Although portions of this report are used on occasion in Colorado Central Magazine, we do not publish the full report there, as we do on this website.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.
Please note that this is an archive, and some links may no longer function.
Colorado Department of Wildlife officials said the failure to reopen a water valve killed 50,000 rainbow trout at its Durango Hatchery, costing the department approximately 54,500. Durango Herald; June 14 <link>
Poudre River Commissioner George Varra said he miscalculated and released too much water to an irrigation company, causing the river to nearly run dry through Fort Collins, a situation that forced managers of the Colorado city to remind residents that the city owns only 25 percent of the water and that it's possible it could run dry at times. Denver Post; July 2 <link>
Palisade officials are hoping the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will sign off on the Colorado city's proposal to build a whitewater park at the Price-Stubb Dam at the mouth of De Beque Canyon. Durango Herald; June 24 <link>
A researcher with the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder said wind storms in 2006 sent dust created by livestock and mining operations in Arizona and New Mexico onto the snowcapped peaks of Colorado's San Juan Mountains, causing the snow to melt 24 to 35 days earlier than in years free of such dust storms. Denver Post; June 26 <link>
Gov. Bill Ritter on has appointed a South Platte River Basin Task Force to examine water issues and recommend possible solutions for water users in the northeast Colorado basin. "The task force is to consider whether there are any changes to current water law or policy that will provide relief to junior water users without injuring senior water right holders," Ritter said in a statement. <link>
A task force formed to find solutions for farmers forced to shut down their groundwater irrigation wells in the South Platte Basin in Colorado will hold its first meeting; a new Colorado State University study said the loss of irrigation water has caused up to $28 million in economic loss. Denver Post; June 29 <link>
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, half the nation is in a severe drought or abnormally dry, with the Southwest, the Southeast and northern Minnesota the hardest hit regions of the nation. USA Today; June 8 <link>
Climate change is going to bring big changes to the West, including the dire possibility that Lake Mead could run dry in 10 years, a panel of experts warned senators. The warnings came in a hearing convened by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the wake of a National Academies of Sciences report this spring that said the West is likely to suffer longer and more severe droughts from global warming. Las Vegas Review-Journal <link>
It appears that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the seven states that rely on water from the Colorado River, and environmental groups are close to hammering out an agreement on how to manage the river's water when supplies are short, a considerable feat when you consider what's at stake. Salt Lake Tribune; June 27 <link>
A coalition of conservation groups want more information on what oil-shale development in Colorado will do to water supplies before the state provides its comments on the federal preliminary draft environmental impact statement on oil-shale development. Denver Rocky Mountain News; June 8 <link>
Members of four Western Slope water roundtables met to discuss water allocation issues in Colorado and debated the impacts of an intrastate Colorado River agreement on water supplies in their area of the state. Grand Junction Sentinel; June 19 <link>
Hans Seelig, a researcher at the University of Colorado's BioServe Space Technology Center, has developed a sensor that can monitor plants' need for water, an invention that Seelig said could save farmers water, energy and time. Boulder Daily Camera; June 19 <link>
Aaron Million says his $3-billion plan to move up to 250,000 acre-feet of water from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir on the Utah-Wyoming border, through a 400-mile pipeline to Colorado's Front Range cities could be completed within the next three to five years. Denver Post; June 4 <link>
At a meeting Tuesday between Colorado Springs and Pueblo officials over Fountain Creek and other related water issues, city officials traded accusations over Colorado Springs efforts -- or lack thereof -- to clean up discharges into Fountain Creek and over Colorado Springs' plan to pump water from the Pueblo Reservoir. Colorado Springs Independent; 6/8 <link>
Construction on a two-pronged pipeline system to ship water from the San Juan River to Navajo communities in New Mexico and Arizona, and from the Cutter Reservoir and send it east along U.S. 550 to Ojo Encino and the Jicarilla Apache reservation could begin as early as next year, but Congress must still approve funding for the multimillion-dollar project. Farmington Daily Times; June 8 <link> A proposed Memorandum of Understanding between the Navajo Nation, the city of Gallup and the Jicarilla Apache regarding the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project failed before the Intergovernmental Relations Committee. The Panel wants water to go to Navajo, not Gallup. <link>
There has never been much water in many places on the Navajo Nation, but increased population has increased demand so much that the aquifer underlying Gallup is dropping 20 feet per year, raising the ante for the region's bid for federal funding to build a pipeline so the region can tap into San Juan River water. Albuquerque Journal; June 25 <link>
As part of two water-rights settlement cases in New Mexico that need congressional approval and funding, the parties needed to identify additional water rights for pueblos, and to help move the settlements along, the Taos Pueblo agreed to share its San Juan Chama Project water with four Pojoaque Basin pueblos. Santa Fe New Mexican; June 15 <link>
U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici introduced legislation on Monday to raise $1.37 billion in federal funding over the next decade to settle the decades-old Aamodt case in northern Santa Fe County, the Abeyta case, and another suit that would resolve the Navajo Nation's water rights claims in the San Juan River Basin. Albuquerque Journal; June 19 <link>
Say goodbye to the water in the Santa Fe River. The city has been releasing millions of gallons a day from the upstream reservoirs to keep the river flowing since mid-March. But the flows will be stopped so the reservoirs can be topped off with the last of the melting snowpack for use later this summer when demands reach a peak. Santa Fe New Mexican <link> In =20 addition to American Rivers listing the river as one of America's 10 most endangered rivers, in April the Santa Fe River was also named one of the state's 12 most endangered places by the New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance. <link>
Researchers at New Mexico State University have developed a desalinization process that uses solar power to treat brackish groundwater and make it potable, and while the process isn't practical for large-scale projects, it could be put to wide use in New Mexico, where 75 percent of the groundwater is brackish. Albuquerque Journal; June 5 <link>
Extracting salt from seawater to make it drinkable is the wrong way to handle water shortages around the world and could exacerbate climate change, a leading conservation group said. <link>
The U.S. Geological Survey's draft analysis of groundwater supplies in the desert on the Utah-Nevada border found more groundwater than previously thought, but also found that more groundwater flows from Nevada into Utah than previously estimated, raising concerns about Nevada's plan to pump water from the border area to Las Vegas. Salt Lake Tribune; 6/5 <link>
The new report from the U.S. Geological Survey proves that the aquifers in Utah's Snake Valley and Nevada's Spring Valley are interconnected, and that Las Vegas' plan to pump 90,000 acre feet of water annually from the Spring Valley will have an impact on water users in the Utah valley--which means Utah's leaders must be vigilant to protect the state's water resources. Salt Lake Tribune; June 10 <link>
The Center for Biological Diversity, Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, Great Basin Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club filed a petition today to protect the least chub, a rare fish species found only in Utah, as a threatened or endangered species under the federal Endangered Species Act. The least chub has been reduced to just six fragile wild populations, three of which occur in the Snake Valley, where planned pumping of water for runaway growth in Las Vegas is a serious threat to the tiny fish's survival. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has 12 months to determine whether protection is warranted. <link>
Environmental and tribal groups have filed a petition seeking endangered species protection for the least chub, a tiny minnow-like fish found in Utah's Snake Valley, and if the petition is granted, Las Vegas' plan to pump groundwater from an area on the Utah-Nevada border would have to provide a preservation plan for the species. Salt Lake Tribune; June 22 <link>
Nearly 40 years after Congress passed the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, Utah is one of the 12 states without a single waterway designated as such, but that could change as Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service personnel have asked Utah officials to identify waterways for possible inclusion on the list. Deseret News; June 10 <link>
At the Democrats of Southern Utah monthly lunch meeting, Brooks Pace, developer and president of the Dammeron Corp., and Ron Thompson, district manager of the Washington County Water Conservancy District, debated the pros and cons of building a pipeline to ship water from Lake Powell to Washington County. St. George Spectrum; June 19 <link>
State and federal officials, along with members of Trout Unlimited, said the entire population of native Bonneville cutthroat in Parleys Nature Park in Utah had been killed, and that they suspected some sort of chemical was either put or spilled into the water. Salt Lake Tribune; June 27 <link>
A committee of Nevada Senate and Assembly legislators revived a plan to create a water planning commission for Northern Nevada. Reno Gazette-Journal (AP); June 4 <link>
One of the final actions of the Nevada Legislature was to create the Western Regional Water Commission to aid in the management of water supplies in Washoe County and search for new water, but the new board won't have the authority to buy new water or incur debt, unlike the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the newly created Northern Nevada Water Authority. Reno Gazette-Journal; June 11 <link>
National Park Service officials said their call for a new environmental study on the plan to drill new routes for water intake tubes to connect Lake Powell with the Navajo Generating Station power plant in Arizona was fairly routine, but one group urged the Park to abandon the entire project which is designed to ensure a future water supply for the coal-fired plant. Salt Lake Tribune; June 27 <link>
The number of earth fissures spreading across Southern and Central Arizona due to excessive water pumping is approaching 300, a top state geologist said. Authorities have warned for decades that continued land subsidence from groundwater pumping can open up the fissures. AZ Daily Star <link>
The heavily forested, mountain town of Flagstaff has grown to 62,000 people from 45,000 in 1990, straining its water resources. Upper Lake Mary, a man-made reservoir that provides up to 40 percent of the town's water needs of 11 million gallons a day, is down to 18 percent of normal levels. <link>
A section of the San Pedro River in Arizona has dried up, two weeks earlier than in 2005, when hydrologists cited drought and a late monsoon as reasons the river dried up. Arizona Republic; June 29 <link>
After a long decline punctuated by mine closures and layoffs, Arizona's copper industry is making an unprecedented comeback. But mines consume huge amounts of water and could put tremendous pressure on the state's limited water supply. Now water regulators, county planners and environmentalists are increasingly worried about the effect on aquifers, already suffering from decades of overpumping. Arizona Republic <link>
A team of Northern Arizona University researchers are following the recovery of a 14-mile stretch of Fossil Creek, a tributary of Arizona's Verde River, after the Fossil Springs Diversion Dam was decommissioned in 2005. AZ Republic; 6/25 <link>
A complicated agreement worked out between Sierra Pacific, the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, the Nature Conservancy and other groups will keep 3,350 acres of rugged, forested terrain in the Truckee River Canyon west of Reno on the California-Nevada border undeveloped. Reno Gazette-Journal; June 22 <link>
A desalting plant in Yuma that has been on a demonstration run is again shut down. The $245 million Yuma Desalting Plant was mothballed shortly after it was completed about 15 years ago. It was restarted for a test run amid concerns over a potential water shortage in the Colorado River stemming from continued drought and surging regional growth. It'll take at least 30 days to determine the cost of the test run and clean up pumps and the 2,000 membranes used to filter the water. <link>
The San Pedro River is in danger of drying up, and on Wednesday Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano signed legislation authorizing a study of the water supply problem in the upper San Pedro Valley. Arizona Daily Sun; June 22 <link>
The Imperial Irrigation and Drainage District board declared that there is an insufficient water supply to maintain the current level of use in Imperial County in 2008. The looming shortage stems from an increased demand for water in Imperial County while the valley is faced with a shorter supply to meet the requirements of an agreement to transfer water to San Diego and Coachella. <link>
On July 1, Los Angeles will have posted the driest year between July 1 and June 30 on record, having received just 3.21 inches of rain for the year that ends June 30, 2007, giving the City of Angels an annual rainfall rate close to Death Valley's. Washington Post (AP); June 30 <link>
A federal district court judge in Spokane, Wash., ruled that when considering species for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act, only fish in the wild should be counted, a decision that directly contradicts a 2000 decision from an Oregon federal judge that said genetically similar hatchery fish should be considered. NY Times; June 14 <link>
By 2060 the population of Texas is expected to increase demand for water by 27 percent while water supply is expected to decrease by 18 percent, according to the 2007 Texas Water Development Board's plan. If Texas doesn't implement the plan, officials say, about 85 percent of the population won't have enough water in drought conditions =97 at costs to businesses and workers at a projected $100 billion a year. AP <link>
A U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service official said Montana's less-than-impressive snowpack has all but disappeared, a month earlier than normal, which means lower than normal river flows this summer. Billings Gazette; June 5 <link>
For the first time in four years, the counties in Eastern Montana are in the "moist" category in the state's drought index. Billings Gazette; June 14 <link>
For more than 25 years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considered Montana's arctic grayling population as tenuous, but the agency's decision in April that the river-dwelling fish in the Big Hole Basin weren't genetically different enough from the more common lake-dwelling fish, and declined to list the species as endangered. Missoulian; June 3 <link>
Montana wildlife officials said the recent discovery that some westslope cutthroat trout in the Flathead River spawn in Canada, interjecting the issue of protecting fisheries in the ongoing dispute between the state and British Columbia about proposed mines in the headwaters of the Flathead River in the Canadian province. Billings Gazette (AP); June 19 <link>
U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester took federal Bureau of Reclamation officials to task over their decision to hold water in Wyoming's Bighorn Lake, despite water levels being just 6.3 feet below full conservation pool, and the Montana senators said that low flows were endangering fish population in the Bighorn River in Montana below Yellowtail Dam, and impacting irrigation water supplies for Montana farmers. Billings Gazette; June 12 <link>
The Smith River is the only river in Montana that requires a permit to use the river, and with the gift of 240 acres that run alongside both sides of the famed river in Cascade County, officials said they planned to add two more boat camps to the existing 27 boat camps and 52 camping sites along the river. Missoulian; June 9 <link>
The Forest Service credited John Zelazny of Montana Trout for raising more than $100,000 in grants that will allow the forest to decommission some roads and replace culverts in the Lolo Creek watershed in Montana. Missoulian 7/2 <link>
Montana Wildlife Federation officials said their frustration with lawmakers' inability to pass legislation to codify the state's bridge access right that allows the public to access Montana waterways from bridges into law prompted the group to launch a comprehensive review of the issue that may lead to an effort to put the matter before Montana voters as a citizen's initiative. Billings Gazette; June 29 <link>
Under a settlement agreement, PacifiCorp will pay the state of Montana about $50,000 a year to rent the land that lies under the Bigfork Dam on the Swan River; lawsuits against two other owners of hydroelectric dams in the state are still pending. Billings Gazette (AP); June 19 <link>
A mistake by a 19th-century surveyor created a 119-mile swath of public ground along Idaho's Snake River, and the Bureau of Land Management is currently revamping its management plan for the area which has seen a tenfold increase in use along some stretches over the past few years. Idaho Falls Post-Register; June 22 <link>
Under the terms of an agreement with the federal government, the Nez Perce Tribe must have a plan in place for the use of the $95 million it received in the Snake River water settlement before the funds are released to the tribe. Idaho Statesman (AP); June 27 <link>
Dozens of landowners along the Snake River corridor have signed on to the Idaho Fish and Fish and Game's Access Yes! Program that provides incentives to landowners that allow hunters and hikers on their lands, keeping about 180,000 acres open to the public in that area. Idaho Falls Post Register; June 22 <link>
Hundreds of groundwater uses in southern Idaho are wondering what they'll do to keep their crops alive if the state shuts off their pumps as threatened on July 6. Idaho Statesman; July 2 <link>
An official with the Idaho Department of Water Resources acknowledged that enforcing a curtailment order on groundwater users would require a lot of time and effort, but that if the state were forced to impose curtailment orders, it would make the time and effort to enforce the orders. Twin Falls Times-News; June 29 <link>
An overestimation of power supply in April forced Bonneville Power Administration officials, who were unable to buy back enough power to quell the shortfall, to adjust dam turbines to produce more power, which thrashed salmon populations, and U.S. District Court Judge James Redden admonished the company in a court order to remember that salmon conservation comes before regional power needs. Seattle Times (AP); June 25 <link>
In what would be an engineering feat unlike any in the nation's history, Louisiana wants to move the Mississippi River as part of a master plan to save the state's vanishing coastal wetlands. Many experts believe it's the only thing that will work. NPR <link>
New Mexico Gov. and Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson told a Nevada newspaper that if he is elected president in 2008, he would create a Cabinet-level post to deal with the nation's water issues. Twin Falls Times-News; June 14 <link>
Snowfall at Whistler was 40 percent above average for this past season, drawing skiers from Europe and the United States, helping the B.C. ski resort boost its bottom line by about $1 billion. Vancouver Sun; June 8 <link>
Rivers are overflowing their banks across British Columbia, and the Fraser River is expected to peak at a level not seen since 1972, forcing the evacuation of communities and possibly three prisons built on the floodplain. Toronto Globe and Mail; June 6 <link>
Fears of a water shortage are spreading across the country as the Japanese archipelago has had little rain since last winter. Restrictions have been placed on using water on Shikoku Island, where water shortages are particularly serious, while some schools in Kagawa Prefecture on the island have switched from rice to bread in school lunches to save water. Mainichi Daily News <link>
The Bush administration announced that the federal Clean Water Act will no longer apply to water ways that go dry in the summer, a decision that could have considerable implication in the West where many streams dry up in the summer. Idaho Statesman 6/6 <link>
Basing new Clean Water Act rules on a fractured Supreme Court decision that truly only muddied the waters is ridiculous, and Congress should pass legislation that ensures federal jurisdiction on all waterways, no matter how small or ephemeral. NY Times; 6/18 <link>
In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that in cases involving the federal Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, the water law takes precedence when it comes to the Environmental Protection Agency's handing authority to a state to issue water-pollution permits. Arizona Republic; June 26 <link>
A 2,600-acre of reclaimed wetlands is being used as a test project to pull harmful nitrogen and phosphorous from water, keeping it out of the Mississippi River and from harming ecosystems all the way down the river into the Gulf of Mexico. Washington Post; June 24 <link>
New technology -- which was recently successfully trialed in Stamford, Connecticut, USA -- works by installing intelligent 'micro-turbines' in existing water and wastewater mains, where there is a measurable difference in pressure and available flow. Water World <link>
The Club asked the Environmental Protection Agency to ban industrial and household detergents containing nonylphenol ethoxylates, or NPEs, a class of toxic chemical compounds that can cause male fish to develop certain female characteristics. <link>
NSF International announced that a new national standard has been published to reduce nitrogen from residential wastewater. The focus of the standard is to decrease excess nitrogen from any source that flows into surface waters and stimulates algae formation, a condition which could potentially harm marine life habitat and destroy fish and shellfish populations.NSF International is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization, and a world leader in standards development, product certification, education, and risk-management for public health and safety. <link>
Salt Lake Valley Health Department officials said the level of perchlorate found in a popular artesian well in Salt Lake City was so low that it did not pose a health risk, although they would like to know how the additive to rocket and jet fuel made its way into the water. Salt Lake City; June 27 <link>
Months ago, Mayor Rocky Anderson asked Salt Lake City department to stop handing out bottles of waters during meetings, and today he will join the mayors of San Francisco and Minneapolis at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Los Angeles to call for a study on the impact of bottled water on cities' budgets and waste-control systems. Deseret News; June 22 <link> <link>
A Montana rancher disputed the findings of a four-year study on the effects of coalbed methane water on crop yields in Montana's Tongue River Basin that found no measurable harm and said his fields have been harmed by the water, which contains a high level of sodium. Billings Gazette (AP); June 14 <link>
Two Campbell County ranchers are suing the Wyoming Board of Control and the state engineer's office because of damage they said their land has sustained because the state failed to regulate coalbed methane water. Casper Star-Tribune; June 18 <link>
The Powder River Basin Resource Council said most of the 25 billion gallons of water pumped out of Wyoming's aquifers during coalbed methane operations were wasted, and called for more conservation efforts in the face of the state's ongoing drought, but the coordinator for the Coal-bed Natural Gas Alliance argued that the discharge water was being used for beneficial purposes. Casper Star-Tribune; June 22 <link>
After finding 150 brook and rainbow trout dead in Elkhorn Creek, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality personnel found traces of two herbicides commonly used to treat water hazards in golf courses and said that a contractor had been applying herbicides at the Elkhorn Golf Course in Sun Valley near where the dead fish were discovered, but have not made a final determination of the cause of the fish kill. Idaho Mountain Express; 6/6 <link>
The director of the EPA's Region 10 Office of Water and Watersheds said the Don Plant of the J.R. Simplot Co. in Pocatello is leaching about 1,200 pounds of phosphorous every day into Idaho's Portneuf River. Twin Falls Times-News (AP); June 25 <link>
Congressional lawmakers who were examining extensive drinking water contamination from the 1960s through the 1980s at Camp Lejeune, N.C., now say that the problem extends to 22 other bases throughout the country, to varying degrees. Marine Corps Times <link>
India's greenhouse gas emissions could be 40 percent higher than official estimates if methane released from dams is taken into account, according to a new study. <link>
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