Day: November 1, 2010

Telluride: The town council approves $10 million in bonds for new water treatment plant

A picture named bridalveilfallstelluride.jpg

From the Telluride Daily Planet (Katie Klingsporn):

The project aims to provide Telluride with a pure and secure source of water by tapping Blue Lake — located high in upper Bridal Veil Basin. The plan is to pipe water from Blue Lake to a facility built on a shelf of land in the east end of the box canyon, and from there disperse it to town users. Planning of the project has been in the works for more than a decade, and voters approved the bonds in 2006. However, it has been stalled by litigation, as the town wrangled in court with Idarado Mining Company over water rights and easements, and negotiations were still ongoing this summer.

But it lurched back to life early this fall when the town approved a construction contract, and the momentum was carried into a plan to issue the bonds to pay for it. The town’s bond counsel, Steve Jeffers, said the current climate is very favorable for bonding, and urged the town to pull the trigger this fall. By issuing bonds right now, he said, the town could find interest rates at around 3.4 percent. In previous discussions on the matter, Jeffers also indicated that contractor rates are low right now. And he urged the town to issue the bonds just in case a trio of controversial ballot measures, 60, 61 and 101 — which could adversely affect the ability of governments to bond — pass on Tuesday.

More San Miguel River watershed coverage here.

Precipitation news

A picture named pinewoodreservoirberthoudrecorder.jpg

From the Boulder Daily Camera (Laura Snider):

Since Aug. 1, Boulder has received just 2.26 inches of rain. The average precipitation over those three months is 5.14 inches, according to Matt Kelsch, a meteorologist at the University Corp. for Atmospheric Research in Boulder.

Bayfield and the La Plata / Archuleta Water District to partner on water treatment plant?

A picture named watertreatment.jpg

From the Pine River Times (Carole McWilliams):

Cooperation got a positive response on Oct. 19 at a joint meeting of Bayfield town trustees and La Plata/ Archuleta Water District board members. They discussed a possible joint venture to expand the town’s existing water treatment plant or to build a new one. Either one would provide water to both entities. The other alternative is for the district to go it alone with a new plant. LAPLAWD board chairman Dick Lunceford thanked town trustees for being open to discussing a joint venture. “I think it will be a benefit to both,” he said…

The district master plan proposes a treatment plant near Bayfield and one at the Animas/ La Plata Project Lake Nighthorse to serve the west side of the district.
Water engineer Steve Harris (Kraft’s employer) said the Bayfield treatment plant is the higher priority, because that’s more in the center of the district’s 400-square-mile service area…

[Town Manager Justin Clifton] said the town will put out a request for qualifications for a consultant to do a feasibility study on a joint venture. Both boards will have to agree on cost sharing and approve a contract to do the study…

[Water engineer Steve Harris], [LAPLAWD board chairman Dick Lunceford], and [Engineer Amy Kraft] noted how long it’s taken to achieve a rural water system. The effort started in 1994 with the idea that it would be fairly easy, Harris said, adding, “Maybe we are finally getting close to putting pipe in the ground.” Kraft joked that since she got involved with the effort, she has gone to college, graduated, and had a child.

More San Juan Basin coverage here.

Arkansas Valley: Pure Cycle is looking for ways to make some dough on its investment in valley irrigation water

A picture named arkbasinditchsystem.jpg

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

“We haven’t changed our plans at all,” said Mark Harding, president of Pure Cycle. “We’re still very interested in participating in this municipal-agricultural partnership.”[…]

Shortly after the purchase, Harding explained that Pure Cycle was looking for opportunities to use the water within the Arkansas River basin, as well as its stated intention of building a pipeline to take the water from the valley. Harding was among those who incorporated the Arkansas Valley Super Ditch in 2008, improving the chances that those Fort Lyon shares could be used within the valley.

Pure Cycle inherited conditions that were put on its Fort Lyon farms when High Plains A&M attempted to change the use of the water. In 2003, the Fort Lyon board approved moving the water outside the ditch, provided it was taken in rotation. In 2004, District 2 Water Judge Dennis Maes denied High Plains’ application to change the use of water because it was speculative. The Colorado Supreme Court upheld that ruling following a challenge by High Plains. Pure Cycle announced plans to build a pipeline from the La Junta area when it bought the water in 2006, although it soon became apparent those plans were years away. Pure Cycle now serves only about 300 homes, although it is in line to provide water for 24,000 acres of future development on the former Lowry Range east of Aurora, as well as a 5,000-unit development on Sky Ranch. For now, Pure Cycle continues to farm the land it owns on the Fort Lyon…

Harding also is noncommittal on what impact participating in the Super Ditch would have in stopping or delaying a pipeline from the Lower Arkansas Valley. “There are limitations on exchange potential, so I’m not sure what infrastructure would be necessary,” Harding said. The Super Ditch has filed for an exchange decree that would move water up the river and into Lake Pueblo, which still has to be approved in Water Court. Approval of ditch companies, county commissioners and other agencies also is needed before contracts can be drafted.

Meanwhile, Aurora’s hands are tied by intergovernmental agreements with respect to buying and drying more agricultural land. Here’s a report from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

“We can become a farmer,” Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer said this week. “We can’t move the water [newly acquired water rights], however, so it’s unlikely we’d buy a large amount.” At a meeting with the Arkansas Valley Super Ditch board Tuesday, Tauer talked about putting water supplies from existing or new farms purchased by Aurora into the pool of water rights that could be used for the Super Ditch. That possibility is also accounted for in a 2009 agreement with the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District that allows Aurora to participate either as a buyer or seller of water through the Super Ditch.

A 2003 agreement with the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District — fortified by the 2004 six-party intergovernmental agreement — doesn’t limit Aurora from acquiring new water rights in the Arkansas Valley, but does prevent it from using existing infrastructure or changing the use of any new water rights, said Mark Pifher, director of Aurora Water.

More Arkansas Valley Super Ditch coverage here and here.

Littleton: The city is renegotiating their supply contract with Denver Water

A picture named littleton.jpg

From the Littleton Independent (Heather Sackett):

Discussions began this spring around the same time Littleton was asked by Sterling Ranch, a proposed, large-scale Douglas County residential development, to consider the potential for annexation. The contract, written in 1970, states that areas annexed by the city will automatically become part of the area served by Denver Water. “Littleton’s contract is an anomaly that appears to assume water service will be available for future annexed territory,” the late Denver Water Manager Chips Barry wrote in a March 30 letter to Littleton City Manager Jim Woods. “It appears that Littleton could, in theory, annex to the south, as you did with the TrailMark annexation.” The letter goes on to say that Denver Water would probably not have the water available to serve any large areas south of Littleton. Barry proposed an amendment to the contract that would limit Denver Water’s obligation to serve areas newly annexed into Littleton.

More South Platte River basin coverage here.

Aspinall Unit operations update

A picture named aspinallunitdescription.jpg

From email from Reclamation (Dan Crabtree):

As those of you who observe the Gunnison River gage below the Gunnison Tunnel have noticed, there have been some large fluctuations as the Tunnel is shut down. Once things stabilize, flows in the Black Canyon and Gunnison Gorge should settle between 400 and 500 cfs.

More Aspinall Unit coverage here.

Conservation: Aging U.S. water infrastructure wastes 1.7 trillion gallons per year according to ITT Value of Water survey

A picture named fountainpavementdrawing.jpg

Here’s the link to the survey. Here’s a interview with Colin Sabol, vice president of marketing and business development in ITT’s Fluid and Motion Control division from Smart Planet (Melanie D.G. Kaplan). From the article:

Not surprisingly, the survey showed that many of us are concerned about our water system. But Not surprisingly, the survey showed that many of us are concerned about our water system. But Colin Sabol, vice president of marketing and business development in ITT’s Fluid and Motion Control division, says since we can’t see the underground pipes, they don’t get as much attention as, say, potholes. According to the report, every day there are 650 water main breaks. And according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, leaking pipes lose an estimated seven billion gallons of clean drinking water a day., says since we can’t see the underground pipes, they don’t get as much attention as, say, potholes. According to the report, every day there are 650 water main breaks. And according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, leaking pipes lose an estimated seven billion gallons of clean drinking water a day…

[Sabol:] Every day we waste water and energy, and every day it gets a little worse. It’s been getting worse for decades, and it’s reached a point where we believe it’s time to do something about it. If we ignore it, it won’t become a huge problem overnight, but it’s time to start paying more attention. The issue’s not going to go away by itself. The EPA did a study in 2002 where they rated the quality of our water infrastructure, and the rating was D-minus. They said it would take half a trillion dollars to fix all the water infrastructure at once. The Congressional Budget Office said if you spent $19 billion a year more you would catch up with these problems. So we are under-investing annually that much. The federal government today only spends a couple billion a year. The vast majority comes from local tariffs and local and municipal governments.

More infrastructure coverage here.

Flaming Gorge pipeline: Eric Kuhn — ‘There’s just no water for Million for this project’

A picture named flaminggorgepipelinemillion.jpg

Eric Kuhn was in Rock Springs recently and spoke to opponents of the Million Resource Group’s proposed pipeline from the Green River basin to meet the unbridled growth along the Front Range in Colorado. Here’s an in-depth report from the Jeff Gearino writing for the Casper Star-Tribune via the Billings Gazette. From the article:

A veteran Colorado engineer said last week that his water conservation district worries there won’t be enough excess water left to be taken out of the Green River system. If the pipeline is approved, municipal and other entities in southwest Wyoming and western Colorado that rely on the Green River may not have enough water to meet their future recreation, tourism and industrial growth needs. “There’s just no water for Million for this project,” Colorado River Water Conservation District General Manager Eric Kuhn told members of a local group opposing the pipeline project…

He said the Colorado River District board shares the concerns of people in southwest Wyoming about moving water from the Green River, and the Flaming Gorge Reservoir it feeds, to Colorado’s bustling Front Range. “The (Million pipeline) question comes down to inflows into the Flaming Gorge … and all the science suggests a drier future,” Kuhn told members of the Communities Protecting the Green River Committee during an informational meeting Tuesday night…

“The bottom line is … our district is planning for the worst, and that’s why we think this is a bad project,” said Kuhn, who has worked for the district for more than 30 years. “The project threatens Colorado because it could overdevelop the Colorado River water supply,” he said. “Our concern is what happens if we overdevelop and then that water isn’t there.” The Colorado River Water Conservation District was created by the Colorado Legislature in 1937 to provide legal, technical and political protection for the Colorado River and its principal tributaries within Colorado. The district comprises 15 counties on Colorado’s West Slope. The district is a political subdivision of the state of Colorado, but not a state agency.

More coverage from Jeff Gearino writing for the Billings Gazette. From the article:

Wyoming uses about 525,000 acre feet from the Green River each year — about 73 percent of what has been the state’s typical annual Colorado River Compact allocation of 833,000 acre feet…

Million has applied to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a permit to build the private pipeline at an estimated cost of $3 billion. He has identified several Colorado agricultural interests and some municipal interest in southeastern Wyoming as potential customers for the water. The Corps of Engineers is preparing an environmental study of the proposal, which is expected to be completed in 2016. Million also has applications pending with the Wyoming State Engineer’s Office to pipe up to 250,000 acre feet of water per year from diversion points on the Green River and Flaming Gorge Reservoir. The Corps is sifting through more than 7,000 comments on the transbasin water pipeline project. Corps officials have said they are also considering more than 300 alternative ways of providing water to the Front Range besides Million’s proposal.

More Flaming Gorge pipeline coverage here and here.