Day: November 9, 2011

The Ogalla Aquifer has dropped 274 million acre-feet since since the 1950s

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From the International Business Times (Pierre Bertrand):

The High Plains (or Ogallala) Aquifer spans 111 million acres totaling 173,000 square miles. It’s a veritable underground ocean and is used to irrigate crops and support livestock in eight states from South Dakota to Texas.

The crops produced in the region are shipped everywhere throughout the world. It is one of the globe’s major agricultural producing regions – and it’s drying up.

Since the 1950s, when advancements in well technology and water pumping meant agriculturalists could extract record amounts of water, the aquifer has dropped roughly 274 million acre feet, the bulk of the decline happening since the mid-1980s.

Such a drop means water levels have dipped by more than 150 feet in parts of Texas’ Panhandle and South West Kansas, according to a United States Geologic Survey 2011 report that compared water level declines in recent years with levels 60 years ago…

Brownie Wilson, Kansas Geologic Survey’s water level database administrator, said out of 8.6 million acres of Ogallala-irrigated land in Kansas, 1.2 million acres of farm land will be at minimum threshold, or the level at which water can no longer be pumped from the ground for irrigation, within less than 25 years. That will add to the already 2.2 million acres of that state already at minimum threshold…

In 2009, 13 percent of the aquifer had sustained more than a 25 percent drop in its saturated thickness – or the depth of the aquifer. Another 5 percent sustained 50 percent drops, according to the report…

Water recharging the aquifer flows West to East. Depending on how much rainfall the area receives, less than 2 millimeters at times flows back into the aquifer a year, McGuire said. That’s less than one tenth of an inch…

[Troy Dumler, an agricultural economist with Kansas State University] said he suspects the state’s hodgepodge watering issues makes it hard for large-scale farming reform in the area to gain traction. While he remains cautiously optimistic, he adds policies will have to eventually be drafted to help encourage even less water use.

“I don’t think we can just stick our head in the sand and say ‘Oh everything will be fine,'” Dumler said, who anticipates watering issues could prompt some movement within the agricultural industry away from the state.

More ogallala aquifer coverage here and here.

Lincoln Park/Cotter Mill superfund site update: The dismantling of contaminated strutures has cost Cotter $3.5 million so far

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From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

Cotter Corp. crews this week jack-hammered concrete foundations and ripped apart contaminated remaining buildings at their uranium mill, pushing to consolidate all waste in a massive impoundment pond by year’s end.

Next year, workers will dig out toxic soil 4 feet deep and bury that too, said John Hamrick, Cotter’s vice president for mill operations, outlining a dismantling project that he said has cost $3.5 million so far.

The project eventually will include construction of a new evaporative waste pond to store water pumped from a potentially contaminated creek that flows near Cotter’s property, Hamrick said…

Ten new groundwater-testing wells are to be built in a nearby urban neighborhood to monitor toxic plumes, along with additional wells west of the mill, where the latest underground plume of cancer-causing trichloroethylene was discovered last year…

State health department regulators have let Cotter deliberate on whether to reopen or embark on total cleanup and restoration of the site. But now Cotter’s operating license is about to expire. Cotter must decide by January whether to renew or to move toward reclamation and closure…

Federal authorities during the Cold War backed creation of the mill to process uranium for nuclear weapons. In 1984, the mill was deemed a Superfund environmental disaster. Toxic metal waste contaminated residential wells near Cañon City.

More nuclear coverage here and here.

Snowpack news: Northwestern Colorado is lagging behind most of the state, statewide snowpack is at 12% of average peak

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It’s very early in the season and a lot of snow still has to fall to get the state to an average year. Expectations are that La Niña will again bless the northern part of the state with snow like last year, although not in record amounts. Click on the thumbnail graphic to the right for this morning’s snowpack map.

The Water Infrastructure Network has identified the need for $4 billion for infrastructure statewide

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Say hello to the Water Infrastructure Network website. The group hosted a conference Tuesday for around 150 providers in Denver to highlight funding needs and possible solutions. Here’s a report from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

The WIN Colorado website gives detailed information on the funding needs for water delivery, sanitary sewer and storm sewer needs throughout the state. It is funded by numerous public and industry groups, including the Special Districts Association, Colorado Municipal League, American Water Works Association, Associated General Contractors of Colorado and Colorado Contractors Association.

State funds for water grants and loans also have been reduced as dedicated sources, such as the mineral severance tax, have been redirected to help balance the state budget. “The ability of the state to loan money for water infrastructure is pretty thin,” said Doug Kemper, executive director of the Colorado Water Congress.

Three-fourths of the state’s $7.1 billion budget is spent on K-12 education, public safety or health and human services, and those costs aren’t dropping, he explained…

Water loan funds from mineral severance taxes administered through the Colorado Water Conservation Board have been cut by more than $266 million since 2008, and lawmakers gave no indication that the situation will change anytime soon…

One panel dealt with public-private partnerships, but couldn’t reach consensus on how they should be structured. They agreed that regionalizing water districts would provide a better basis for funding because of economy of scale, but said it might not be possible in every case. They also emphasized the need for private involvement and discounted the public mistrust of the profit motive…

Brian Burnett, Peter Binney and Lowell Clary, all consulting engineers, offered examples of how private companies were able to reduce costs to water providers through operational efficiencies. Binney, former director of Aurora Water, cited the specific example of the need to quickly boost the city’s treatment capacity after the 2002 Hayman Fire degraded its water supply in the South Platte River basin. A private contractor was hired to resolve the issues and performed the task on time and under budget.

More infrastructure coverage here.

Conservation efforts by Metropolitan Denver districts can help with the anticipated statewide gap in supplies and lessen pressure for ag dry ups

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From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

Denver metro users averaged 191 gallons per capita each day, and have already reduced that use to 155 gallons per day, according to a report that will be reviewed by the roundtable this week. The report recommends reducing water use to 129 gallons per person daily by 2050…

Alan Hamel, a member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board and Executive Director of the Pueblo Board of Water Works, said large water providers are working on urban conservation strategies and will do more in the future…

The Metro Roundtable used a portfolio tool developed by the IBCC and CWCB to estimate how far water conservation could go toward reducing demand in years to come. With mid-range population growth estimates, the 32 percent reduction in urban water use would shave total demand by Denver, Aurora and South Metro districts by 289,000 acre-feet per year…

The CWCB’s Statewide Water Supply Initiative last year projected a gap of 190,000-630,000 acre-feet, meaning that demand would have to be reduced that much, or new supplies found. The IBCC has suggested the portfolio tool to sort out how much water from projects, conservation and ag dry-up would be needed to meet demand. Reducing the demand through conservation could meet the low end of SWSI projections, but can’t do everything, Hamel said…

Pueblo, which bumped up against the limits of its Arkansas River supply in 2002, has reduced its water use by 17 percent per capita since the drought. The Pueblo water board is looking for ways to increase the savings…

Statewide, indoor water use is about 51 gallons per capita daily, while the Denver metro area’s indoor use is about 44 gallons per person daily. Still, the roundtable is looking at reducing that to 30-40 gallons daily through more efficient water fixtures and continued customer education.

More conservation coverage here.