Day: March 26, 2017

Alamosa: Councillors review augmentation, loan, project plans

Alamosa railroad depot circa 1912

From The Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):

Like all other larger well owners in the San Luis Valley , the City of Alamosa has to comply with groundwater regulations filed by the Colorado Division of Water Resources State Engineer and pending court approval.

Those regulations require well owners to make up for the injuries they are causing senior surface water rights. The regulations also require measures to help replenish the basin’s aquifer levels.

The City of Alamosa staff and council have been working on means to comply with the new rules including acquisition of water to offset the city’s well pumping.

The city is setting up financing to cover those costs, which the city has capped at $4.3 million. The city will basically use a portion of its ranch property as collateral to finance the city’s water compliance efforts…

Alamosa City Manager Heather Brooks explained that the city allowed flexibility in authorizing up to $4.3 million to include the East Alamosa Water & Sanitation District, if it wished to participate in the city’s plan.

If East Alamosa opts to develop its own augmentation plan, or other costs for the city’s water plan are not as high as expected, the city will have leeway in the $4.3 million for other projects, Brooks added. The city would also have the option of paying the money back earlier, she said. The city staff and council identified some projects they felt were appropriate to use this money for, if it was not all needed for the water augmentation plan.

These include: water and sewer mains; sanitary lift stations; and levee rehabilitation to meet FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and CWCB (Colorado Water Conservation Board) requirements.

Including these projects in the financing ordinance does not mean they will be completed, but it gives the city more options with the financing , Brooks explained.

“It allows flexibility,” she said. She said the identified projects need addressed. For example, some of the pumps on sanitary lift stations are 30 years old “essentially at the end of their life” and if they were to be replaced, it would increase efficiency, use less electricity and require less staff time.

Likewise, there are sewer and water lines that need to be replaced. Last year lines even collapsed in a couple of areas, Brooks said.

The city also has to recertify the levee and cannot use enterprise funds for that, Brooks said. Councilors agreed it was a good idea to have some flexibility.

“It leaves the door open ” in case we need it,” said Councilor Liz Thomas Hensley . “It doesn’t cost anything extra than what we are already doing.”

[…]

The council unanimously approved on first reading the ordinance amendment and scheduled the second reading and public hearing during the city’s 7 p.m. meeting on April 5.

Bailey: STEM education

Students pulling samples

From The Fairplay Flume (Lori Bennet):

Dropping eggs from second floor buildings and programming robots sounds like fun. True, but these activities are preparing students for jobs that use serious science, technology, art and math skills.

“We are giving kids skills for jobs in the 21st century that may not even have been created yet,” said, Ginger Slocum, principal of Fitzsimmons Middle School in Bailey.
You may have heard the term, STEM, in schools when discussing science skills. However, STEM is much more than just a science class.

“STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach,” per the website, http://www.livescience.com.

The Women on the Front Lines of Climate Change — @PacificStand

Kalee Kreider is a climate consultant, a climate change adviser to the U.N. Foundation, and a former adviser to Al Gore. (Photo: Ali Berrada) via The Pacific Standard.

Here’s a look at 9 women in the lead in the fight to mitigate the climate crisis from Kate Wheeling & Ted Scheinman writing for Pacific Standard Magazine. Click through and read the whole article. Here’s an excerpt:

Twenty-six million people around the globe have been displaced by climate change since 2010; 20 million of those climate refugees — more than 75 percent of them — are women. But women are not merely victims of climate change: They also have the potential to create lasting solutions. In the global north, women make 80 percent of consumer decisions. In developing countries, the vast majority of water-collection and food-production tasks fall to women. Meanwhile, as Kalee Kreider notes, women are increasingly controlling the upper levels of climate diplomacy, from the executive secretariat of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change to the working group in charge of implementing the Paris Agreement.

In this special series from Pacific Standard, we highlight the work of nine extraordinary women who are shaping the future of our planet, at all levels of the climate struggle.

For an opportunity to learn about the climate crisis please consider coming by Smiley Library this Wednesday, March 29th. I’ll be addressing the 3 questions: Should we change; Can we change; Will we change?

@NOAAClimate: 2017 U.S. spring climate and flood outlook — Red River, Snake River at elevated risk for snowmelt flooding #runoff

Here’s the 2017 U.S. spring climate and flood outlook from NOAA:

Spring Outlook: Risk of major flooding in North Dakota, moderate flooding in Idaho

Warmer-than-average temperatures favored in much of U.S. this spring

Northern North Dakota—the Souris River, Devils Lake and the northernmost reaches of the Red River—has the greatest risk of major flooding this spring, while moderate flooding is possible over southern Idaho in the Snake River basin, according to NOAA’s Spring Outlook released today. California, which saw extensive flooding in February, is susceptible to additional flooding from possible storms through the remainder of the wet season and later, from snowmelt.

U.S. areas at risk for minor (light blue), moderate (medium blue), or major (dark blue) flooding this spring due to winter precipitation and temperature patterns. NOAA Climate.gov map, based on data from the National Weather Sevice.

“If you’re in northern North Dakota, or in the Snake River basin in Idaho, prepare for moderate to major flooding this spring,” said Tom Graziano, Ph.D., director of NOAA’s Office of Water Prediction. “Snowpack is heavy in the West and northern plains, and if our long term warm-up coincides with spring rains, already saturated soils will not be able to absorb the increased water, which would lead to increased runoff and potential flooding.”

But while the extreme north could see flooding, the rest of the country could be warmer than average, forecasters said. “Above average temperatures are favored for much of the U.S. this spring with the south-central Plains and eastern U.S. having the highest chance for warmer than average conditions,” said Jon Gottschalck, chief, Operational Prediction Branch, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.

There was a remarkable turnaround in California’s five-year drought over the winter. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, issued today, the geographic extent of drought in the state dropped from 73 percent three months ago to eight percent this week, due to near-record precipitation from a series of powerful winter storms. Also, in February, only three percent of the contiguous U.S. saw severe to exceptional drought, the lowest level in seven years.

“If you’re in northern North Dakota, or in the Snake River basin in Idaho, prepare for moderate to major flooding this spring,” said Tom Graziano, Ph.D., director of NOAA’s Office of Water Prediction. “Snowpack is heavy in the West and northern plains, and if our long term warm-up coincides with spring rains, already saturated soils will not be able to absorb the increased water, which would lead to increased runoff and potential flooding.”
But while the extreme north could see flooding, the rest of the country could be warmer than average, forecasters said. “Above average temperatures are favored for much of the U.S. this spring with the south-central Plains and eastern U.S. having the highest chance for warmer than average conditions,” said Jon Gottschalck, chief, Operational Prediction Branch, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.
There was a remarkable turnaround in California’s five-year drought over the winter. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, issued today, the geographic extent of drought in the state dropped from 73 percent three months ago to eight percent this week, due to near-record precipitation from a series of powerful winter storms. Also, in February, only three percent of the contiguous U.S. saw severe to exceptional drought, the lowest level in seven years.
U.S. drought conditions at the start of the winter wet season in the West. Much of California was in exceptional (dark red) or extreme (bright red) drought going into winter. NOAA Climate.gov map based on data from the U.S. Drought Monitor project.

Driving the forecast for major flooding in northern North Dakota is an extensive snowpack, containing up to four inches of liquid water that could increase with additional storms through April. When this snowpack melts, the already saturated and frozen soil won’t be able to absorb it, creating runoff and potential flooding. The location of greatest concern is Devils Lake, where forecasters are projecting a near record runoff that could cause the lake to rise three to four feet, possibly exceeding its record high flood level set in June 2011.

Read the whole press release.

Spring 2017 temperature outlook

Shades of red show parts of the United States where the chances of a much warmer than normal spring are greater than the chances of a near-normal or cooler than normal spring. Shades of blue show places where the odds of a much cooler than normal spring are higher than the odds of a near-normal, or warmer than normal spring. The darker the color, the greater the chances of the respective outcome. White areas mean there is an equal chance (~33%) for a warm, near-normal, or cool spring. The large version of the map shows Alaska and Hawaii. NOAA Climate.gov map based on data from the Climate Prediction Center.

Spring 2017 precipitation outlook

Shades of green show parts of the United States where the chances of a much wetter than normal spring are greater than the chances of a near-normal or drier than normal spring. Shades of brown show places where the odds of a much drier than normal spring are higher than the odds of a near-normal, or wetter than normal spring. The darker the color, the greater the chances of the respective outcome. White areas mean there is an equal chance (~33%) for a dry, near-normal, or wet spring. The large version of the map shows Alaska and Hawaii. NOAA Climate.gov map based on data from the Climate Prediction Center.

Busting the tree ring — @HighCountryNews

These bigleaf maples in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest were cut down during the course of an illegal timber harvesting operation. Photo credit the U.S. Department of Justice, via OPB.org.

Here’s a report about fighting illegal logging from Ben Goldfarb writing for The High Country News. Click through and read the whole thing. Here’s an excerpt:

Cutting bigleaf maple is generally legal, with the right permits, on private and state land in Washington. In national forests, however, protections on old growth keep the tree strictly off-limits. But in Gifford Pinchot, the law’s arm didn’t reach too far. Malamphy, who’d served as an officer with the U.S. Forest Service since 2000, patrolled the Cowlitz Valley Ranger District, a rough triangle formed by Mount Adams, Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens. His jurisdiction covered 575,000 acres — one cop, responsible for an area almost twice the size of Los Angeles. He cruised the woods alone in a Dodge pickup, inspecting meth paraphernalia dumps, checking hunting licenses, conducting traffic stops. In some ways, the job has changed little since the early 20th century, when Pinchot himself dispatched a ragged band of recruits to help a strange new agency called the Forest Service wrangle illegal loggers and miners. Everyone Malamphy met in the woods carried a gun or a knife, and usually both. Backup was hours away. In 2008, a Forest Service officer was murdered by a tree-trimmer down a remote road on the Olympic Peninsula. Malamphy was a tough customer — he had an offensive lineman’s physique, and hands that could crack walnuts. Still, he kept his Glock .40 close.