Although portions of this report are used on occasion in Colorado Central Magazine, we do not publish the full report there, as we do on this website. It is prepared by Steve Glazer of Crested Butte and is distributed early each month via an email list. To subscribe to that list, email to <listserv@lists.sierraclub.org> with SUBSCRIBE RMC-CONS-WATER as the message.
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A new report warns that businesses should start preparing for severe water shortages, and warning their shareholders of the risk such shortages pose to their operations. The report -- from independent California-based think tank Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security -- focused on businesses that depend on high-volume water use. That group includes two of Americans' favorites: makers of cola and microchips. Pepsi and Coca-Cola both had major factories shut down in southwest India this year due to drought-induced water shortages. Among the report's recommendations are working more closely with local communities, carefully measuring water use, and accounting for water availability at proposed factory sites. Meanwhile, scientists at the World Water Week conference in Stockholm this week warned that an increasing global population and widespread complacency are making wars over water more and more likely; they recommended a doubling of investment in water infrastructure. <http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=3D2876> <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-08-24/s_26656.asp>
Water-rich Western slope towns fear every year will be a drought year for them as Denver and other Front Range cities demand more and more water and drought cuts into supplies. Denver Post; 8/15 <http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~23447~2335775,00.html>
A new study said Front Range cities' demand for more water will dry up as many as 300,000 acres of some of Colorado's best farmland -- an area bigger than Rocky Mountain National Park -- in the next 25 years. Denver Rocky Mountain News; 8/31 <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_3149987,00.html>
Colorado farmers can get $10,000 an acre-foot from cities that want their water, or they can earn $422 per acre-foot growing corn. Grand Junction Sentinel; Sept. 1 <http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/epaper/editions/wednesday/9_1_irrigate_edit.html;COXnetJSessionID=3DB3Ju2TG2d7gOyRkDlQN7azQWix92brU0tee5vifWC4fMuIs2Fwx0!-365078798?urac=3Dn&urvf=3D10941750863330.2304193311224434>
Colorado's drought has been overplayed; it's neither historic nor catastrophic, nor a legitimate motivation for new dams, but it is a lesson in the value of better conservation. Boulder Daily Camera; Aug. 24 <http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/editorials/article/0,1713,BDC_2489_3131933,00.html>
Colorado is a dry state with a fast-growing population and Denver Water must come up with a better plan to stay solvent than charging conserving consumers more money for less water. Denver Post; Aug. 27 <http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~417~2361507,00.html>
The Interstate Stream Commission tabled a vote to approve the settlement of the Navajo Nation's claims to San Juan Basin water, and state officials are reconsidering a funding request, moves that will delay taking the issue to Congress until at least 2005. Farmington Daily Times; Aug. 19 <http://www.daily-times.com/artman/publish/article_13426.shtml>
Navajo Nation leaders protested the plan to cut $372.8 million from the $1.1 billion San Juan Basin water settlement and said they want Congress to guarantee the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project will be funded, either as part of the settlement or separately. Farmington Daily Times; Aug. 20 <http://www.daily-times.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=3D482&num=13461>
New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici told Navajo leaders they're asking too much in federal funds for the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project, part of the tribe's settlement of water claims in the San Juan Basin. Farmington Daily Times; Aug. 26 <http://www.daily-times.com/artman/publish/article_13591.shtml>
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's administration has a huge task to sort out and enforce water rights in the state, and the Legislature should back the administration's good start. Santa Fe New Mexican; Aug. 25 <http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/3413.html>
City and county officials in Santa Fe have finally agreed on a plan to regulate growth to match available water supplies and to end rampant development outside city boundaries. Santa Fe New Mexican; Sept. 1 <http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/3681.html>
The Navajo and Hopi Tribes' request that Black Mesa mine operators stop pumping groundwater for use in moving coal through a pipeline may shut down the Arizona mine, costing the Hopi Tribe $7 million and the Navajo Nation $25 million in annual revenue. Idaho Falls Post Register; Aug. 20 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/pr.mesamine082004.html>
Drought-fueled forest fires have consumed ground cover that used to soak up heavy rains, but geologists say allowing development on hillsides and in natural drainages is the real reason Utah is seeing more and more flash flooding. Deseret News; Aug. 11 <http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595083281,00.html>
Coalbed methane producers in Wyoming said only a fraction of the billions of gallons of water produced during extraction of the gas are wasted and most are put to beneficial agriculture use. Casper Star-Tribune; Aug. 22 <http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/08/22/news/58ec07ed79b5a5c987256ef700675604.txt>
A new study by the Northern Plains Resource Council showed water discharged during coalbed methane extraction could be reinjected back into the aquifer or treated prior to discharge without much affecting Wyoming or Montana producers' bottom lines. Billings Gazette; Aug. 27 <http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=3D1&display=3Drednews/2004/08/27/build/state/35-cmb-treatment.inc>
Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal said the state is too focused on delivery of water and more attention should be given to developing new reservoirs around the state. Casper Star-Tribune (AP); Aug. 29 <http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/08/29/news/wyoming/2ce70ff7062bead487256efe007f2e07.txt>
Arizona's largest water districts dumped billions of gallons into the desert over the past two decades, part of a water-banking plan that allows the state to use its full allotment of Colorado River water to recharge aquifers. Arizona Republic; Aug. 18 <http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0818water-storage18.html>
Sierra Vista, Ariz., a booming Sun Belt community, may become one of the first cities to recycle enough water to live on a limited supply, and in the process, save one of the last free-flowing rivers in the Southwest. High Country News; Aug. 30 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/HCN.AZwater.html>
EXPERTS SAY DEMISE OF ARIZONA RIVER MAY BE MATTER OF TIME Some monitoring wells have dropped by half since 1995, indicating the recharge of Arizona's San Pedro River may be slowing to a fatal degree. High Country News; Aug. 30 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/HCN.sanpedro.html>
Nevada is the fastest growing state in the nation and one of the driest, and state officials are once again seeking federal drought disaster aid for all 17 of its counties. Carson City Nevada Appeal; Aug. 16 <http://www.nevadaappeal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040816/NEVADA/108160011>
A Las Vegas shopping center is trucking in water from as far away as Canada to fill its fountains. Reno will have to dip into its drought reserve supply for the first time in a decade. The most popular public ramp on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe is closed because there's not enough water to float a boat. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-08-17/s_26567.asp>
Southern Nevada officials decided to indefinitely postpone their expected declaration of a drought emergency, saying consumers are conserving so well, emergency measures aren't necessary. Las Vegas Review Journal; Aug. 19 <http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Aug-19-Thu-2004/news/24563607.html>
Nevada water officials said Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming are pushing a plan to cut flows to Lake Mead to preserve hydroelectric flows upstream at Lake Powell, which could drop Lake Mead levels even farther. Las Vegas Review Journal; Aug. 20 <http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Aug-20-Fri-2004/news/24580169.html>
Western Colorado's two largest irrigation districts will cut deliveries to irrigators and reduce their take from reservoirs to stretch waning supplies. Denver Post; Aug. 18 <http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2341088,00.html>
Mexican and U.S. states along the international border need to work together more on nagging water and environmental problems, the leader of a border governors' group said. <http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcglobal/4govefrom8.html>
A group of Rio Grande Valley irrigators and farmers is seeking $500 million from Mexico for crop loss and other damages the group says were caused by that country's failure to comply with a water-sharing treaty. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-08-31/s_26792.asp>
The Mount Shasta News, 8/12 reported that the California Fish and Game Commission has approved new protections for coho salmon, adding them to the list of threatened and endangered species under the California Endangered Species Act. The five-member Commission voted 4-0 in favor of listing coho salmon at its August 5th-6th hearing in Bridgeport, CA. The action will provide protection for the species currently not available under the federal Endangered Species Act. Coho salmon will be listed as "endangered" between San Francisco and Punta Gorda in Humboldt County, and "threatened" between Punta Gorda and the Oregon border.
The U.S. Forest Service on Wednesday rejected environmentalists' appeal of a plan to poison a stream south of Lake Tahoe to aid what wildlife officials call "the rarest trout in America." <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-08-12/s_26496.asp>
Several week ago Idaho's Coeur d'Alene Tribe pledged $5 million in tribal money to underwrite a Lake Coeur d'Alene clean-up and monitoring project, but Idaho's U.S. Rep. Butch Otter said it was too late for matching federal funding this year. Spokane Spokesman-Review; Aug. 11 <http://www.spokesmanreview.com/idaho/topstory.asp?ID=3D20255>
Federal officials discussed extending the federal Conservation Reserve Program in Idaho to cover all irrigated acres in the state in an attempt to reduce groundwater consumption. Twin Falls Times News; Aug. 19 <http://www.magicvalley.com/news/topstory/index.asp?StoryID=3D11562>
As Idaho officials considering idling thousands of acres of agricultural lands in order to preserve water, agricultural leaders are tallying up anticipated job losses. Twin Falls Times News; Aug. 22 <http://www.magicvalley.com/home/archives/index.asp?DateID=8/22/2004&StoryID11642&theDB=local_state_news&theIMG=LOCAL_STATE_NEWS>
Idaho government and environmental leaders settled a years-old dispute over federal water rights on the state's wild and scenic rivers; four years ago the state Supreme Court said the federal government retained water rights, but left it to lower courts to determine amounts. Spokane Spokesman-Review; Aug. 24 <http://www.spokesmanreview.com/idaho/story.asp?ID=22620>
The Bush administration decided that four Snake River dams don't threaten endangered salmon, and officials don't need to consider breaching the dams, an opinion that contradicts federal fisheries scientists' opinions. Washington Post; Sept. 1 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50684-2004Aug31.html>
Idaho conservationists said the Bush administration's decision that Snake River dams no longer threaten endangered salmon is a ploy to evade the issue. Spokane Spokesman-Review (AP); Sept. 1
U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., proposed funding an "Ice Age Geologic Trail" that traces the path of floodwaters released from Glacial Lake Missoula in Montana, across Idaho and through Washington and Oregon to the Pacific Coast. New York Times; Aug. 24 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/24/science/earth/24floo.html>
"After years of negotiations, the biggest dam-removal project in history is about to begin, promising to restore one of Washington's legendary salmon rivers," said the Seattle Times, 8/6. Today, with Rep. Norm Dicks attending, "the City of Port Angeles, the National Park Service, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, will sign an agreement allowing the $182 million Elwha Restoration Project to go forward." Removal of the dam will reopen 70 miles of prime salmon and steelhead spawning habitat and restore a river that flows out of the Olympic National Park.
"Leaders of the valley's largest water districts hope a three-way summit will help overcome persistent legal wrangling and, ultimately, deliver more water to household taps and endangered species in the desert," said the Palm Springs Desert Sun, 8/26. Southern California water agencies, Mission Springs Water District, Desert Water Agency and Coachella Valley Water District will meet to discuss the regions scarce water supply. Earlier this year, the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity sued Mission Springs to stop a $4 million reservoir project that harms mesquite clusters and the wildlife that depend on them. The nearby Coachella Valley Preserve is home to the endangered fringe-toed lizard.
The Chicago Tribune, 8/26 reported that the dilapidated bridge across the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau, MO, is slated to be demolished today after a 3 month delay to allow endangered pallid sturgeon hatchlings to grow large enough to make them less vulnerable to explosions from the demolition. Scientists have said that the sturgeon will go extinct in 10 to 20 years if they are not better protected. The pallid sturgeon was added to the endangered species list in 1990.
Great Lakes water levels have rebounded from near record lows thanks to months of heavy rain, providing a boon to boat owners, swimmers, and fish, scientists said recently. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-08-24/s_26657.asp>
Enron's market manipulation harmed Pacific Northwest salmon, according to information released by Senator Maria Cantwell. "A fresh round of evidence released recently suggested that Enron traders shipped emergency power out of California, even as hydroelectric dams in the Pacific Northwest - struggling to ease the energy crisis - were running full tilt," reported the Los Angeles Times, 8/26. Water that normally would have been released to help endangered salmon migration in Northwest rivers was instead used to make electricity. "This new evidence shows that as the Northwest was scrambling to supply California with emergency power, Enron was working just as hard to manipulate energy markets by shipping power out of California to the Southwest," said Senator Cantwell.
Scientists in Japan have succeeded in causing salmon to give birth to trout. Yep, you read that correctly: By transplanting the "primordial germ cells" -- specialized tissue in embryonic fish that will eventually develop into sexual organs -- of a North American rainbow trout into the embryos of young masu salmon, researchers at the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology produced baby trout and, presumably, some extremely alarmed salmon mothers. The scientists say that the technique could be used to boost populations of endangered or commercially valuable fish. Enviros stressed that the procedure is no substitute for habitat protection. No one, strangely, seemed to have anything to say about the mind-farking, galactic weirdness of the whole thing. <http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2797>
Over the objections of many federal scientists, the U.S. EPA is poised to establish a more lax standard for selenium, a toxic metal that builds up in the bodies of fish and is particularly harmful to waterfowl. The current standards were set in the 1980s after hundreds of deformed and dying waterfowl were traced to selenium, which runs off into streams and rivers from mines, power plants, and farms. For years, mining, power, and agricultural interests have lobbied the EPA for looser standards. The power industry alone has spent roughly $10 million on its own research; not surprisingly, for its money it has gotten studies claiming the current standards are too strict. The EPA is basing the proposed new standard in large part on a study that the author himself says was badly misinterpreted, and most biologists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say, if anything, the standards should be more strict. <http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2925>
Farmed salmon, already found to carry higher levels than wild salmon of chemicals such as PCBs, may also contain higher levels of flame retardants, environmental researchers said. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-08-12/s_26488.asp>
America's rivers and streams are generally suitable for irrigation, supplying drinking water, and home and recreational uses. However, in areas with significant agricultural and urban development, the quality of our nation's water resources has been degraded by contaminants such as pesticides, nutrients, and gasoline-related compounds. <http://www.ourwater.org/econnection/connection14/usgs.html>
One of every three lakes in the United States and nearly one-quarter of the nation's rivers contain contain fish that may be contaminated with mercury, dioxin, PCB and pesticide pollution, enough that people should limit or avoid eating fish caught there. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-08-25/s_26693.asp>
HYDROLOGIST CLAIMS LOS ALAMOS' CONTAMINANTS IN RIO GRANDE- Los Alamos National Laboratories officials have never disputed that contaminants have entered the groundwater under the laboratory's 40-acre site, but a new report showed the contaminants are reaching the Rio Grande River. Santa Fe New Mexican; Aug. 23 <http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/3400.html>
The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad opened its new and controversial locomotive refueling station in Hauser, Idaho, a key facility built atop the aquifer that is the sole source of drinking water for 400,000 Spokane-area residents. Portland Oregonian; Aug. 31 <http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/109395354559060.xml>
A state audit showed more than 160,000 Arizona homes and businesses were exposed to contaminated drinking water because overworked water-quality investigators could not make timely investigations. Arizona Republic; Aug. 20 <http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0820wateraudit.html>
One Colorado stream's output of acid-laden runoff will be curtailed with a private cleanup, but as many as 500,000 abandoned mines still pollute 16,000 miles of the West's headwaters streams. Denver Post; Aug. 19 <http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2343643,00.html> <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5755912/>
Eight companies have agreed to pay $56 million to help clean up several miles of a polluted river near a rare habitat of sand dunes, prairie, and swamp, officials said recently. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-08-24/s_26669.asp>
The Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington marked the completion of part of its decades-long cleanup, with the transferring of highly radioactive waste from leaking underground tanks to stronger containers. Spokane Spokesman-Review; Aug. 24
Bush has trumpeted wetlands policy as the primary evidence of his environmental bona fides. But four national enviro groups beg to differ, releasing a report claiming that thousands of acres of wetlands have been drained by developers under a policy adopted by the Bush administration. At issue is the feds' interpretation of a 2001 Supreme Court decision that said isolated wetlands -- those that do not cross state borders and are not navigable -- are not subject to the same federal protections as other wetlands. Last year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA issued a directive stating that they could not protect such wetlands unless they were involved with interstate commerce, a policy that Daniel Rosenberg, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, mocked as "mindless." The report, based on Freedom of Information Act requests, details more than a dozen cases where the Corps approved development in ecologically sensitive areas. James Connaughton, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, called the report's findings "highly questionable." It can be downloaded at: <http://www.cwn.org/cwn/files/Clean%20Water%20Report.pdf> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57991-2004Aug11.html>
Environmental engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found that various chlorinated, fluorinated and mixed chloro-fluoro compounds are taken up and sequestered in the plant tissue of their model plant species -- duckweed (Lemna minor), a floating aquatic plant. These organic compounds are representative of the pool of persistent compounds discharged into the nation's waters. Sources include agro-chemicals, such as pesticides, and pharmaceutical residuals, such as those from anti-depressants, which are excreted in human waste. <http://www.caprep.com/0804062.htm>
Climate experts at NASA believe they have found a way of forecasting droughts and floods months in advance, the New Scientist magazine reported. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-08-26/s_26730.asp>
A recent study estimates that the total impervious surface area (ISA) -- streets and roads, rooftops, parking lots, etc. - within the contiguous United States adds up to about 112,610 square kilometers, almost the size of the state of Ohio. In addition, this number was found to be slightly larger than the area covered by wetlands in the lower 48 states. The study appears in the June 15 issue of "Eos," a publication of the American Geophysical Union. <http://www.ourwater.org/econnection/connection14/imperviouscover.html>
Asian farmers drilling millions of pump-operated wells in an ever-deeper search for water are threatening to suck the continent's underground reserves dry, a science magazine warned. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-08-26/s_26729.asp>
An outbreak of hepatitis E shows that teeming camps of refugees from the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region are at growing risk from water and sewage-borne diseases, health agencies said Monday. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-08-10/s_26438.asp>
Countries are improving access to clean drinking water but falling behind on sanitation goals fixed at a summit four years ago, the United Nations said. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-08-27/s_26748.asp>
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