Day: November 8, 2010

CWCB: Joint meeting with the Front Range Water Council November 15, regular meeting November 16-17

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From email from the CWCB:

A joint meeting of the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) and Front Range Water Council will be held at Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District’s office at 220 Water Avenue, Berthoud, Colorado 80513 on Monday, November 15, 2010, commencing at 10:00 a.m. The CWCB will hold the Floodplain Rules and Regulations Hearing at Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District’s office at 220 Water Avenue, Berthoud, Colorado 80513, Monday, November 15, 2010, commencing at 1:00 p.m. A meeting of the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) will commence on Tuesday, November 16, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. and continue through Wednesday, November 17, 2010. This meeting will be held at Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District’s office at 220 Water Avenue, Berthoud, Colorado 80513.

The CWCB posts notices of its meetings 30-days from the next regular meeting. Notices of special meetings are posted on the website within five business days and not less than 24-hours of such a meeting. Notices of regular and special meetings may also be received by email. To receive notices by email visit: http://cwcb.state.co.us/Home/CWCBInsider/.

Although dates and times are indicated in this notice and in the following agenda, the CWCB may address and take action on noticed items in any order. Known changes will be announced at the beginning of the meeting. This notice, any late notice (s) of additional items, and briefing memos prepared for the CWCB will be posted at 1313 Sherman Street, Suite 721, Denver, CO 80203, and on our internet website at: http://www.cwcb.state.co.us.

The CWCB’s meetings are made available live through the internet. To listen to the proceedings, click the “Listen to the meeting LIVE!” link on the CWCB website homepage. The link will be posted just prior to the start of the meeting on the first day of the meeting. A program that handles streaming media (such as Windows Media Player, RealPlayer or similar) is necessary to be able to listen. Presentations for this meeting will not be available through the See-and-Share software due to technical constraints.

CWCB encourages citizens to express their views and provide information to the Board on every agenda item. This can be done by sending an email to brent.newman@state.co.us, by sending a letter to the Board Director or its Chairman, or by attending the meeting. If you attend a meeting, simply fill out a comment sheet and give it to the Board Coordinator at the recording station.

The Board will appreciate hearing your views when it reaches that agenda item. If you have any questions, need special accommodations as a result of a disability, or require further information on any CWCB activity, please contact Brent Newman at 303-866-3441, Ext. 3222.

More CWCB coverage here.

Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District: Highlands Lagoon Elimination Project update

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From email from the PAWSD:

As the leaves brown, PAWSD is going green! The Highlands Lagoon Elimination Project is funded in part by a $1.3 million grant from the State’s Green Project Reserve Fund, which is a special pot of federal stimulus funds for green initiatives. The Highlands project will include a biosolids beneficial use facility, which will turn our wastewater sludge into a rich, safe, class 1 soil amendment. That beats dumping the sludge in the landfill!

More wastewater coverage here and here.

Energy policy — oil shale: Towards a consensus on oil shale development

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From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Dennis Webb):

What defines a cautionary approach depends upon to whom you talk, however. For [Rocky Mountain Farmers Union president Kent Peppler], writing in a guest column for the website newest.net, the new round of research and development leases being offered by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, including in Rio Blanco County, are “the right way to go.”

For environmentalists such as Jason Wedemeyer, Western Slope energy organizer for the Colorado Environmental Coalition, issuing a second round of such leases isn’t warranted when the impacts associated with technologies being tried by companies in a first round of leases remain unknown. In Colorado, those leases are held by Shell, Chevron and American Shale Oil LLC. “We want to see results before we lease off more of the Piceance Basin,” Wedemeyer said Thursday as he surveyed existing and proposed lease sites from the air on a plane ride provided by EcoFlight…

Glenn Vawter, executive director of the National Oil Shale Association, thinks any shale development would disturb less land than natural gas drilling and thus have less effect on wildlife. “As with all these things, there will be some impact, but I think there are mitigation measures that … can be put in place,” he said.

Water and wildlife are among a host of issues to be considered during Bureau of Land Management environmental reviews in Colorado and Utah after the BLM’s Washington office decided to advance nominations for the second round of leases for further study. ExxonMobil and Natural Soda Holdings are seeking the Rio Blanco County leases, and AuraSource Inc. wants one in Utah.

While the Colorado Environmental Coalition continues to oppose issuing more leases, Wedemeyer said he is glad the ones Salazar offered are smaller. Companies are seeking 160-acre leases, with the possibility to expand them to 640-acre commercial leases. The first round of 160-acre leases provided for potential expansion to 5,120-acre commercial leases.

More oil shale coverage here and here.

Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District SCADA installation update

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From The Mountain Mail (Joe Stone):

Six reservoir sites received gauges to monitor alpine water and weather conditions. Nine tributary stream gauge sites were constructed above strategic diversion points (historic controlling calls) in Chaffee, Custer, and Fremont counties.

Colorado Water Conservation Board’s annual report, “Colorado’s Water Supply Future,” said, “More than 500,000 downstream Colorado residents are affected by available supplies of Upper Arkansas River Valley water.” In addition, the report summarized a study of surface water and groundwater interaction conducted by the conservancy district and the U.S. Geological Survey.

More infrastructure coverage here.

Sedalia: Proposed reservoir on Penley Ranch is attracting opposition

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From 9News.com (Jeffrey Wolf/Matt Flener):

Developers are looking to build a water reservoir on the 1,179-acre Penley Ranch in Douglas County near Sedalia along Colorado State Highway 67. The property is located near Jarre Canyon, and has long been a favorite view for nearby homeowners and those who have hunted and walked the land. Some neighbors in the nearby Indian Creek Ranch subdivision say the proposed reservoir and two dams would decrease property values and add costs for flood insurance…

The reservoir on the land would hold anywhere from 15,000 to 25,000 acre-feet of water, depending on which one of the two options are chosen by Douglas County planners. “Option A,” as it is called, would hold more water at a total cost of $150 million, whereas “Option B” would hold less at a cost of roughly $56 million. The reservoir and dams would require final approval from federal and state authorities before construction begins. Fellows says it is too early to say what city, county, or water district may eventually control the water, and could not guarantee Douglas County would receive any water…

The reservoir would have no public use and would have a security fence to keep people out of the property, according to developers.

More South Platte River basin coverage here.

Arkansas Valley: Colorado Water Supply Reserve Account distribution recap

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From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

In 2006, SB179 had created the Water Supply Reserve Account, and the roundtables were being asked to bring forward projects that would use money to identify water needs, evaluate available water supplies or build projects. There weren’t hard-and-fast guidelines and proposals had to pass muster of the Colorado Water Conservation Board. Three proposals moved ahead that day: the Arkansas Valley Conduit, tamarisk removal and a study of recharge in the Upper Black Squirrel Aquifer in El Paso County. Since then, more than $4 million has been brought into the Arkansas River basin for 21 water projects or activities through the roundtable. The Rio Grande basin also has received about $4 million Like a snowball, those funds have leveraged more money as they were spent. Statewide, $26 million in grants from the account have been matched by $50 million from other sources…

BASIN BENEFITS

Since 2007, the Arkansas River Basin has received more than $4 million from a state fund established in 2006 to fund water activities. Projects include:

2007

Arkansas Valley Conduit, $200,000
Tamarisk control, $50,000
Upper Black Squirrel recharge, $45,200
Groundwater conference, $24,721
Fountain Creek Vision Task Force, $75,000
Round Mountain Water District, $120,000
Lower Ark Rotational Fallowing, $150,000

2008

Upper Big Sandy water balance, $45,000
Transfers subcommittee, $23,860
Las Animas water, $300,000
Zebra mussels, Lake Pueblo, $1 million
Colorado State University basinwide investigation, $600,000
Zero liquid discharge (reverse-osmosis brine), $725,000
Upper Ark water monitoring devices, $285,000

2009

Headwaters diversion improvements, $58,000
Non-consumptive needs quantification, $148,975
Fountain Creek sediment removal demonstration, $225,000
Groundwater policy, aquifer storage and recovery, $225,000

2010

Upper Arkansas water balance, $190,000
Fountain Creek flathead chub study, $35,000
Flaming Gorge Task Force study, $40,000

More IBCC — basin roundtables coverage here.

Pueblo: Fountain Creek open house Tuesday

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From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

The results of a yearlong study looking at Fountain Creek improvements and redevelopment of Pueblo’s Historic East Side will be shared with the public this week. The city planning department and the Fountain Creek Foundation will sponsor the open house and discussion of proposals from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Risley Middle School, 625 N. Monument Ave. The study has been coordinated by THK Associates, which is developing a corridor master plan under a $1.2 million, four-year agreement among the Fountain Creek Watershed Flood Control and Greenway District, the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District and Colorado Springs Utilities.

More Fountain Creek coverage here and here.