This system is heavily weighted in the favor of ballot proponents and legal action is very difficult.
For public entities, this appeal is your only opportunity to financially contribute toward action on the public trust initiatives. If they become certified for the ballot, your activities are severely restricted by law. Because the Colorado Water Congress receives a portion of its funding from public entities, we face the same restrictions.
Additional initiative information is available on the Colorado Secretary of State’s website at: www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/Initiatives/InitiativesHome.html.
If you wish to listen to the archived audio of the hearing on Wednesday, you may access it at http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/info_center/audioArchives.html.
More coverage from Patrick Malone writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
Richard Hamilton of Fairplay has been making the argument that water and its use should be at the discretion of all people in the state — not just those that the doctrine of prior appropriation ascribes rights to. He wants to institute guidelines for water that predate the Colorado Constitution, and subsequently were undone by the General Assembly. “The state constitution is very explicit that water is owned by the public,” Hamilton said, and he wants it reiterated by his initiative…
Five times between 1994 and 2002, Hamilton’s ballot proposals have met with rejection. But that hasn’t stopped him from bringing back two more with an eye on this year’s November ballot…
Hamilton’s proposals seeks constitutional amendments that would give citizens control of tributary and nontributary water in Colorado, require appropriators of water (oil and gas drilling operations or industry, for instance) to replace what they take with clean water and give citizens standing to sue if they believe water is being misused. They also aim to allow unfettered recreational access to streams and place public health and well-being ahead of other uses of water, including contractual allocation and senior water rights.
More 2012 Colorado November election coverage here.
