Day: March 29, 2013

The price tag for Sterling’s deep injection wells for RO brine escalates from $80,000 to $2.3 million

Reverse Osmosis Water Plant

From the Sterling Journal-Advocate (David Martinez):

[Sterling Public Works Director Jim Allen] told the council that Public Works was working on a number of water and sewage issues around the city – most of them directly or indirectly related to construction of the new water treatment plant.

The one that stands out: Deep injection wells used to pump the treated wastewater from the reverse osmosis filtration, estimated to cost $80,000 at the start of the project, will now cost about $2.3 million, according to a March 10 estimate. About $1.3 million of that cost would go toward the construction of one of the two pumps, which is located above the railroad tracks north of the plant…

The wells themselves, buried about 7,000 feet underground, have already been constructed. They were included in one of three bid packages for the project – the other two being a pipeline project and the water treatment plant itself, which is in the final construction stages.

Allen told the council the increased cost comes from the pumping equipment needed, as well as some stainless steel piping needed for the aboveground operation. The pipes might need to handle 2,200 to 2,600 pounds of pressure per square inch, which Allen said is a “monumental number.”[…]

Allen told the Journal-Advocate the $2.4 million also isn’t set in stone; he, Kiolbasa and others will be working with the estimates for a more solid cost…

In related projects concerning the plant, Public Works is continuing to redrill and rehabilitate the city’s raw water wells. The effort is part of a plan to have enough raw water to actually put through to the water treatment plant.

In February the council heard that the plant planned on having the ability to pump more than 7,900 gallons of water per minute, but that it could only pump about 5,500 gallons at that point because of degraded wells.

More infrastructure coverage here.

Forecast news: Isolated mountain showers #codrought #cowx

From the National Weather Service Grand Junction office:

Sunny skies and above normal temperatures will continue today through this weekend, with isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms developing each afternoon and lasting into early evening. Most activity will be confined to the higher terrain. A Pacific storm system will impact the region late Sunday through Tuesday, bringing an increasing chance of showers and cooler temperatures. This will eventually drop temperatures back to more seasonal values by early next week.

From the National Weather Service Pueblo office:

Another weak weather disturbance is expected to move across Colorado today, with isolated to scattered rain and snow showers possible over the mountains, and thunderstorms expected over the eastern plains. Area temperatures will warm into the 60s to near 70 across the eastern plains, with 50s to mid 60s over the high country.

Snowpack news: Statewide snowpack = 78% of avg, Upper Colorado = 80%, South Platte = 71% #codrought

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Click on the thumbnail graphics for the statewide snowpack map along with the Basin High/Low graphs for the South Platte Basin and Upper Colorado River basins. Both basins are now above the 2002/minimum line and the South Platte is on line with 2012.

From the Loveland Reporter-Herald (Tom Hacker):

March did not provide a hoped-for rescue for Northern Colorado water users, as the mountain snowpack that feeds rivers enters April still shy of average. In fact, the Rocky Mountain National Park monitoring stations that measure how the Big Thompson River will fare this spring and summer offer some of the state’s worst news. As the Colorado calendar’s wettest month, March is the touchstone for farmers and municipal utilities that supply homes and businesses, and for rafters, fishermen and others with recreation interests. But a mountain snows during the past month were merely average, and after a much drier-than-normal winter, that means less snow up there and projections of less water down here…

Of all the state’s more than two dozen river basins, the Big Thompson and Poudre watersheds are among the driest…

Surveys Wednesday of four stations that gauge the snowpack in mountains west of Loveland show three that have less than 40 percent of the 30-year average snowpack, and the fourth faring only slightly better…

[Brian Werner — Northern Water] on Thursday was returning from meetings on the Western Slope, where conditions are slightly better, with the Colorado River headwaters snowpack at about 80 percent of normal…

Data from monitoring stations at four Rocky Mountain National Park locations tell the story of a dry winter getting drier. Here is how the numbers stack up against the historical average.

Deer Ridge: 30 percent of average.

Hidden Valley: 38 percent of average.

Willow Park: 38 percent of average.

Bear Lake: 61 percent of average.

From the Longmont Times-Call (Pierrette J. Shields) via The Denver Post:

[Levi] Sievers, a soil conservation technician, and Sylvia Hickenlooper, a soil conservationist, hike 10,000 feet up the Longs Peak Trail in Larimer County in January, February, March and April every year to gather data for the U.S. Agricultural Service’s snow survey. The information is compiled with data taken from dozens of other manual sites and automated sites statewide and used to developed the water supply outlook for the state in the run-up to warmer weather and higher water demands.

Hickenlooper and Sievers took 10 samples from designated sites along the measurement location, marked with yellow diamond-shaped signs with a red arrow on them, which has been used as a site for decades. They measured the depth and weight of the snow in the samples, and Hickenlooper then crunched the numbers. “I was hoping it would be a little bit better,” she said, leaning over her calculator and pad, while kneeling in the snow.

The 30-year average for the site is 10.8 inches of water in the snowpack. Her calculations showed for March, the average is 5.4, even after some encouraging snowfall during Colorado’s snowiest month…

Hickenlooper said that most of the state’s snowpack has been at about 70 percent of average, while the Longs Peak site was only at 50 percent from February measurements. Still, that was up from 25 percent in January.

The data Hickenlooper and Sievers gather at their four snowpack measurement sites will be forwarded on for inclusion in the April report. Those reports are watched closely by municipalities and irrigation companies, which likely will have to make plans for a dry season.

Drought news: New storage or conservation to weather future droughts? #codrought

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From 9News.com (Dave Delozier):

Almost a decade ago, the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District formulated a plan to deal with the growing demand for water. They came up with two projects: The Windy Gap Firming Project and the Northern Integrated Supply Project.

The Windy Gap Firming Project calls for the creation of the Chimney Hollow Reservoir, a 90,000 acre-feet facility that would be built near Carter Lake. It would supply water to two water districts, 10 cities and the Platte River Power Authority.

The Northern Integrated Supply Project calls for the creation of two reservoirs: Glade Reservoir and Galeton Reservoir. Glade would be the biggest in the project with a capacity of 170,000 acre feet of water. That would make it a larger water storage facility than Horsetooth Reservoir. It would stretch for five miles and be located northwest of Fort Collins.

Galeton Reservoir would be built northeast of Greeley and have a storage capacity of 45,000 acre-feet of water. The Northern Integrated Supply Project would serve 15 municipal water providers and two agriculture irrigation companies…

“We need more storage to meet that gap between supply and demand,” [Dana Strongin, a spokesperson for Northern Water] said…

“They’re just trying to get the last legally allowed drops of water off the river and we’re saying no. Let’s stop doing that old idea and let’s move forward with a new paradigm in water management where we conserve, we recycle and we start sharing water with farmers. That is going to be the future,” Gary Wockner, director of the Save the Poudre organization, said.

Wockner fears that building the Glade Reservoir will destroy the Cache La Poudre River by lowering water levels in it. He says that will do damage to the economy in northern Colorado by taking away from fishing, rafting and tourism.

“Because here is the bottom-line, if they get the last legal drops of water off the river then in 10 years or 20 years they’re going to have to start sharing and conserving and recycling eventually. We’re saying let’s do it now and protect this river so there’s at least a small amount of water,” Wockner said.

Say hello to Western Resource Advocates Drought portal. From the website:

In 2012, Colorado experienced its worst drought in 10 years and what Colorado State Climatologist Nolan Doesken has called one of the all-time worst droughts in state history. It appears that 2013 will bring a second consecutive drought season which will include many more watering restrictions than Coloradans saw in 2012.

Drought is a fact of life in the arid West, but experts agree that climate change will lead to an increase in drought frequency and severity.

As the population in the West continues to grow, there will be a greater demand for water for all sorts of uses…and drought will have a greater impact.

Click here to download their drought fact sheet.

Drought news: ‘Almost a quarter…of Colorado is…experiencing exceptional drought’ — Bob Berwyn #codrought

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From the Summit County Citizens Voice (Bob Berwyn):

A big swath of the high country, including Summit and Eagle counties, is still classified as being in extreme drought…

Almost a quarter (21 percent) of Colorado is classified as experiencing exceptional drought, with half the state seeing moderate to severe drought conditions. The entire state is experiencing some level of drought, according to last week’s update at the monthly Water Availability Task Force meeting…

The Natural Resources Conservation Service is forecasting below average spring streamflows for the entire state, with most of the basins falling within the 50-69 percent of average forecast range.

The precipitation forecast for the spring is mixed, with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center saying the odds are better for below average moisture, while an experimental long-term forecast offers hope for wet conditions, especially in Southwest Colorado.

From the Aurora Sentinel (Sara Castellanos):

Aurora Water officials requested on March 25 that Aurora City Council approve a two-day per week watering schedule for residents city-wide. Council members are set to vote on the proposal at their council meeting April 1. The proposal would require that residents only water their lawns two days per week beginning April 1, with assigned watering days. Aurora residents are currently on a non-scheduled, three-day per week watering plan.

Aurora’s reservoirs are currently at less than 48 percent of capacity, according to city documents…

The mild winter and low snowpack levels have resulted in reservoir levels similar to what the city saw during the 2002-03 drought, water officials say. That drought prompted the city to undertake a $600 million project called Prairie Waters, which is expected to be delivering 10,000 acre-feet of water annually beginning this summer, and increase Aurora’s water supply by 20 percent.

From The Brighton Blade (Crystal Nelson):

Utilities Director Jim Landeck presented the drought management plan to council during their March 26 study session and said he will ask them to begin the process of adopting the plan during their April 2 meeting.

Landeck anticipates the city will need to declare a Stage 1 drought at some point during the summer, as the snowpack is tracking along the lines of the 2002 drought. He said the difference is that when the 2002 drought hit, the city’s reservoirs were full.

“Now we’re seeing a situation that the reservoirs started out the season empty,” he said. “Our reservoir at Ken Mitchell Lake is way down and so we’re starting out with, how do we reserve the supply? If nothing is coming down the river, we’ve got nothing to refill it with.”

Landeck also anticipates the irrigation ditches will have less water for augmentation and Water Resources Engineer Sarah Borgers said the city’s reservoirs are at critical levels and have dropped several feet.

In issuing a Stage 1 Drought, the city tries to reduce the demand on its potable water supplies by 20 percent.

Irrigation would be prohibited between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. and residents would be restricted to watering their lawns two times a week. Residents could water their gardens, trees and shrubs on an as-needed basis, and sod permits are available between April 15 and May 21 and again from Sept. 1 to Oct. 21.

Borgers said it’s plausible the city could declare a Stage 2 drought this summer. She explained the city of Westminster is planning to reduce the amount of water it gives to the city by 40 percent, and that it’s likely the Green Sand Plant will be down due to the lack of augmentation water at Barr Lake. Given those factors, it’s likely the demand of water will exceed the amount of water available and a Stage 2 drought warning will have to be issued.

In declaring a Stage 2 drought, the city would aim to reduce the outdoor water demand by 50 percent in order to maintain a reliable supply. Residents would be allowed to water their grass once a week and water gardens, trees and shrubs on an as-needed basis. Because of the restrictions, sod permits would not be granted, residents would not be allowed to use ornamental fountains or water displays, and private swimming pools would not be able to operate although city swimming pools will be available for use.