Western Water Report: 28 April 2000
WEATHER FORECAST
At the tri-annual Aspinall Operations meeting on 4/20, the National Weather Service forecast called for a dry June and then, beginning in July, monsoonal conditions through the rest of the summer similar to last summer’s conditions.
UGRWCD ELECTIONS
Once again, the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District will be holding elections in June for vacant seats on its Board of Directors. The elections are the result of petitions being submitted to the District Court. Petitions requesting an election with 10% of qualified voters are needed. Two at-large seats within the City of Gunnison have attracted 4 candidates, two incumbents and two challengers. A third seat only had one candidate, so he was elected by acclamation. The Gunnison League of Women Voters has organized a candidates’ forum scheduled for early May to help the public make informed decisions in the voting booth. Without petitioning, vacancies are filled with appointments made by the District Court judge. Board seats have a 4-year term. This is the second year in a row that there will be elections in the UGRWCD and only the third time in Colorado history. The other election occurred over twenty years ago in the Central Water Conservancy District. Next year, the District may reorganize to make its division boundaries conform to precinct boundaries which would make the petitioning and election procedures easier.
NEW WATER JUDGE IN DIVISION 4
Judge Robert Brown, after distinguished service as Division 4’s (Gunnison Basin) water court judge, is retiring May 1. The Colorado Supreme Court has appointed Steven Patrick, the assistant water court judge, to replace Judge Brown. Judge Brown worked out of the Montrose court. Judge Patrick is located in the Gunnison court.
DAM REPAIRS
Reclamation has announced the completion of the $24 million repair project on Pueblo Dam. This project focused on lining the stilling pond for the spillway at the base of the dam.
Reclamation also announced their intention to commence $100 million dam repairs on the four structures comprising Horsetooth Reservoir near Ft. Collins. These repairs are intended to reduce the amount of seepage from the four dams. Reclamation provides 85% cost-sharing for these repairs, with the beneficiaries of the projects picking up the other 15%.
ASPINALL OPERATIONS
New software, RiverWare (water routing model), is being developed to help reconcile the different federal responsibilities on the Gunnison River. This computer model was first developed at CU and will be used by the USGS to come up with optimum flow recommendations. A workshop is scheduled 5/15-16, in Grand Junction to help guide the model development.
The Bureau of Reclamation will initiate an EIS on reoperation of the Aspinall Unit this fall with a final document expected by Oct.2002. A 5-year extension on the interim contract for operations is already signed by the FWS. Colorado and Reclamation still have to sign. The current contract expires this summer.
Reclamation is reviewing two different scenarios for operations this spring. One calls for spills at Crystal Dam to generate spike flows at the Whitewater gage near Grand Junction of 9,500 cfs. The other model would limit releases at Crystal to 4,000 cfs and only produce flows of 8,000 cfs at Whitewater. The 9,500 cfs figure is the target set in the synthesis report, recently released for peer review by the FWS to help recover endangered pikeminnow and razorback suckers in the Gunnison. High Country Citizens’ Alliance, Land and Water Fund, Sierra Club, and Trout Unlimited have encouraged Reclamation to follow the recommendation of FWS. Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) is asking for no-spill releases. (Spills mean loss of hydropower generation.) A decision is expected shortly.
Reclamation is saying that NEPA compliance is not needed for the quantification of the federal reserved rights in the Black Canyon because those flows will be the result of settlement of litigation.
Negotiations have been completed on the Subordination Agreement to allow up to 60,000 af of junior depletions above the Aspinall Unit. The contract to account for these depletions should be finalized and signed by July.
SB 215 would have required the Colorado Water Conservation Board to plan for and construct a “state” water project that would provide 120,000 af annually from either Division 4 (Gunnison River) or Division 5 (Colorado River mainstem) for delivery to Division 1 (South Platte River) or Division 2 (Arkansas River) with a completion date of 2020. The bill was killed in State Affairs Committee by a vote of 6 to 3. We can expect this bill to be revived next year.
Since the Programatic Biological Opinion for the Recovery Program on the Colorado River mainstem allows for 120,000 af of future development and there are unutilized water rights for existing facilities on the mainstem held by Denver Water and the Northern Conservancy District, it is obvious this bill is intended to focus on the Gunnison River. The proponents of this bill are the Union Park Authority members and Colorado Springs. Passage of this or a similar bill would create a major shift in the role of the CWCB and would raise significant questions of conflict-of-interest within the Board.
There are currently no conditional water rights for transmountain diversions in Division 4. Arapahoe County has been trying to secure such rights for the Union Park Project since 1988.
An alternative to acquiring new rights for a transmountain diversion would be to try to negotiate a contract with Reclamation for some of the yield of Blue Mesa Reservoir. In the intervening years since 1988, much of the yield has been dedicated to recovery of endangered fish in the Gunnison River.
SOUTH PLATTE RIVER WILD AND SCENIC
The Forest Service has released a Supplemental Draft Legislative Environmental Impact Statement. The original DLEIS included an alternative (A2) which provided for a River Management Plan without an official designation under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The supplement identifies a refinement identified as A3 which incorporates comments submitted on the DLEIS.
The DLEIS included Alt. J, which would have recommended Wild and Scenic designations on the mainstem of the South Platte, but not on the North Fork. The SDLEIS includes, as the preferred alternative, a recommendation of 72 miles of Wild, Scenic or Recreational protection including 23 miles of the North Fork. Water providers and environmental/ recreational interests are still working to come up with a plan that would protect the segments of the South Platte covered by this study but still allow for conjunctive use of surface and groundwater.
Public meetings on the proposal have been conducted in the affected areas. Comments on the SDLEIS are due by 6/29/2000 and should be submitted to Abigail R. Kimbell, Forest Supervisor, Pike and San Isabel NF, 1920 Valley Dr., Pueblo, CO, 81008, Attn: South Platte WSR or by email to . The SDLEIS can be viewed at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/eis
FLUORIDATING COLORADO SPRINGS
The City Council has approved a controversial plan to add fluoride to two treatment plants in the north and east areas of the city. About 2/3 of the city’s 350.000 residents will receive the treated water.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WATER EDUCATION
Colorado Springs Utilities has developed a curriculum to teach 3rd and 4th graders about water.
Third-graders will learn about the water cycle and fourth-graders learn about watersheds. This is part of a 1994 penalty settlement for violations of missing deadlines to deliver filtered water to the southwest portion of the city.
ANIMAS-LA PLATA
A hearing is set for May 11, on Rep. Scott McInnis’ HR 3112, a bill that would amend the Colorado Ute Tribes Water Rights Settlement Act and authorize the construction of the enhanced preferred alternative. Environmentalists are asking for a delay on the hearing until after the Record of Decision is issued on the DSEIS which analyzes ten different alternatives. Since the tribes have not identified proposed beneficial use of their water in the project, Reclamation used 6 different, non-binding possible uses to do the environmental assessment.
GLEN CANYON OPERATIONS
There will be a special release schedule developed for scientific research purposes for 5 out of the next ten years. This year, the special releases will include 17,000 cfs that started 4/6. On May 3, flows will be ramped up for 4 days at 31,000 cfs. They will then be ramped down to 8,000 cfs where they will remain flat to August. WAPA is saying that the short-fall of hydropower caused by this flow regime and the loss of power generation at other facilities in the Upper Basin could cause brown-outs in Arizona this summer. [This prediction contradicts studies that there is surplus power production capacity in the Southwest.]
FISH RECOVERY APPROPRIATIONS
S. 2239, introduced by Senators Wayne Allard, (R-CO), Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Robert Bennett (R-UT), and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), would authorize $100 million over 5-7 years for habitat development and management, water rights acquisition for instream flows, non-native fish management, hatchery construction and operation, endangered fish stocking, research, and public education projects. The Senators fear that further declines in the populations of the fish, or failure to recover them, could lead to restrictions on current and future water diversions and use in the upper basin states.
Senator Wayne Allard stated that the proposal has the support of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming as well as the Colorado River Energy Distributors Association, the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Implementation Program, environmental organizations such as Environmental Defense and the Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, High Country Citizens’ Alliance, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, and the Colorado Water Congress, among others.
RECOVERY PROGRESS
Ralph Morganwick, Region 6 Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), on 4/16, issued a letter of Sufficient Progress/Sec. 7 Consultations for the Upper Colorado River Recovery Program. “Based on careful evaluation of the status of the fish, adequacy of flows needed for recovery, magnitude of depletion impacts, and cumulative Recovery Program accomplishments and shortcomings, The Service concludes that progress in the Program continues to be sufficient for projects that have an annual of up to 3,000 af.,” he said. Some participants asked to have the 3,000 af threshold increased. He declined by saying that once the Programatic Biological Opinions are completed on Flaming Gorge, Gunnison, Yampa and tributaries, the threshold will become obsolete.
WARREN ACT
The Warren Act, passed in the late 1930s, is part of the federal laws that govern the operation of Bureau of Reclamation projects. It limits Reclamation’s discretion for utilizing the surplus space in federal projects for non-irrigation purposes.
Efforts have been underway to amend the Act to allow use of surplus capacity for municipal and industrial purposes. In some facilities, Reclamation has issued limited “if and when” one-year contracts. Some cities would like the additional certainty of longer term contracts.
Many water districts, concerned that amending the act could make it easier to expand existing transmountain diversions or promote new transmountain diversions, are opposed to changes or amendments to the Act without the inclusion of basin-of-origin protection.
The focus of proponents has changed from amending the Act to pushing for new legislation referred to as the “excess capacity” act.
Although the name is different, the same concerns remain. Stay tuned.
ARIZONA TRIBE TAKES COLORADO RIVER CLAIM TO U.S. SUPREME COURT
An Arizona tribe argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that it is due 1 percent of the Colorado’s flow as promised in an 1893 treaty. Arizona and California say the tribe gave up those water rights in 1983, and all the water is already allocated to farmers and communities. Arizona Daily Star; April 25
SALTON SEA “HEALTHIER” THAN EXPECTED
A new study of Southern California’s Salton Sea has found it to be among “the most productive fisheries in the world” says AP 4/20. The research also found that the fish were “healthier than previously thought,” and supports a study last year that found minimal toxics in lake bottom sediments.
This is the first broad-based study in the last fifty years and contradicts the Salton Sea’s image as a “chemical sump on the verge of ecological collapse.”
UTAH’S LARGEST-EVER PROJECT AIMED AT SAVING SALT LAKE MARSHES
The Nature Conservancy has raised $12 million for what it hopes will be a $32 million project to save open space and habitat around the Great Salt Lake and across the state. Salt Lake Tribune; April 19
SNAKE “MOST ENDANGERED” RIVER
Citing freshwater species that are disappearing “as swiftly as those in tropical rainforests,” American Rivers put the Snake River at the top of America’s dozen most endangered rivers list, says AP 4/10. This year’s list highlights “dam building, digging of navigation channels, and construction of floodwalls and levees” as the reason many of the rivers have difficulty supporting “native fish and wildlife.” Dams have major impacts on four of the top five endangered rivers, illustrated by the Snake where four dams “have brought salmon runs to the brink of extinction,” Visit http://www.americanrivers.org
MONTANA HATCHERY REDESIGNS ITS TROUT
A Montana trout hatchery is redesigning its tanks and its practices to produce fish more akin to the wild variety, part of national re-thinking of hatcheries’ roles and effects. Christian Science Monitor; April 11
ORGANIC SALMON, WILD OR FARMED?
Alaskan salmon fishermen turned out to argue for organic certification of wild salmon at the Anchorage USDA hearings to determine “organic standards for aquatic animals,” says AP 4/14. The Alaskan’s are worried that the coveted organic label would go to “their mortal enemy, seafood raised on aquatic farms,” because conditions including exposure to pollutants can be better controlled. Salmon farms are “outlawed” in Alaska, but their explosive growth worldwide has slashed “Alaska’s market share.”
HATCHERIES THREATEN WILD SALMON
Biologists are increasingly alarmed at “the extent to which hatchery-bred fish dilute the genetics of wild fish,” says AP 3/27. Past hatchery practices, which had little regard for local evolutionary adaptations, are blamed for helping to bring on the “current decline in salmon and steelhead populations.”
GENETICALLY ALTERED SALMON READY FOR MARKET
North America’s first table-ready genetically altered salmon are swimming around tanks on a Prince Edward Island fish farm, getting closer to regulatory approval that could land them in supermarkets. “They could be cleared for human consumption within a year,” says Globe and Mail; April 11. A U.S. firm, AF Protein, is raising the GM Atlantic salmon, “which can grow 10 times faster than normal.” Environmentalists fear a “Trojan gene scenario” where the escape of one of the GM fish “could wipe out local populations of the species.”
NO SNAKE RIVER DAM BREACHING ON BABBITT’S WATCH
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt told a Senate panel that the decision on breaching 4 lower Snake River dams, “will not and should not be made on my watch,” says the Spokane Spokesman-Review 4/13. The administration position has made the highly controversial decision “an issue in the presidential election.” Republican candidate George Bush “has vowed to save the dams if elected” while his opponent, Vice President Gore, has so far resisted pressure from environmentalists “to publicly endorse breaching,” and said “more studies are needed.”
GROUPS HOPE TO AVOID FRACAS OVER OTHER SNAKE RIVER DAMS
Three Hells Canyon hydroelectric dams that supply Boise with power at the lowest rates in the country are due for relicensing in 2005, and a variety of groups are already gearing up for the salmon issue. Idaho Statesman; April 11
IDAHO SENATOR’S BILL WOULD PUT POWER FIRST IN DAM RELICENSING
Idaho Sen. Larry Craig’s bill to give utilities more power in relicensing dams, particularly three Hell’s Canyon dams, would limit power companies’ liability for environmental damage and weaken the federal agencies responsible for protecting the environment. Idaho Falls Post-Register; April 20
NEW DEFINITION FOR “FILL” UNDER WETLANDS REGULATION
On April 20, 2000, the Army Corps of Engineers and EPA published a proposed new rule in the Federal Register that would change the definition of “fill” material. The definition of “fill” is significant to the Clean Water Act because it is used by the Corps under section 404 of the Clean Water Act to determine the extent of its jurisdiction to regulate and permit the deposit of solid materials into wetlands, streams and other waters of the United States.
The current definition of fill used by the Corps is based on the “primary purpose” test. “Fill” is defined as “any material used for the primary purpose of replacing an aquatic area with dry land or of changing the bottom elevation of a waterbody.” The definition specifically excludes any pollutant discharged to water primarily to dispose of waste. Under the current rule, the Corps does not have authority to either restrict or permit discharges that do not fall within this primary purpose test. The EPA uses a different definition. They define “fill” as any pollutant which replaces a portion of waters with dry land or changes the bottom elevation of a water body “for any purpose,” – a much broader definition.
Some environmentalists have been working for years on getting the Corps and EPA definitions to be the same. Having a similar definition would make the regulation of wetlands fills easier to regulate, and if the definitions were written properly they could result in greater protection of wetlands.
The proposed rule would make the Corps’ fill definition more like EPA’s effects-based definition, and, as a result, would allow the Corps to issue or deny 404 permits for the dumping of some solid wastes, including coal mining overburden, into waters of the United States. Thus, by attempting to “fix” the Clean Water Act rules to grant the Corps the authority to issue permits for mountaintop removal wastes in ephemeral streams, the Administration is fundamentally altering the Act to move many types of waste disposal from the 402 program to the 404 program.
TROUBLED WATERS: CONGRESS, THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS, AND WASTEFUL WATER PROJECTS
According to the Taxpayers for Common Sense and the National Wildlife Federation’s new report, no other Federal agency has had, and continues to have, such a profound impact on the nation’s environmentally-sensitive floodplains, waterways and coastal areas as the Corps. Since its inception in 1779, billions of taxpayer dollars are often wasted on environmentally harmful, ineffective Corps projects. In their report released on March 2, 2000, these two groups name the 25 most wasteful water projects. Which projects top their list?
1. The $275 million Grand Prairie Demonstration Project is the first of five Eastern Arkansas irrigation projects that together would cost over $1 billion and would jeopardize the White River National Wildlife Refuge.
2. The $311 million Delaware River Deepening Project (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey) would deepen 108 miles of the Delaware River up to the Port of Philadelphia.
3. Driven by large agribusiness corporations, the Corps is likely to recommend a $1.2 billion project to expand the Upper Mississippi River System Locks (Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota).
Taxpayers and NWF are starting a Corps Watch Network to monitor such activities. For more information visit Taxpayer’s web site www.taxpayer.net or NWF’s web site at www.nwf.org. To sign up for the Network or for a copy of the report, contact Jeff Stein with Taxpayers for Common Sense at 202-546-8500 or jeff@taxpayer.net.
CORPS “RETHINKS” PLANS FOR MIGHTY MO
The Army Corps of Engineers has temporarily shelved it master plan for controlling Missouri River flows in response to sharp criticism from the FWS, says the Kansas City Star 3/29. The Corps is now formally consulting with the FWS which has said it “does too little to help restore threatened fish and birds along the Missouri.” This process is expected to result in a FWS “biological opinion” that details “the threats to endangered species from corps’ operations.”
TMDL CONTROVERSY CONTINUES TO RAGE
There are at least four bills introduced in Congress to undo the proposed new rules for Total Maximum Daily Loads. Most of the bills intend to exempt silviculture and agriculture from having to comply with implementation requirements. This is also an attempt to delay the implementation of the new rules until after the elections so a new administration might cancel them.
INVESTIGATOR TO EXAMINE IDAHO MINE CLEANUP
The EPA’s national ombudsman will investigate complaints that the agency botched the massive cleanup at north Idaho’s Bunker Hill mine two decades ago, and that lead and other heavy metals are still leaking, threatening residents’ health and contaminating sites already cleaned up once. Spokesman-Review; April 7
FEDS SAY DEFUNCT MINE’S CYANIDE THREATENS SALMON RIVER
Federal officials say they are preparing an emergency order to remove a 65-acre reservoir of cyanide-laced wastewater from a defunct gold mine perched above central Idaho’s Yankee Fork of the Salmon. Cascadia Times; April 28
STUDY FINDS LEAD DOUBLED IN RIVER
Some half-million pounds of lead flowed down the Coeur d’ Alene River last year, according to a federal study, more than double the amount in previous years and evidence that mining wastes upriver are leaching into ground water. Spokesman-Review; April 6
TAINTED GROUND WATER UNDERSCORES IDAHO’S PROPOSED FEEDLOT RULES
Idaho officials are drafting tighter laws for feedlots and dairies to protect water quality, but a recent meeting with ranchers was overshadowed by a study that said nitrate levels in the springs of the state’s newest park will exceed limits in 10 years. Idaho Statesman; April 14
GORE ANNOUNCES DRINKING WATER PROTECTIONS FOR GROUND WATER SOURCES
Vice President Al Gore announced an Administration proposal to improve drinking water quality for 109 million Americans by protecting groundwater supplies from disease-causing viruses and bacteria, such as E. coli. The proposed rule–the first to extend such protections to underground sources of drinking water–is expected to prevent over 115,000 illnesses a year. Under the proposal, states would be required to survey all drinking water systems, and ground water systems at risk of contamination would be required to monitor their sources and take corrective action such as disinfection to address any contamination found. Drinking water suppliers using ground water also would be required to fix defects in their systems that could lead to contamination. The proposed rule would not affect private wells serving individual homes. For more information, visit http://www.epa.gov/safewater/gwr.html
NEBRASKA RESERVATIONS HAVE HIGH RATE OF CONTAMINATED WELLS
The proportion of contaminated water wells is far higher on Nebraska Indian reservations than the national average. Researchers suspect faulty septic tanks and animal-grazing practices, and say the findings may indicate broader problems on tribal lands elsewhere. Environmental News Network; April 12
POLLUTED RUNOFF
Three-fourths of the states are failing to address water pollution caused by runoff from farms and forests, ignoring a provision in the federal Clean Water Act, a leading conservation group charged.
The National Wildlife Federation said Wednesday that a survey it conducted shows that 38 states have done little to address non-point pollution under the federal law. Maine was one of six states noted for its improvement.
“States have not stepped forward to systematically deal with polluted runoff and contaminated rain,” the group said.
Michael Murray, the report’s co-author, attributed the states’ reluctance to “a combination of political intimidation … and bureaucratic inertia” and said “our lakes, streams and coasts are paying the price.”
The group evaluated compliance with a provision of the Clean Water Act aimed at protecting watersheds from pollution pesticides, excessive nutrients and other chemicals that come primarily from agriculture and forests as opposed to a specific smokestack or discharge pipe.
States are required to designate waterways impaired by such pollution, prioritize the severity of the problems and develop a plan to curtail the pollution. Murray said most states have done little beyond compiling lists. National Wildlife Federation site: http://www.nwf.org
NEW REGULATIONS FOR WATER QUALITY STANDARDS PUBLISHED
Under a court ordered judicial deadline, EPA is expected to issue a new regulation pertaining to the creation and approval of water quality standards (WQS). The new regulation takes effect 30 days from the time of its publication in the Federal Register (at the time of publication this was not yet in the FR but check out
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html for the final regulation).
The final rule will effect WQS program in the following ways:
* WQS adopted after the effective date of the rule do not become the “applicable” WQS for Clean Water Act (CWA) purposes until approved by EPA
* “Applicable” standards remain the CWA standards until EPA approves State or Tribal revisions or promulgates replacement WQS * State standards that are equal to, or more stringent than, the existing applicable standard will become effective after state approval and prior to EPA approval
* Water quality standards which were approved under the old rule will remain.
This rule is the result of a successful lawsuit filed by the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund and Trustees for Alaska. Contact: Mike Frank, Trustees for Alaska at mike@trustees.org or 907-276-4244; Eric Jorgensen with Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund at eric@earthjustice.org or 907-586-2751.
RESOURCE CONSUMPTION THREATENS ENVIRONMENT
A new U.N. report warns that “growing demand for resources is threatening the world’s environmental health more than ever” says AP 4/17. Among the “findings:” 20% of freshwater fish gone or in danger, half of the world’s forests destroyed and 9% of all tree species “at risk of vanishing,” and 70% of all fish stocks “overfished.”
MORE FLOODS AND CONTAMINATION
Several tons of waste sludge contaminated with uranium poured from a mining operation in western Romania into nearby streams and then the Fekete Koeroes River in eastern Hungary. The pollution followed significant spills of cyanide and heavy metals earlier in the year and comes at a time when large parts of Eastern Europe are experiencing the worst flooding in recent memory.
EVENTS
May 9-10,2000
The next meeting for the Grand Canyon Adaptive Management, Technical Working Group is scheduled for May 10 (9:30 4:00) and May 11 (8:00-noon) at the following location: Bureau of Indian Affairs Office 12th Floor, 400 N. 4th Street, Phoenix AZ
June 7-9, 2000: Boulder, CO
“Water and Growth in the West.” Co-sponsored by the Natural Resources Law Center, Univ. of Colorado School of Law and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Topics include: environmental protection, tribal water resources, social costs of water transfers, demographics and water-use trends, improved planning and efficient use, implementation of TMDL and ESA requirements, and many other related issues. The conference will also focus on current rates of growth in the region and how it will affect water issues. Registration cost: $250 (by May 12), $290 (after May 12) for gov’t/academic, and nonprofits. Contact 303-492-1272, www.colorado.edu/Law/NRLC.
WORLD WATER CONGRESS
The first World Water Congress of the new International Water Association (IWA) will take place in Paris 3-7 July 2000. The conference programme and Invitation to Register is available on the IWA web site at http://www.iwahq.org.uk/paris2000.htm The deadline for “early bird” registration is 30th April 2000.
IWA was formed by the merger of IAWQ and IWSA in September 1999.
The forthcoming conference program embraces all aspects of water supply, sanitation and water quality management. It is a wide ranging high quality program of papers, posters, exhibition, technical visits and social events – all in the beautiful city of Paris. Visit the IWA web site at http://www.iwahq.org.uk
July 26-28, 2000 Colorado Water Workshop, Western State College, Gunnison, Colorado.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, this year’s theme is “Clean and Flowing Water.” The Colorado Constitution guarantees that the right to divert shall never be denied, but recent developments in water quality, instream uses, and federal flow requirements are making new demands on our water resources. How do these demands fit into Colorado’s prior appropriation system? Can Colorado water law protect historic uses and meet the water demands of the 21st century?
Join us at the Colorado Water Workshop for an update on the new TMDL rules and other upcoming water quality issues. We’ll also explore demands for stream flows and discuss federal reserved rights and bypass flows. What impacts can we expect for water users and suppliers? (This writer will be talking about a task force wrestling with selenium loading in the Uncompahgre River.)
For more information: Lucy High, Director 970-641-8766, E-mail: water@western.edu Website: www.waterinfo.org/workshop.html
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