Category: Uncompahgre River Watershed

Montrose County League of Women Voters: Water a Vital Resource October 1

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From email from the Colorado Watershed Assembly:

The first in a series of meetings hosted by the Montrose County League of Women Voters about regional programs working toward sustainability.

Join us and guest speakers from the Uncompaghre Watershed Planning Partnership and the City of Montrose Public Works Department for a forum on how to sustain water quality for businesses, citizens and wildlife for the next 100 years. Sarah Sauter of the UWPP will speak on its goal of improving water qualtiy and riparian habitat within the Uncompaghre River Basin by developing a collaborative watershed plan that would address heavy metals, selenium, wise land use planning, storm water, protection of drinking water supplies, flood hazard mitigation, river access, healthy fisheries, wildlife, public education and recreation. The City of Montrose Storm Water Management Program is dedicated to protecting the quality of surface waters, ponds, creeks and rivers.

Thursday, October 1,7: 00 p.m., Montrose Library Community Room Call Barb Krebs at 249-3989 for more information.

Ridgway council okays water and sewer rate hike (first reading)

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From The Telluride Watch (Gus Jarvis):

The Ridgway Town Council on Wednesday, Sept. 9 passed the first reading of an ordinance that raises both water and sewer rates over a three-year period in order to get the two operations financially sustainable. Sewer rates for users within town are currently $18 per month. That amount will increase to $25 on Jan. 1, 2010, and then increase by $5 for the next two years, making the monthly rate $35 by 2012.

For single-family homes, the ordinance will raise the current water rate of $22 a month to $27 in January. It will then increase in $5 increments, making the rate $32 in 2011 and $37 by 2012…

While the town needs to bring the two utility enterprises into the black, making them sustainable will also allow the town to pursue funding for its failing waterline infrastructure. Currently, town staff is pursuing outside funding from the Department of Local Affairs and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the town-wide replacement of the polybutylene water lines. The submittal requirements for the ARRA funding include proof by the town that the utility enterprise is sustaining itself from a revenue standpoint and will continue to do so to adequately absorb the debt service (0 percent) financing. The approved first reading of the ordinance, is, according to Clifton, “hopeful proof that the town’s utility will have sufficient revenues through time to cover these [financial] costs” in order to get the ARRA loans.

The rate-raising ordinance could go before council for final approval at its Oct. 14 meeting.

More infrastructure coverage here.

Gunnison Tunnel 100th year celebration

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Morph your Aspen viewing this weekend into a trip over to Montrose for the shindig. Here’s a report from Nancy Lofholm writing for The Denver Post. From the article:

The 6-mile-long Gunnison Tunnel — invisible and sometimes forgotten by today’s residents — was built to bring water from the Gunnison River to the fertile but mostly arid Uncompahgre Valley. It turned farmland that had inadequate water into one of the state’s prime agriculture areas…

The tunnel will get its due during a monumental birthday bash. Saturday, bells will clang from Montrose to Delta in an echo of the bells that pealed across the valley when the first water came rushing through the tunnel and filling a canal system on Sep. 23, 1909. There will be a parade, fireworks, games, picnics and a re-enactment of President William Howard Taft “speechifying” and pressing the golden button that opened the tunnel. “It’s a tremendously impressive project,” said Western State College history professor Duane Vandenbusche, who has included two chapters about the tunnel in a newly published book about the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

Gunnison Tunnel 100th year celebration

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Here’s a look at the Gunnison Tunnel and the water it provides for the Uncompahgre Valley, from Peter Shelton writing for The Telluride Watch. From the article:

We live on Gunnison River water from out of the Black Canyon by way of the Gunnison Tunnel, which celebrates its 100th anniversary September 26. Turns out just about everyone in the Uncompahgre Valley, from Colona to Pea Green, shares the same fortune. Without the pioneering engineering feat of the tunnel and the concurrent development of canals and laterals by the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association, we wouldn’t be here. Or, at the very least, this part of the Western Slope would look different. It wouldn’t be nearly as green, or as prosperous, as it is today…

The tunnel presented myriad practical and engineering challenges. Digging from both ends simultaneously, shifts of 30 men each working 24/7 took four years to dig the six-mile long hole. And when they finally met in the middle, [Water Users’ Manager Marc Catlin] told us, “They were 18 inches off! Dug by hand! A hundred years ago! You go to Denver, you go in the Eisenhower Tunnel, which was built in the 1970s, you make that turn in the middle? … They were off by 40 feet!”

While the tunnel was being dug, other crews were gouging canals into the west-side landscape, including the main artery, the 11-mile long South Canal. “Go out and look at the canals in winter,” Catlin said. “Imagine mules and Fresno scrapers – no bulldozers! They fed sheep in the canals in winter – all those little tiny feet packing that ‘dobe clay so that the canals wouldn’t leak!” Today the Water Users take care of 575 miles of canals and lateral ditches supplying three communities, two counties, and irrigating 80,000 acres of cropland. Not to mention municipal water (by Tri County and other water districts in Project 7) delivered as far as the outskirts of Ouray.

More Uncompahre Valley coverage here and here.

Montrose: Water master plan complete

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From the Montrose Daily Press (Kati O’Hare):

The plan will be presented to Montrose City Council during its work session Thursday evening. It includes modeling of the inter-water distribution in the city, determines where the city needs to make capital improvements to make the system work more effectively, and provides a schedule for those improvements based on projected growth. [city engineer Jason Ullmann] said the city would start on some of the “no-cost” improvements as soon as the plan is presented to council.

More infrastructure coverage here.

Montrose: Gunnison Tunnel 100th year celebration

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Montrose is gearing up for their celebration of 100 years of operation of the Gunnison Tunnel, from The Delta County Independent. From the article:

Celebrating 100 years of water provided by the Gunnison Tunnel, the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association (UVWUA) invites Montrose, Olathe and Delta community members and all Coloradoans, to join in fun activities culminating with the celebrations and ceremonies in Montrose at UVWUA headquarters on Saturday, Sept. 26…

Association manager Marc Catlin said the benefits of the tunnel to the Uncompahgre Valley cannot be overstated. “Opening the Gunnison Tunnel and then delivering the water to growers made this valley green while attracting a thriving population,” said Catlin. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the populations of both Delta and Montrose counties more than doubled between 1900, which the idea was first developed, and 1910, one year after the tunnel was completed. The data show that the decade of 1900-1910 saw the most significant population growth in the valley, ever.

More Gunnison Basin coverage here.

Energy policy — hydroelectric: Ouray to install small generation plant, Cortez micro-hydroelectric plant moving forward

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From The Telluride Watch (Beverly Corbell):

{Ouray Mayor Bob Risch] said the city has applied for a grant from the Governor’s Energy Office for about $20,000 to use water from the old Biota water line to generate electricity near the city-owned Ouray Hot Springs pool…

The energy generated, about 20,000 kW, is not great, but would reduce what the city has to pay to San Miguel Power Association. “Anyway we can save energy is good,” Risch said.

From The Cortez Journal (Steve Grazier):

The city established a hydroelectric power enterprise during its Aug. 11 regular meeting and authorized loan documents for the approximately $2 million hydropower center, said City Manager Jay Harrington. “Basically, we’ll be taking energy (water pressure) that’s not utilized … to create electricity,” Harrington said. “It’s a 20-year project to recoup money. But in 20 years, the city will have an asset as a moneymaker.” Harrington noted that an agreement is in place with Empire Electric Association to produce power through the city hydroelectric plant. That power will go into Empire’s grid and help the cooperative’s renewable energy needs. “The pieces are continuing to move forward on the project,” he said.

In addition, a hydroelectric plant could generate electricity off an existing pipeline to provide enough power to run the water treatment facility altogether and produce additional power used for other resources, according to Jack Nickerson, the city’s public works director. “We could generate enough power to run the entire (water treatment) plant and have some left over to sell back to Empire Electric for credit,” Nickerson has said. “We want to utilize the energy that’s there, and lower the city’s carbon footprint (in burning electricity) at the same time.”

More hydroelectric coverage here and here.

Ouray: Council to raise water and sewer rates?

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From the Ouray News (Patrick Davarn):

The Town of Ridgway is proposing an increase to the monthly base rates by $5 for water and $7 for sewer, each year over three years. The hike will take Ridgway’s base water rate from $22 to $37 by 2012, and the sewer rate from $18 to $39…

Public Works Director Joanne Fagan explained that an Enterprise Fund must be run like a business, its revenues sufficient to pay expenditures. “It should not be running at a loss,” said Fagan. “When we apply for (capital project) grants, they look to see if we are at least sustaining. Neither fund, water or sewer are right now.” Fagan showed the town’s current budget of operating revenue and expenses to start Council’s discussion of the draft ordinance to change water and sewer rates. The Water Fund is estimated at $234,700 in operating revenue from 571 customers with operating expenses of $325,632 including debt service, and operating expenditures of $276,133 without the debt service. Debt or not, the projecting indicates a net loss. Fagan’s budget projections for the Sewer Fund are more ominous. Operating revenues for 2009 are estimated $181,700 as compared to operating expense of $269,184 without the debt and $342,000 including the service.

More infrastructure coverage here.

Montrose: Gunnison Tunnel 100th year celebration September 26

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Here’s the lowdown on the upcoming celebration, from Katharhynn Heidelberg writing for the Montrose Daily Press. From the article:

Celebration organizers are encouraging community involvement right now by inviting the public to the Gunnison Tunnel Museum at Main and Townsend. The temporary museum is in renovated space that formerly housed Sagebrush Books. It will feature displays, historic newspaper articles, photographs and artifacts from the tunnel’s opening day, Sept. 23, 1909, when President William Howard Taft came to town. The museum also functions as headquarters for the centennial celebration, which is being organized through the collaborative efforts of the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association, individuals, staffers, ditch riders, historians and committee members. The chamber and visitors bureau, the Montrose County Historical Museum, plus many local businesses and governmental entities are also pitching in for the centennial event Sept. 26, which is funded through donations.

“It’s all combined together,” said Marc Catlin, director of the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association. “It’s a place to see the history, to see what’s going to happen at the event and to see the memorabilia.”

More Gunnison Basin coverage here.

Uncompahgre River: Second annual Ridgway River Festival

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From the Ouray News:

The Watershed Education tent was operated by the Uncompahgre Watershed Planning Partnership, Mountain Studies Institute and Southwest Conservation Corps (all non-profits). They gave out valuable information on initiatives to protect and restore our local waterways, while the silent auction raised money to benefit service projects along the Uncompahgre river corridor.

Festival participants lined the Uncompahgre to watch the day’s exciting river events.

The Mosaic Community Project (MCP), a local not for profit organization, organized the river festival as a free community event.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

Montrose: Workgroup forms to regulate streams and rivers through town

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From the Montrose Daily Press (Kati O’Hare):

The city council selected 11 Montrose residents, including property owners along waterways, realtors, developers, recreation advocates and citizens for the workgroup. The workgroup will meet about three times before coming to council with recommendations by September or October. Montrose River/Stream Workgroup: Rob Brethouwer; Ron Harthan; Diann Fulks; William Gleason; Judy Kittson; Shawn Lund; Matt Miles; Elizabeth Roscoe; Ben Tisdel; Bryan Walchle; Jason Wilson.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Montrose: Gunnison Tunnel 100th year celebration

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From the Montrose Daily Press:

Celebrating 100 years of water provided by the Gunnison Tunnel, the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association invites Montrose, Olathe, and Delta community members, and all Coloradoans, to join in activities culminating with celebrations and ceremonies in Montrose at UVWUA headquarters Saturday, Sept. 26. The water users association celebrated its own centennial in 2002. The federal legislation that established the Bureau of Reclamation in 1902 also authorized the Gunnison Tunnel Project and formation of the UVWUA. Water users association Manager Marc Catlin said the benefits of the tunnel to the Uncompahgre Valley cannot be overstated. “Opening the Gunnison Tunnel and then delivering the water to growers, made this valley green while attracting a thriving population,” Catlin said. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the populations of both Delta and Montrose counties more than doubled between 1900, when the idea was first developed, and 1910, one year after the tunnel was completed. The data show that the decade from 1900-1910 saw the most significant population growth in the valley.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Ouray County: Regional water boards seek county cooperation to keep water on the land

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From OurayNews.com (Christopher Pike):

In early May, representatives from several regional water boards in and around Ouray County met with the Board of County Commissioners to begin a water summit with a mission to develop a plan to meet the county’s future water needs. The meeting is expected to continue in September with work sessions that will consider how to preserve and keep water rights in Ouray County and the surrounding region. “We would like to find ways to provide incentives to land owners to tie their water rights to their property,” said Commission Chair Heidi Albritton recently. “I think that’s what we’d all like to work to.”

The commissioners wish to evaluate all of the challenges which now crowd a sizable game board, in an input process that will comprise the members of the BOCC, the Ouray County Planning Commis-sion, the Tri-County Water Conservancy District, the Colorado River District, the Gunnison Basin Roundtable, the Shavano Conser-vation District, the Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership and likely San Miguel and Montrose County elected officials and their staffs.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Delta County: Wells Gap Evap, Inc. hopes to built facility to process produced water from oil and gas operations

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From the Delta County Independent (Hank Lohmeyer):

The proposed facility would be operated by Wells Gulch Evap, Inc. The company’s contact person is listed as Jim Harker of Lincoln. Their plan received a recommended approval from the Delta County Planning Commission on June 25. The Board of County Commissioners held a public hearing on Monday and tabled consideration the company’s specific development application until July 13.

The company is negotiating to buy a 124-acre site that currently is used as winter sheep range. At final build-out, the seven membrane-lined evaporation ponds ranging from 2.5 to nine acres in size would cover 40 acres and have a total holding capacity of 64.2 million gallons. The company’s specific development application to the county states, “The site will accept exploration and production (EP) water from oil and gas drilling operations. Drilling mud and cuttings will not be accepted at this site.” EP water, also known as produced water, contains high levels of minerals, salts and other chemicals classified as “non-hazardous.” The company would accept EP water from around the Rocky Mountain region. There are two other EP water sites operating in the region; one at Cisco, Utah, and another at Baggs, Wyo.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Montrose: Citizen group to manage Uncompahgre corridor through town

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From the Telluride Watch (Beverly Corbell):

Ben Tisdel, [Friends of River Uncompahre] boardmember said he and others were worried that the new committee might not follow guidelines established by the Environmental Protection Agency for development near rivers. “We want to make sure that there is an even balance of interests on the committee, and we want to have the positive hope that all interests are fairly represented,” Tisdel said. Montrose City Spokesman David Spear said he wants to assure FORU and others that the city council’s plan calls for a balance of members to represent five categories, including landowners, realtors and developers (in one category), river advocates such as FORU, river recreation advocates, and residents in general. Spear said he expects the river committee to have 11 members but just how many and when the members will be selected is up to the city council…

The city has held two open houses to give out information on preliminary plans to preserve the river corridor, which was the most highly ranked public objective of the 2008 Comprehensive Plan. The plan recommends a 100-foot buffer between the river and any pavement or structures and will be the basis for the new ordinance, said senior city planner Garry Baker earlier this year

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

Montrose: City to crack down on stormwater violations

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From the Montrose Daily Press (Kati O’Hare and Dick Kamp):

The city of Montrose is cracking down on violations of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Stormwater Discharge Permit after the state found the city’s current enforcement “inadequate.” “The state came out and inspected subdivisions … they said we better start enforcing. They were not pleased,” said Jennifer Powell, the city’s environmental compliance technician. Powell said that Montrose is Colorado’s third worst urbanized area for stormwater permit violations. Since 2007, the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment’s Water Quality Control Division has issued civil penalties exceeding $150,000 to local developers.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Montrose: City Council to form stakeholders group for river corridor plan

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From the Montrose Daily Press (Katie O’Hare):

Senior City Planner Garry Baker went before council Thursday to update its members on the river corridor project and ultimately recommend that the city create a citizen group. After several open houses on the project, Baker said major stakeholders were split on the different components of the project. He believes a smaller 11-member citizen committee could narrow down the ideas, creating a consistent plan that could be established into a city ordinance.

The city’s comprehensive plan is clear that there needs to be a 100-foot buffer between pavement or buildings and the river’s edge. However, details and exemptions need to be hammered out. To apply for the committee, citizens must submit a letter of request to the city’s office, 433 S. First St., in care of City Clerk Teri Colvin. The letter should indicate their affiliation regarding the river corridor (land owner, interested citizen). Deadline is June 19. After reviewing the letters of interest, city council will appoint the committee at its July 2 council meeting. The committee would probably meet about three times in August and early September, and present present recommendations to council after, Baker said.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Ridgeway: Primer on town’s wastewater treatment facility

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Here’s a primer of sorts about Ridgeway’s wastewater treatment plant, from the Telluride Watch.

Uncompahgre Water Users: Workshops on water quality

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From the Telluride Watch:

The Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership is hosting the second of a series of six workshops on water quality in the Uncompahgre River by examining the impact of urban pollution in the watershed. “Land Uses in the Watershed: Urban Development” is scheduled for Thursday, May 14, 5:45-8:15 p.m., at DMEA in Montrose. According to Sarah Sauter, workshop organizer from the Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership, the session will give participants a look at the impacts of urban growth on the Uncompahgre River and the steps local governments are taking to alleviate water quality impairments. The agenda includes a presentation by Cynthia Peterson, of AWARE Colorado, on innovative stormwater management techniques, and a panel discussion with representatives from local governments…

or more information about the “Land Uses in the Watershed: Urban Development” Forum, contact Sarah Sauter at sarah@coloradowater.org or 303/408-1312.

Ridgeway hoping to tap stimulus dough for new replacement waterline

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From the Telluride Watch: “Ridgway’s Public Works Director/Engineer Joanne Fagan will have an engineering report on the town’s waterline replacement project soon so it may be considered for federal stimulus money, she told the Ridgway Town Council at its March 11 meeting. ‘We think the waterline replacement project may qualify for stimulus money,’ she said. ‘I am hoping to have an engineering report ready by next week.’ Fagan said the report needs to be in Denver by March 23 and that construction for the upgrade will need to begin by Sept. 30 in order to receive the funding. It is unclear how much federal stimulus money the town could get for the waterline upgrade. But at some point, the town’s lateral waterlines must be replaced. There is also need for a new pressure zone pump on the west side of town. Fagain said the Vista Terrace water tank is in need of improvements, as well, but she said that project would be put on hold until money is secured for the waterline improvements. Last November it was reported that the scope of the water distribution system improvements could come at a cost of approximately $750,000.”