Entries Tagged 'Water' ↓

At a meeting Monday in Denver, the Colorado Water Conservation Board approved a deal that would allow Pitkin County to donate 4.2 cubic feet per second of water rights it holds on Maroon Creek to augment in-stream flows in the Roaring Fork River, the Aspen Times reports.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ draft environmental study on Denver Water’s proposal to draw more water out of the Fraser River and across the Continental Divide has drawn fierce opposition from Colorado Trout Unlimited and other environmental groups who fear the increased diversions could harm the entire Upper Colorado River ecosystem, the Aspen Times reports.

State Rep. Sal Pace (D) is scheduled to present his water mitigation incentive bill to the Fountain Creek Watershed District Board tomorrow.

Pace is calling the bill “a radical new approach” to protect rural communities from so-called “buy-and-dries” when farm water is purchased by thirsty cities. The bill would put permanent protections in place for Colorado’s rural areas and encourage a cooperative approach when water is transferred to cities.

Colorado’s Division of Water Resources has determined that metro Denver needs another 800,000 acre-feet of water per year to cover future growth needs.

“The point of the bill is to ensure that if water is moved in the future from rural communities to thirsty cities that it is done in a responsible manner,” Pace said in a statement.

Rep. Pace is making visits to several water boards and municipal water providers to build support for his bill, which will be run during the next legislative session that begins in January.

At a meeting yesterday in New Mexico of Colorado River stakeholders, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Michael Connor announced that his agency would study the Colorado River Basin over the next two years as part of the agency’s conservation initiative, the Associated Press reports. The Colorado basin is one of three Western basins slated for study in an effort to give the agency a better sense of future supplies, anticipated demands and the effects of climate change on river systems.

Anne Castle, who was recently confirmed as assistant secretary of the Interior Department, will be the keynote speaker at the Colorado River District’s annual water seminar next Friday at the Two Rivers Convention Center in Grand Junction.

Castle oversees the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Service, both important federal agencies when it comes to water challenges in the arid West. She is expected to address how the Obama administration sees water issues in the Colorado River Basin.

The seminar also includes an expert discussion panel, which will explore the dust storms that hit the Colorado snowpack this winter, affecting runoff and reservoir operations.

In another session, Terry Fulp of the Bureau of Reclamation will detail how the Colorado River is operated in the lower basin states of California, Arizona and Nevada and talk about the critical relationship between Lake Powell and Lake Mead.

State Rep. Kathleen Curry (D) will address the budget shortfalls facing the Colorado General Assembly and how they might provoke new thinking if the state is to continue funding water projects. Curry is chair of the House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee, which handles water legislation, as well as speaker pro tempore of the House.

The day is expected to conclude with the latest preliminary information from a study of how much water is left to develop in the Colorado River, followed by a panel discussion of transmountain diversions. Panelists include Eric Hecox of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, Mark Pifher of Aurora Water and Eric Kuhn of the Colorado River District.

The Chaffee County Commission approved Nestle’s application to use 200 acre-feet of water — about 65 million gallons — from a riverside aquifer near Buena Vista for its bottled water facility, but the commission attached 44 conditions to the county’s 10-year permit, the Denver Post reports.

Researchers at Colorado University, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Bureau of Reclamation have released a study that projects all the reservoirs along the Colorado River could be dry by 2057 because of climate change and overuse, the Denver Post reports. But Denver Water officials disputed the study’s findings, saying that other studies have indicated that parts of the Upper Colorado River Basin are likely to become wetter as a result of climate change.