Day: February 3, 2012

The Logan County Water Conservancy District is working on flood control along Pawnee Creek

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From the Sterling Journal-Advoacate (Judy Debus):

The LCWCD was established in 2002 by District Court decree to address the issue and develop projects to reduce the potential for damaging floods. It has since focused its efforts on the Pawnee Creek, which represents one of the greatest threats for future flooding damage. It is funded by mill levy and other board members in addition to Bournia are Shane Miller and Richard Walker, board president. Board members are appointed by the court for a three-year term. This year, the .83 mil levy will provide revenue of $212,732 paid by county landowners, according to the county finance department. The board is not connected with Logan County government.

The Pawnee Creek has seen major floods occur about every 30 years and the 1997 flood caused approximately $20 million in damage to roads, railroads and agricultural property, not to mention in the towns of Sterling and Atwood.

More stormwater coverage here.

Patent issued to Anticline Disposal LLC for the treatment of produced water from oil and gas exploration and production

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From Water World:

According to the abstract released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: “Systems and methods have been developed for reclaiming water contaminated with the expected range of contaminants typically associated with produced water, including water contaminated with slick water, methanol and boron. The system includes anaerobically digesting the contaminated water, followed by aerating the water to enhance biological digestion. After aeration, the water is separated using a flotation operation that effectively removes the spent friction reducing agents and allows the treated water to be reclaimed and reused as fracturing water, even though it retains levels of contaminants, including boron and methanol, that would prevent its discharge to the environment under existing standards. The treated water may further be treated by removing the methanol via biological digestion in a bioreactor, separating a majority of the contaminants from the water by reverse osmosis and removing the boron that passes through the reverse osmosis system with a boron-removing ion exchange resin.”

Here’s the link to the Anticline Disposal LLC website.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

A beautiful snow

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We’re in the middle of a beautiful snow here at Gulch Manor. I measured 8 inches of accumulation in my backyard.

Protect the Flows goes to Washington: Zeke Hersh — ‘We’re definitely pushing towards the common-sense goals and solutions’

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From the Public News Service (Kathleen Ryan):

Coloradans were on Capitol Hill this week, offering options on how the government can preserve and protect the Colorado River’s water resources for future generations – and preserve Colorado businesses as well…

The Department of the Interior is in the final stages of developing a plan to preserve the Colorado for future generations.

Zeke Hersh, who leads angling trips along the river for Blue River Anglers in Frisco, headed to Washington this week with the group “Protect the Flows.” “We’re definitely pushing towards the common-sense goals and solutions, such as improving urban conservation and agricultural efficiency.”

“Potentially, rivers can dry up as they go down into an arid environment, which the Colorado does. But when it dries up at the headwaters and at the delta, that’s a pretty striking picture.”

The Department of the Interior just completed its public input period and began considering options for the Colorado this week. A final study is to be published in July. More information is on the Interior Department’s Lower Colorado River website, usbr.gov.

More Colorado River basin coverage here.