From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
“I’m dismayed by the lack of progress [with the roundtable process],” said Jeris Danielson, a former state water engineer, consultant to Aaron Million’s Flaming Gorge pipeline project and director of the Purgatoire Water Conservancy District. “The discussion degenerated into, ‘There’s not enough water on the Western Slope,’ instead of talking about any projects.”
The IBCC’s meeting in Denver in April was mostly spent with members taking fallback positions that have stifled much discussion since the group was formed in 2005, he said. The group was initially seen as a way to develop guidelines for interbasin transfers, but most of the state’s nine roundtables are still wrestling with needs assessments with the basins…
The Arkansas Basin Roundtable will meet with the Gunnison Basin Roundtable at Salida on June 7 to discuss each basin’s concerns. It will be the second one-on-one meeting between the two roundtables.
More coverage from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
A $42,000 project would attempt to develop a management plan to accommodate the needs of fishermen or boaters and water providers. “When you bring down water from the upper reservoirs into Lake Pueblo, when can you do that to meet all of the needs,” Jim Broderick, executive director of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, told the Arkansas Basin Roundtable Wednesday. The guidelines developed would give all parties an idea of how much water would be released in wet, average or dry years in an attempt to head off complaints or potential lawsuits, Broderick said. The Roundtable agreed to pass its recommendation for approval along to the Colorado Water Conservation Board for a $33,000 grant for the project. Southeastern and the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District will equally split the balance of the costs.
More coverage from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
A proposal to study the spawning habits of the flathead chub — which is found throughout the West — on Fountain Creek was bait for both skeptical comments and passionate defense among the normally placid roundtable members. Colorado Springs Utilities would use the study as part of its plan to build a fish ladder around its diversion at Clear Springs Ranch, located south of Colorado Springs in El Paso County. It would cost $144,000, with $109,000 through research efforts by the Division of Wildlife, Colorado State University, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Army Corps of Engineers. The remaining $35,000 is being sought through a state grant, said Merle Grimes, a consultant for the Fountain Creek Master Plan, which is a joint project of Colorado Springs, the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District and the Fountain Creek Watershed Flood Control and Greenway District. “No one has attempted to do this study in the past,” Grimes said. “It has great value to the agencies who are participating.” The flathead chub is listed as a species of special concern, but not endangered or threatened, in Colorado. It’s not listed on the national endangered species list.
More Arkansas Basin coverage here.
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