July 31st: 37th anniversary of Big Thompson Canyon Flood. A fact sheet from 7 years ago. #cowx http://t.co/rkmi5sZuo3
— NWS Pueblo (@NWSPueblo) July 30, 2013
Day: July 30, 2013
A Non-Westerner’s Introduction to Colorado Water
Lamar: Drought meeting August 12 #COdrought
CO policymakers in Lamar 4 p.m. 8/12 (610 S. 6th St.) to hear your concerns on drought. Plus, they say there will be ice cream
— Catherine Tsai (@ctsai_denver) July 30, 2013
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
The Colorado Drought Task Force will come to Southern Colorado next month to view firsthand the effects of prolonged drought in the Arkansas Valley. State lawmakers, state agency directors and congressional staffers are expected to join the tour.
The Arkansas Valley is in its third year of drought, and is costing area economies millions of dollars annually.
The tour of drought impacts will begin at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 12 at the offices of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, located in the Pueblo Airport Industrial Park.
Among topics to be discussed are the challenges of enforcing the dust blowing act and testimony from farmers about how the drought is affecting them, according to the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
The day’s events will conclude with a stop at 4 p.m. at the Lamar Community Center, 610 S. Sixth St., Lamar.
Firestone: North Colorado secession public meeting recap
From the Longmont Times-Call (Scott Rochat):
Weld County’s quest to add “North Colorado” to the United States met with loud approval Monday night in southwest Weld. Approximately 75 people gathered in the Southwest Weld Complex near Firestone to add their voices to the debate over whether to create the 51st state.
Most could agree on two things: there is a “disconnect” between rural Colorado and the Denver-Boulder area, and secession for northeastern Colorado should be put before the voters as soon as possible. “It may just make a statement,” acknowledged Harry McClintock of Frederick. “But doggone it, I really hope we succeed in doing it!”[…]
…several North Colorado supporters acknowledged that a statehood fight would be an uphill battle at best. “Forming a new state in the atmosphere we have now is much, much harder than it was 150 years ago,” said Dan Oster of Kersey, referring to the last “breakway” state to join the Union, West Virginia in 1863…
On Monday, a long line of speakers ran down their list of grievances: gun regulation, oil and gas regulation, firefighter unionization and — the breaking point for some — Senate Bill 252, which doubled the amount of energy rural cooperatives would have to get from “green” sources. “We’re not falling away from Colorado,” Bruce Sparrow of Keenesburg said. “Colorado’s falling away from us.”
Short of statehood, several also expressed support for a suggestion from Phillips County, that the Colorado constitution should be amended to have the Senate elect one member per county, rather than base both chambers on population.
Weld County will hold two more public comment sessions: today at the Evans Recreation Center, 1100 37th St., Evans; and Wednesday at the Ault Fire Department, 16680 Colo. Highway 14, Ault.
Meanwhile, Conway said, a number of people and even some businesses have expressed interest in moving to the new state.
From The Denver Post (Adrian D. Garcia):
Weld County residents said they were ready for a major fight Monday evening. Whether that battle is to secede from Colorado or to change representation, all they want is to be heard and to win respect. The nearly 70 people in attendance were participating in the second public meeting Weld County commissioners have hosted to discuss whether their constituents felt a disconnect and wanted to pursue change.
Every person who spoke agreed there is a disconnect between the needs of rural voters and the laws and policies being passed at the state legislature. “If you’re going to start walking on the people that give the government power, then they’re going to start taking that power back,” Travis Showalter of Frederick said.
Most commissioners from the 10 counties who attended a 51st State initiative meeting July 8 shifted their support to the new plan suggested by Phillips County Administrator Randy Schafer. Schafer suggested changing representation in the state Senate or House so that each county would have the same number of representatives. Currently, representation is based on populations.
However, most who spoke at the meeting decided they want the commissioners to pursue seceding from Colorado. “We’re not pulling away from Colorado, Colorado is pulling away from us,” Keenesburg resident Bruce Sparrow said.
Sparrow pointed to laws passed during the last legislative session, such as Amendment 64 that OK’d recreational marijuana and the new renewable energy standards created by SB 252.
Attendees of Thursday’s public meeting held in Fort Lupton expressed similar concerns and asked commissioners to pursue creating a 51st state. “They feel like there are other circumstances where minorities are protected and they’re probably looking for something like that,” said Chip Taylor, executive director of Colorado Counties Inc. “They are concerned about real bona fide issues.”
Weld County Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer admitted that the road to actual secession will be a bumpy one. The last state to successfully do so was West Virginia in 1863, according to Kirkmeyer, who was joined by her fellow commissioners, except for Mike Freeman. To actually secede, Weld County would have to put that option before its own voters, then get measures approved at the state and federal levels.
Commissioner Sean Conway, who originally supported the plan to secede, opted to support the other proposal instead. Conway, who is also general government chairman for CCI, plans to have the association make the Phillips County proposal a legislative priority during a September meeting, he said. “I’m supporting it and pushing it. I think the Phillips County proposal makes a lot of sense,” Conway said. If he is successful and CCI votes to make the proposal a priority, the group will seek bipartisan sponsorship and introduce it as a bill at the beginning of the 2014 legislative session in January.
Conway and the other four Weld County commissioners attended the two public meetings. Two more discussions are scheduled, one Tuesday in Evans and another Wednesday in Ault.
More North Colorado secession coverage here.
Fountain Creek: Study of dams for flood control a big project for the USGS
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
It was a massive task. The question was simple: What are the impacts of building dams at various points on Fountain Creek? To do that, the U.S. Geological Survey broke the 932-square-mile drainage area into 72 subbasins, looked at 1,900 cross-sections and relied on historic information from more than a dozen stream gauges. “We used the information that was available, but engineers always want more information,” David Mau, head of the Pueblo USGS office, told the Fountain Creek Watershed Flood Control and Greenway District last week.
He was careful to point out that funding, property acquisition and water rights questions were not addressed by the study.
Mau released preliminary findings that show Pueblo would get equal protection from flooding by building one large dam or a series of 44 retention ponds along the creek. Most surprising was the relatively strong protection provided by just 10 detention ponds south of Colorado Springs. But the $570,000 study, expected to be finalized later this year, is just the beginning of protection for Pueblo from the highly variable and sometimes destructive flows of Fountain Creek. The political battles over stormwater still are being waged and the costs of alternatives largely unknown, but it is clear that building a series of smaller structures rather than a large earthen dam would cost less.
The district also must determine in the next few years how to spend $50 million coming to it from Colorado Springs as a condition of its 1041 land-use permit with [Pueblo County].
FOUR CHOICES
Four potential scenarios are among 14 modeled by the U.S. Geological Survey:
1. Build 44 detention ponds from the Air Force Academy to the confluence of Fountain Creek at the Arkansas River. Reduction of peak flows: 59%. Reduction of sediment: 18%.
2. Build an 85-foot earthen dam north of the confluence: Peak flows: 56%; sediment: 62%.
3. Build 10 detention ponds between Colorado Springs and Pueblo: Peak flows: 47%; sediment: 8%. 4. Build a diversion channel at the El Paso-Pueblo County line to channel flows into Chico Creek: Peak flows: 42.5%; sediment: 8.4%.
Numbers are based on a 100-year storm centered over downtown Colorado Springs. Peak discharge without any dams is 37,500 cubic feet per second, measured at Pueblo. Sediment load without any dams is 104,000 tons.