COLORADO GROUND WATER GOES ON AUCTION BLOCK
About 925 million gallons of ground water a year is for sale along Colorado’s Front Range, an offer that may attract buyers from nearby towns with impending water crises or bids from as far away as California or Arizona. Denver Rocky Mountain News; May 7 <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_1131512,00.html>
ALL COUNTIES IN COLORADO ELIGIBLE FOR DROUGHT AID
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said that farmers in every county in Colorado are eligible for low-interest loans to help them deal with the drought, but state officials would like to see more federal aid. Denver Post; May 31
DENVER AREA WATER SUPPLY IN TROUBLE
Denver reservoirs are at their lowest levels in 20 years, and as demand continues to outpace supply, resource managers that say the situation could become dire propose enlarging existing reservoirs or drilling an 800-foot deep well. Colorado communities are tightening water restrictions, banning fires and canceling Fourth of July fireworks as the drought worsens. Denver Rocky Mountain News; May 10 <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_1138499,00.html>
DILLON RESERVOIR ONLY 75 PERCENT FULL
Dillon Reservoir, a main source of water for Denver, is well below normal, and area businesses that rely on the scenic waterway several miles from the city are feeling the squeeze. Denver Post; May 10 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=2241>
DENVER WATER UTILITY DOUBLES ITS OFFER TO USE LESS WATER
Denver Water, the largest municipal supplier in Colorado, will double its cash incentives for golf courses and condo developments to reduce their water use. Denver Rocky Mountain News; June 4 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=2655>
IGNORE THE DAM-BUILDING HYPE; PRIORITIES ARE THE KEY
Colorado doesn’t need more dams to store snowmelt that isn’t there, but instead needs a thorough review of how the state allocates its increasingly limited water supply. Denver Post; June 2 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=2622> COLORADO TOWN WANTS TO BUY WATER FROM FARMERS – Officials from Lafayette, CO, may offer area farmers hundreds of thousands of dollars to stop irrigating crops and allow the city to use that water to fight the severe drought plaguing the area. Denver Rocky Mountain News; May 17
SOUTHWEST COLORADO RIVER DESTINED TO GO DRY
Southern Colorado’s current drought is vying to be the worst on record, and the Delores River’s trout are doomed. Denver Post; 5/16 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=2339>
INSTREAM FLOWS DIGITIZED
The Colorado Water Conservation Board, with assistance from the Bureau of Reclamation, now has GIS overlays for all of their instream flow filings as part of their Decision Support System.
COLORADO DROUGHT IMPROVES RAFTING, FISHING
While the drought in Colorado is devastating ranching and municipal water supplies, it has improved early season rafting, fishing and other recreational activities enough to boost that economy. USA Today; 5/30 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=2582>
TRANSMOUNTAIN WATER
On 4/17, the Colorado River Water Conservation District authorized litigation against the Northern Conservancy District over operations of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project claiming more water was being diverted to the Eastern Slope than is needed and that the Northern District was giving that excess water away without charge. <http://www.crwcd.gov/news/press/04-17-02C-BTLit.pdf> WHITEWATER PARKS – The trials for Recreational In Channel Diversions for Breckenridge and Vail commenced on 5/6 and lasted one week. The judge indicated he would rule within 30 days.
SANTA FE MAYOR SAYS WATER CONSERVATION NEEDED
Santa Fe Mayor Larry Delgado said that more wells and water diversions would eventually help with the city’s water shortage, but for now, conservation is the only way to ensure water sources don’t run dry. Santa Fe New Mexican; May 10 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=2245>
ANOTHER NEW MEXICO TOWN PULLS NO PUNCHES LOOKING FOR WATER
As neighboring Santa Fe considers a moratorium on new water hook-ups, Espaola, N.M., has had one since last September, but it stifles growth, and the city is looking for new sources and other ways to conserve water. S.F. New Mexican; 6/7 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=2737>
N.M. GOV INTRODUCES WATER CONSERVATION PLAN
The 6/2 Albuquerque Tribune reported that Gov. Gary Johnson introduced a water conservation plan to deal with a drought that is being called the worst in at least 50 years. In addition to drinking water supplies and farming operations, the plan also addresses the needs of wildlife. Fish stocking and hatchery operations could be curtailed in areas where lack of water destroys aquatic habitat, and watering stations could be set up for deer and other animals. <http://weather.nmsu.edu/drought/drought_plan.htm> DRY HIGH PLAINS ARE BLOWING AWAY, AGAIN – Some small towns, like Melstone, Mont., have lost their municipal water supplies, the first time anyone can remember this happening. River rafting companies on the Front Range, where the prairie meets the mountains, talk about “what water” instead of white water. Fishing guides worry that the winter’s snow will not bring nearly enough water to make for a successful year on the region’s trout streams. <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/03/national/03DUST.html>
ANOTHER MONTANA TOWN RUNS OUT OF WATER
Wells in Fairfield on Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front temporarily ran dry, sparking officials to imposed emergency water restrictions. Billings Gazette (AP); May 17 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=2372>
UTAH AGENCY SAYS FARMERS WON’T GET WATER RESERVED FOR FISH
Utah’s fish and wildlife officials are warning irrigation districts that the state won’t give up water rights for fish to maintain crops.Salt Lake Tribune,5/16
CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ON DRAUGHT
On 6/3, Salt Lake City hosted a House Science Committee field hearing on “Drought: Prediction, Preparation & Response.” The Committee invited testimony from regional, state and local experts on their efforts to develop and use better tools for predicting drought conditions and managing water resources, expressing particular interested in learning how federal programs can better support local efforts in mitigating the effects of drought. It was noted that weather projections rely largely on data and tools developed by federal agencies, including the National Weather Service and National Water and Climate Center. There was a request to open Conservation Reserve Program lands to grazing, and aggressively suppress all fires this summer to preserve watersheds. There was a call for enactment of federal drought legislation.
The Western Governors’ Association (WGA) recently sent a letter to western senators saying, “It is high time for our nation to have a comprehensive national policy for drought.” The governors asked for support of S. 2528 and H.R. 4754 which would help establish a comprehensive national drought policy, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as the lead agency. It would create a National Drought Council to begin delineating the roles and responsibilities for coordinating and integrating federal drought assistance programs. The legislation would encourage drought preparedness and planning at all levels and focus federal financial assistance on implementation of those plans as the means to mitigate the impacts of drought. The bill would also encourage establishment of a National Drought Monitoring Network to collect and integrate key drought-related data, including streamflow, groundwater levels, reservoir storage, soil moisture, snow pack, precipitation and temperature.
RAZORBACK SUCKER STOCKING
From Bob Muth, Director of the Upper Colorado River Recovery Program: “We have successfully stocked razorback sucker and seen those fish recruit to adulthood and join spawning congregations in the Green River. Age-1 razorback suckers (3 to 5 inches in length) have been stocked into floodplain wetland depressions along the Green River. Although nonnative fish densities were high, razorback sucker survival was good and the fish grew to 14 inches by fall. Most of the fish survived in the wetlands over winter. The following year, many of the fish voluntarily left the wetlands for the river during spring runoff. Some have been found in ripe condition at the razorback spawning bar. Disproportionately greater numbers of razorback suckers that had originally been stocked into floodplain habitats have been recaptured in the Green River, versus those that had been stocked directly into the main channel, suggesting that survival of stocked juvenile razorback suckers may be greater if they spend time in floodplain wetlands before accessing the river.
“Studies are underway to determine survival of larval razorback suckers and larval bonytail in floodplain wetland depressions as a function of larval densities and predator species composition and densities. If we can quantify larval survival through the predator gauntlet, then we will have an idea how many spawners will be necessary to produce the numbers of larvae needed to drift and become entrained into floodplain wetlands during spring runoff, to survive in the presence of nonnative fish predators and competitors, and to recruit into the adult spawning population. If all goes well, we will be able to reestablish self-sustaining populations that will require minimal human intervention.”
This is in response to criticism that non-native fishes are preventing the success of the floodplain program.
MINNOWS HAVE RIGHT TO WATER, TOO
Despite the drought, a federal judge upheld the law by handing over valuable water to federal wildlife managers to save the endangered silvery minnow in the Rio Grande. Albuquerque Tribune; May 10 <http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/opinions02/050802_opinions_edue.shtml>
MINNOW SPAWNING PROMOTED
Five New Mexico government agencies are cooperating to “temporarily increase flows in the Rio Grande in the hopes of encouraging the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow to spawn” says the USFWS 5/13. An irrigation district, the City of Albuquerque, Bureau of Reclamation, and USFWS have put their differences aside and are working to create “spike flows” that “temporarily create the muddy river conditions apparently preferred by the minnow for spawning.”
ARIZONA’S SPRING RUNOFF LOWEST IN 120 YEARS
A dry winter reduced Arizona’s runoff to a trickle and repercussions are already starting to show up ahead of a long, dry summer. Arizona Republic; May 9 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=2225>
ARIZONA OFFICIALS STILL HAVE NO DROUGHT PLAN
Arizona’s drought became bad enough that the U.S. Agricultural Department deemed the entire state a disaster area, but state leaders still have no formal plan to deal with it. Arizona Republic; 5/26. Decades of expansive water planning has helped the Phoenix area conserve water, but the rest of the state has no plans to deal with the drought, and that means trouble unless state leaders act soon. Arizona Republic; May 30 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=2585> CLIMATE CHANGE HITS FRESH WATER SPECIES HARD – Salmon and trout are likely to be among the species most affected by global warming says a new report by Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council 5/22. The fish are especially vulnerable because of well-established tolerances for cold, clear water and the report indicates that by 2030 the 8 species of salmon and trout could lose 4% to 20% of their existing habitat. The report is online at <www.defenders.org/newsroom/> SEDIMENT MANAGEMENT? – George Sibley has written an article in the May/June edition, vol. 86, of the Mountain Gazette, that suggests Reclamation should build a dam on the Piria, fill it with water from Powell and use it to flush sediment into the Colorado! George says he is just kidding. <www.mountaingazette.com>
VARIABLE FLOWS WOULD HELP COLORADO ACT LIKE A NATURAL RIVER AGAIN
A compromise plan to vary Colorado River flows through the Grand Canyon won’t return the ecosystem to its pre-dam conditions, but it could help. Arizona Daily Sun; 5/7 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=2176>
GRAND CANYON USE PLAN
The National Park Service will public a notice to revise its 1989 Colorado River Management Plan with the hope of completing it by 12/04. The last attempt to revise the Plan ended without reconciling the imbalance between private and commercial use.
GREAT SALT LAKE FINALLY GAINING SOME RESPECT
Utah’s Great Salt Lake has long been abused or, at best, ignored by surrounding communities and industries, but in the past decade, its ecosystem has been subjected to greater scrutiny and appreciation. High Country News; April 30 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=2082>
EAST CANYON CREEK, NEAR PARK CITY, UTAH, IS A POSTER CHILD OF A STREAM ABUSED BY DEVELOPMENT
Growing demands for water by ski resorts and subdivisions, discharge from sewage-treatment plants, and the effects of flood control and heavy grazing have eliminated kokanee salmon and left native trout on the brink. <http://www.sltrib.com/2002/may/05282002/utah/740670.htm>
RIDER THREATENS 400 SPECIES
According to environmentalists, a rider attached to a homeland security funding bill now before the House puts Arizona’s San Pedro River in “grave peril,” risking “damage to at least 400 plant and animal species that depend” on it says Greenwire 5/21. The rider overturns a recent court decision that rejected a USFWS biological opinion requiring mitigation for only on-base water use and absolves the Army’s Fort Huachuca of responsibility for off-base water use. Surrounding communities have grown, largely as a result of the base, and conservationists contend the river is “dying” due to “groundwater pumping mostly done there because of DOD-supported contracts.”
DROUGHT JEOPARDIZES SOUTHERN STEELHEAD
“Southern California’s most severe drought on record is beginning to exact a toll on habitat and wildlife in a region with the greatest number of endangered species in the continental U.S.” says the San Diego Union-Tribune 5/20. Among the most imperiled species is the southern steelhead, the “rarest sea-going trout in the U.S.” and state biologists are drafting a plan to rescue the remaining several hundred fish “if the worst-case scenario happens.” San Diego County has 40 listed plants and animals, “more than any county in the nation,” and water dependent species such as the arroyo toad could be “pushed closer to the edge of extinction.”
GLOBAL WARMING TO HIT CALIFORNIA WATER SUPPLY, SAYS STUDY
Global warming will bring hotter temperatures and depleted snowpacks to California over the next several decades, boosting demands on the state’s already strained water supplies, according to a new study. “With less precipitation falling as snow and more as rain, plus higher temperatures creating increased demand for water, the impacts on our water storage system will be enormous,” said Lisa Sloan, an associate professor of Earth sciences at the University of California-Santa Cruz (UCSC) and an author of the new research. <http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/06/06062002/reu_47464.asp>
ALBUQUERQUE SHOULD CHARGE DEVELOPERS FULL COST OF CITY WATER
Albuquerque’s City Council should override the mayor’s veto of higher prices for new service hookups, a fair brake on runaway growth. Albuquerque Tribune; May 5 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=2139>
STATE BIOLOGISTS RECOMMEND COHO LISTING
California Dept. of Fish and Game biologists have recommended a listing for coho salmon under the state’s Endangered Species Act says the L.A. Times 5/30., The report is “one of the most comprehensive reviews to date of the increasing scarcity of coho salmon in the region’s coastal rivers and streams” and goes to the state Fish and Game Commission, “which is due to decide in August whether the coho should be added to the list of 77 animals and 217 plants protected under the state law.”
California’s Gov. Gray Davis (Dem.) is “quietly attempting to delay a controversial decision” on listing the coho salmon in order to avoid a divisive political battle during a tough election year campaign says the L.A. Times 5/29. The governor hopes to reach a compromise with environmentalists and fisherman to delay the listing decision in exchange for a “plan to restore the beleaguered salmon in the next 12 to 18 months.”
LAKE TAHOE CLEARER THIS YEAR
Lake Tahoe is the clearest it’s been in five years. Scientists monitoring the health of the lake attribute the increase in limpidity to a drought year in 2001, which reduced runoff into the lake, and the efforts of a $900 million lake restoration program in the Tahoe Basin.
<http://enn.com/news/enn-stories/2002/05/05152002/s_47131.asp>
RENO OKs $32 MILLION PLAN TO WATER THOUSANDS OF NEW HOMES – Two local boards approved a plan to divert water from three creeks to a rapidly growing area near Reno, where estimates project 20,000 new residences and too little ground water. Reno Gazette-Journal; May 16 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=2344> SALMON RECOVERY? – The future of salmon in the Pacific Northwest is being jeopardized by foot-dragging on the part of the federal government, said Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D). In December 2000, the National Marine Fisheries Service decided against aiding salmon populations by breaching dams on the lower Snake River; instead, the agency called for restoring streams where salmon spawn, reforming hatchery practices to reduce harm to wild fish, and increasing fishing restrictions. But according to Kitzhaber, the government has failed to make good on that plan. As a result, he said, the Columbia River Basin could face the same kind of battle between farmers and enviros that befell the Klamath River Basin last year. Federal officials disputed Kitzhaber’s claims, saying the salmon recovery plan was on track. <http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/102025417932183135.xml>
OREGON FISHERS RESORT TO ‘CPR’ TO SAVE ENDANGERED FISH
Ab Ihander isn’t thrilled about throwing back the 20-pound spring chinook salmon he’s just pulled into his boat with his tangle net. But the law says he must; it’s a wild salmon, not hatchery-bred. Before he can return the salmon to the Columbia River, however, he revives it with a sort of CPR for fish. He lowers the salmon into a tank with pipes inside. A small Honda pump starts up, and oxygen-rich river water is circulated over the salmon’s gills and mouth.
<http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/05/05072002/ap_47142.asp>
NO WATER FOR KLAMATH COHO
Citing the lack of “enough scientific evidence to block the federal government’s plans” to prioritize water deliveries to agribusiness, a federal judge has denied an appeal by commercial fishermen and conservationists to provide more water for coho salmon in the lower Klamath River, says SF Gate, AP 5/3. The judge, however, also “reprimanded the Bureau of Reclamation for launching its springtime operation without waiting for the NMFS to complete its final biological review of the river.” The lawsuit charged the Bureau had “exceeded the bounds of the ESA” by “separating springtime operations” and “giving the NMFS only a day to review” the plan. The Bureau of Reclamation has increased the flow in the lower Klamath River with purchases from a “water-bank” independent of that used for irrigation deliveries at the request of the NMFS after the lawsuit was denied.
BUSH PLAN JEOPARDIZES KLAMATH SALMON
A draft NMFS biological opinion has warned that an administration plan to prioritize water deliveries to agribusiness interests over the next decade would “jeopardize the continued existence of coho salmon” in the Klamath River says the L.A. Times 5/17. Under the plan the coho salmon will get “only 57% of the water flows” needed to survive and the draft Bi Op recommends that the federal government bring all parties together to “create a plan to meet the water needs of both farms and salmon.” The report finds that although the Bureau of Reclamation should not be required to provide all the water needed, it should be held “accountable for their contribution to solving the problem.”
SUCKER DELISTING PETITIONS DENIED
The USFWS has rejected several petitions to delist the Klamath Basin’s Lost River and shortnose suckers because they “did not present substantial scientific or commercial information” to support delisting says the Federal Register 5/14. A 2001 USFWS status review examining all information provided in published and unpublished reports on the biology, distribution and status of the suckers, found “no overall trend for increasing populations within the last decade” and that continuing threats to the species included “habitat loss, degradation of water quality, periodic fish die-offs, and entrainment into water diversions.”
Klamath Tribes have criticized the USFWS draft biological opinion on “what measures Reclamation must take” to protect endangered sucker fish “while operating the Klamath Reclamation Project’s system of irrigation canals” says the Klamath Falls Herald and News 5/13. According to the Tribes the service’s proposed measures “will at best, keep the fish in Upper Klamath Lake from going extinct.”
GROUPS WANT KLAMATH WATER LIMITS RECOGNIZED
Some 20 fishing and conservation groups have asked the Oregon Water Resources Commission “not to accept applications for new wells or other water rights” in the Klamath Basin until new studies “clearly determine how much water is available” says SF Gate, AP 5/29. Some well-owners want temporary permits to pump water to be made permanent but the groups argue that, “If the drought of last year taught us anything, it is that we have already promised too much water to too many interests.”
BUSY BEAVER ERADICATORS HEADED TO COURT?
The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has been legally warned that its efforts to kill and remove “thousands” of beavers throughout the Southwest is violating the ESA says Forest Guardians 5/17. Beavers and their dams “enhance functioning and increase the size of riparian/wetlands habitats,” crucial to the survival and recovery of listed species. These species include the Southwestern willow flycatcher, Loach minnow, spikedace, Gila trout and Apache trout. Forest Guardians and Gila Watch maintain APHIS, the NM Dept. of Fish and Game, and USFWS are failing to assess the impacts of the beaver eradication and harming listed species by allowing beavers to be removed from occupied habitat.
WATER CRISIS HURTS U.S.-MEXICO FARMERS
Water taps spit mud and silt-laden power lines droop lifelessly along a stretch of the Texas-Mexico border, where the land is parched by drought and politics. <http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/05/29/mexico.water.reut/index.html>
MEXICO PROPOSES PLAN TO PAY OFF WATER DEBT ON RIO GRANDE
The tentative plan is to pay off its water debt to the United States within five years, and officials say they will not have to institute strict conservation measures to make the payments. The proposal by the National Water Commission calls for Mexico to increase its annual water payment to the United States from 350 kaf to 525 kaf, cutting the debt in half over 5 years. The water commission did not provide details of how it would pay off the remaining deficit. The report also did not provide specifics about from where it would draw the increased amount of water. AP, 5/22
EASTERN MONTANA FARMERS WANT TO TRY SEEDING CLOUDS
Some desperate eastern Montana farmers who blocked North Dakota’s cloud-seeding efforts in Montana skies a decade ago are now ready to try the controversial practice themselves. Missoulian (AP); May 28
FARM BILL
There might be a severe drought facing much of the nation, but billions of dollars in subsidies is soon to rain down on the bread-basket states. The bill is expected to cost $190 billion over 10 years, or $83 billion more than the cost of continuing current programs. A senior Republican official said Bush reversed course in the hopes of gaining an additional Republican seat in the Senate from one of the farm states next fall. Generous subsidies to huge factory farms further endanger the nation’s few remaining family farms.
The conference report cuts back on an innovative Senate program to support on-farm water conservation measures and state acquisition of agricultural water rights to maintain instream flows for species at risk. The water conservation program now provides no guarantees that conserved water will actually stay in streams, and the water rights acquisition program now allows only leasing of water in tributaries of “desert terminus lakes.” For a summary of the farm bill, visit <http://www.usda.gov/farmbill> or <http://agriculture.house.gov/fbconfsum.pdf>
WATER INFRASTRUCTURE
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee marked up S. 1961, a $35 billion water infrastructure bill. The bill would reauthorize and expand the state revolving loan funds under the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water acts. The bill would make water conservation projects eligible for funding through the revolving loan funds and it would provide loan forgiveness for development projects with low impacts.
DAM OPERATION PUT ON NOTICE
Conservationists have notified the Corps of Engineers that they will sue if operations at the Libby Dam in Montana are not changed to protect endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon says ENS 5/8. The Center for Biological Diversity, Ecology Center and Idaho Conservation League say that since the dam was completed in 1974, operations have reduced the large spring flows by more than half and covered gravelbeds with silt, placing the fish in “immediate danger of extinction.” Montana officials also filed suit because the Corps is dropping the level of Fort Peck Reservoir to support barge traffic on the lower Missouri.
ARMY CORPS IGNORING MONTANA’S NEEDS FOR MISSOURI RIVER
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is ignoring the economic and ecological needs at Montana’s Fort Peck reservoir and only trying to please downstream water users. Missoulian; May 26 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=2500>
CORPS CHANGES LIST OF PROJECTS UNDER REVIEW
AGAIN – Less than a week after announcing that it had completed an unprecedented, in-depth review of 171 projects, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers changed course yet again. It re-opened reviews on more than 50 projects while dropping some projects from its list altogether and adding others, according to a comparison released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). <http://www.peer.org/press/242.html>
WATER WARS
Water rights in the western United States are often determined by what you might call the I-was-here-first principle. This frontier-era rule reserves plenty of water for early birds, less for latecomers, and none at all for the rivers themselves. It also turns a river into a sort of used-car lot, allowing people to buy, sell, and steal as many shares of water as they possibly can. As Indian physicist and activist Vandana Shiva writes in “Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit,” that kind of “cowboy economics” increasingly governs water management worldwide — much to the detriment of the world’s ecosystems and poorer citizens. <http://www.gristmagazine.com/books/books052302.asp?source=daily>
ATLANTA’S GROWING THIRST CREATES WATER WAR
It has all the elements of a classic regional water war, pitting developers against environmentalists and state against state. Yet this battle is gripping not the parched Southwest, but the normally verdant Southeast, in a sign of future clashes around the country over an increasingly limited supply of fresh water. <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/27/national/27RIVE.html>
FISH FARM SETTLES
One of Maine’s largest salmon farms has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by U.S. Public Interest Research Group over water pollution and the threat to endangered wild Atlantic salmon says the Portland Press Herald 6/5. The agreement provides for a $375,000 payment to “help save wild salmon,” bars the use of European or genetically altered fish strains, strengthens measures to prevent escapes and forgoes expansion into Penobscot Bay. Maine’s two other large fish farms have yet to settle and “still face the prospect of rules imposed by the court.”
CALGARY’S RURAL COMMUNITIES DRAINING THEIR AQUIFERS
Growth in and around Calgary is forcing some communities to look for other sources of municipal water, as demand drains aquifers faster than they can recharge. Calgary Herald; 5/8
RUNOFF THREATENS WATER QUALITY
“Runoff from roads, farmland, urban areas and industrial sites has emerged as the No. 1 threat to water quality in California,” and although it is improving, the state’s department of transportation remains a “chronic violator” of laws protecting aquatic habitat says the L.A. Times 5/13. Toxic pollution in runoff threatens “steelhead trout and salmon habitat on the northern coast, the Truckee River” and “dolphin birthing grounds” off the coast and in San Francisco Bay.
A new report by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences indicates that non-point source pollution is also responsible for 85% of the 29 million gallons of marine oil pollution in North America every year.
NEW EPA DRAFT STRATEGY
The Office of Science and Technology in the Office of Water is releasing for review a draft “Strategy for Water Quality Standards and Criteria: Strengthening the Foundation of Programs to Protect and Restore the Nation’s Waters.” EPA would like your comments and views on this draft strategy. Any comments received by July 15, 2002, will be considered as EPA finalizes the strategy.
An electronic copy of this draft strategy is available at <www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards> Direct your comments by letter, e-mail, or fax to: Fred Leutner, Chief, Water Quality Standards Branch, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (4305T), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC. 20460 202-566-0378, fax 202-566-0409, <leutner.fred@epa.gov>
BUSH ADMINISTRATION APPROVES MOST DAMAGING CHANGE TO CLEAN WATER ACT IN DECADES
The Bush administration finalized changes to Clean Water Act regulations that would for the first time in 25 years allow the US Army Corps of Engineers to permit waste to fill and destroy the nation’s waters. In an attempt to appease the coal mining industry and in a rush to avoid additional Congressional and public scrutiny, EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman signed the rule change. <http://www.earthjustice.org/news/display.html?ID=365>
JUDGE RULES ARMY CORPS CAN’T ISSUE MOUNTAINTOP COAL MINING PERMITS
A federal judge ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop issuing the permits needed to conduct mountaintop coal mining. These permits allow tops of ridges in Appalachia to be sheared off and the dirt and rock pushed into nearby streams. Environmentalists have bitterly objected to the practice, saying it damages waterways. <http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/05/05092002/ap_47175.asp> The Bush administration appealed the decision and asked the judge to clarify that the ruling “should be read as not applying nationwide or to activities other than coal mining.” The coal industry is expected to file a similar appeal.
EPA RELEASES 2000 TOXIC RELEASE INVENTORY DATA
Mining is Nation’s largest toxic polluter. This data is searchable by facility, chemical or industry; and at the county, state or national level. The 2000 Toxic Release Inventory data and background information (and a search tool called the TRI EXPLORER) on the TRI program are available at: <http://www.epa.gov/tri/> More detailed information is available at <http://www.epa.gov/tri/tridata/tri00/index.htm> For less intensive data analysis, state by state fact sheets are also available here.
CANADA
US INDUSTRIAL WATER WASTE RISING – Industrial pollution dumped into U.S. and Canadian lakes, rivers and streams rose 26 percent from 1995 to 1999, overshadowing an almost equal reduction in toxic air emissions. This information is from a report released by North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, the environmental watchdog agency of the North American Free Trade Association. Under NAFTA agreements, Mexico is not yet required to report on pollution releases and transfers, although 117 facilities voluntarily reported.
<http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/16192/story.htm>
POLLUTION TRADING
The Bush administration has proposed a pollution trading system that would allow U.S. farmers, municipal sewage plants, and others to swap federal credits awarded for improving water quality beyond what is required by law. Industrial and municipal facilities would continue to comply with the 1972 Clean Water Act that required a reduction in river pollutants such as stormwater, agriculture runoff, or sewer overflow, the Environmental Protection Agency said.
<http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/05/05162002/reu_47230.asp>
WATER QUALITY STANDARDS ACTISTS TOOLKITS
The Clean Water Network has announced that there is now a water quality standards tool kit on their web site under the standards section. <http://www.cwn.org/docs/programs/wqs/wqs.htm> The toolkit features:
1.) A list of state and federal WQS contacts 2.) Four fact sheets on WQS in general as well as 3 areas of concern for Network members (the difference between designated uses and existing uses, use attainability analysis, and site specific criteria) 3.) Other on-line reports, tools, resources
ARSENIC IN GROUNDWATER OF THE U.S.
The USGS has developed maps that show where and to what extent arsenic occurs in ground water across the country. The current maps are based on samples from 31,350 wells. Widespread high concentrations were found in the West, the Midwest, and the Northeast. For the complete story visit: <http://co.water.usgs.gov/trace/arsenic/> STUDY CONCLUDES PARASITIC WORMS CAUSE FROG DEFORMITIES – After slogging through 101 ponds and wetlands in five western states, scientists on the trail of a mysterious outbreak of deformities in frogs have settled on a microscopic parasitic flatworm as the prime suspect. Linked with existing laboratory studies showing that the trematode known as Ribeiroia ondatrae can cause the frogs to sprout extra legs, the new field work closes the loop by showing a direct correlation between the prevalence of the parasite and the number of deformed frogs, scientists said.
<http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/05/05072002/ap_47144.asp>
NATURAL RESOURCES LAW CENTER HOSTS MAJOR WATER CONFERENCE JUNE 11-14, 2002
Experts from around the world will wade through complicated water issues and policies at the Natural Resource Law Center’s annual conference, “Allocating and Managing Water for a Sustainable Future: Lessons From Around the World,” June 11-14 at the University of Colorado at Boulder. A full agenda and registration information–with extended early registration rates–is available at <www.colorado.edu/Law/NRLC/2002Conference.html>
In brief: the conference begins on Tuesday at 8:30 with a panel that will address “Global Water Issues: Reconciling Vales and Realities in the Developed and Developing World” under the leadership of Dr. Patricia Wouters of the University of Dundee (Scotland). Concurrent sessions follow through the day, offered by scholars and experts from around the world, and concluding with the evening’s keynote address, given by Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security (Oakland, CA). TUESDAY’S SESSIONS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. PRE-REGISTRATION IS APPRECIATED.
Wednesday through Friday the conference continues with case studies that draw water management lessons from around the world as they apply to the American West. International presenters as well as regional and national experts will contribute the most current information on the world water situation. Please see the NRLC website, and/or contact Event Planner Jean Patton at <jpatton@spot.colorado.edu> , or phone 303-492-1288 for details. CLE credit available.
TRAINING
Assessing Riparian Condition: Training Sessions for 2002, Various Cities, CO Session Dates: La Junta, CO: 6/26-27, Montrose, CO: 7/9-10, Ft. Collins: 9/10-11
The Colorado Riparian Training Cadre, an interagency, interdisciplinary team, is inviting private landowners, state/federal/county employees, or other interested individuals in Colorado to attend a 2-day training session on how to assess riparian/wetland condition. A primary objective of this training is to develop a common vocabulary and understanding of riparian areas among people who work on the land.
There is no tuition, but space is limited. The class size will be kept low (maximum of 30) to facilitate meaningful interaction. Contact: Jay Thompson, Colorado Riparian Cadre Coordinator at (303)-239-3724 or <jay_thompson@co.blm.gov> .
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