COLORADO RIVER HEADWATERS’ WATER QUALITY
The Water Quality Control Commission is having a Classification and Standards Rulemaking hearing in March for the Lower Colorado River (in Colorado), the Gunnison River and Lower Dolores River and the San Juan River basins. The Colorado Water Quality Control Commission, with the encouragement of the EPA, is proposing sweeping changes to Recreational Classifications. To achieve the goal of the Clean Water Act to have all waters of the United States swimable and fishable, the Division is proposing that standards be set for all water segments for primary contact recreation. This would require standards of 200 fecal coliform colonies/100 ml or 126 e-coli colonies/100 ml.
The predominant land use in western Colorado is irrigated farming and grazing with most of the headwater streams originating on public land. Our mainstem rivers are being used extensively by recreational boaters. The Division’s proposal makes sense but is creating a lot of concern (controversy) among water users who object to the burden of proof being shifted to them to show recreational using is not occurring. The focus of concern is on ephemeral streams on private land that only flow during the spring snowmelt.
NEW LISTSERV
Recently, the steering committee of the newly formed Colorado Watershed Assembly established a listserv (coloradowatersheds@rivernetwork.org) to facilitate communication between watershed groups and government agency personnel. To subscribe to coloradowatersheds@rivernetwork.org, either:
1) send an e-mail message to coloradowatersheds-request@rivernetwork.org and type (do not include the ) in the text box. No subject is needed. You will be sent email requesting confirmation, to prevent others from gratuitously subscribing you. If you follow the steps correctly, you will be sent a welcome message. or….
2) visit http://rapids.rivernetwork.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/coloradowatersheds> Here you can subscribe to the list, opt to receive your messages in a Daily bundle (i.e., digest mode), view past messages and see the list of other subscribers. You will be sent email requesting confirmation, to prevent others from gratuitously subscribing you. If you follow the steps correctly, you will be sent a welcome message. Either method will subscribe you, but only the second option allows you to select digest-mode.
SETTLEMENT WILL SPEED COLORADO MINE CLEANUP
The former owner of the mining company accused of polluting Colorado’s Alamosa River watershed has agreed to pay $27.5 million in cleanup costs, an important step in forging settlements with other companies, saving litigation costs and speeding rehab work. Denver Post; Dec. 27
UNITED STATES AND MEXICO SIGN AGREEMENT ON COLORADO RIVER DELTA
On December 13, U.S. and Mexican officials at the International Boundary and Water Commission announced that the two countries have reached agreement on a conceptual framework for cooperation on studies and recommendations regarding the riparian and estuarine ecology of the boundary segment and delta of the Colorado River. The document was signed in El Paso, Texas on December 12 by U.S. Commissioner John M. Bernal and Mexican Commissioner Arturo Herrera Sols.
The binational agreement provides that:
* The International Boundary and Water Commission will establish a framework for cooperation by the United States and Mexico in the development of binational studies, including examining possible approaches to ensure use of water for ecological purposes, and formulation of recommendations for cooperative projects in recognition of the interest of both governments in the preservation of the riparian and estuarine ecology of the Colorado River boundary segment and delta.
* The IBWC will examine the effect of flows on the existing riparian and estuarine ecology of the Colorado River boundary segment and delta with a focus on defining the habitat needs of species of concern to each country. This work will be carried out through an existing binational technical task force that was established to facilitate studies related to the Colorado River delta and Santa Clara Slough.
While acknowledging that existing studies conducted by government authorities and scientific, academic, and nongovernmental organizations have already provided some definition of the ecology affected by decreased Colorado River flows in the area, Commissioners Bernal and Herrera also recognized the need for additional studies and recommendations.
According to the IBWC, the binational agency will establish a forum for the exchange of information and advice among government and nongovernmental organizations in the United States and Mexico.
However, officials say that activities undertaken pursuant to the agreement are subject to the availability of funds. Under current budget conditions, efforts are expected to begin immediately to establish a forum for the exchange of information among various interested parties and to determine what additional studies are needed.
Several representatives from southwestern states including California and Arizona said they want more information before decisions are made about sending additional water to the delta.
The full text of the agreement can be found at http://www.ibwc.state.gov/PAO/CURPRESS/ColoradoMin306final.htm
SURPLUS CRITERIA
Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), has issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on the proposed adoption of specific criteria under which surplus water conditions may be determined in the Lower Colorado River Basin during the next 15 years.
Reclamation will issue a Record of Decision no sooner than January 16, 2001.
The Secretary makes annual determinations regarding the availability of surplus water from Lake Mead by considering various factors, including the amount of water in storage and predictions for natural runoff. If there exists sufficient water available in a single year for pumping or release from Lake Mead to satisfy annual consumptive use in the states of California, Nevada, and Arizona in excess of 7.5 million-acre feet (maf), such water may be determined by the Secretary to be made available as “surplus” water. The Secretary is authorized to determine the conditions upon which such water may be made available.
The purpose of and need for establishing interim surplus criteria is to assist the Secretary in making annual determinations of surplus conditions, and will afford entities that have contracted for surplus water a greater degree of predictability with respect to the annual existence of surplus water available for diversion.
Five potential action alternatives listed are (1) “Flood Control Alternative,” which would provide surplus water only when flood control releases from Lake Mead are needed, (2) “Basin States Alternative” (Preferred Alternative), (3) “Six States Alternative”
and (4) “California Alternative,” all of which specify various Lake Mead water surface elevations to be used as “triggers” to indicate when surplus conditions exist; and (5) “Shortage Protection Alternative,” which is based on maintaining an amount of water in Lake Mead necessary to provide a normal annual supply of 7.5 maf for the Lower Division, 1.5 maf for Mexico and storage necessary to provide an 80 percent protection for the critical Lake Mead water elevation of 1083 mean sea level (minimum power generation elevation).
The interim surplus guidelines have a very good potential to reduce the probability of water getting down to the delta and have several environmental organizations concerned.
The FEIS is available for viewing on the Internet at http://www.lc.usbr.gov and http://www.uc.usbr.gov.
CO DELTA NEEDS MORE THAN TALK
As Interior Secretary Babbitt moves to finalize a deal dividing the Colorado River’s water between “seven thirsty states,” environmentalists are ready to go to court to make sure agreements between the U.S. and Mexico “to upgrade the ecological health of the delta region” are honored says the L.A. Times 12/26. Much of the delta, “once the largest desert estuary in North America,” has been reduced to a “vast and arid belt of cracked mud and desert shrubs” by water diversions. Restoring the delta requires that more of the river’s so-called “surplus” water is used to nourish the remaining wetlands which support over 150 bird species and the endangered desert pupfish but currently receive only “irrigation runoff” water.
CALIFORNIA ADJUSTS CLAIMS TO COLORADO RIVER WATER
An historic agreement to settle California’s overuse of Colorado River water has been finalized, a complicated plan with ramifications for Arizona and Nevada. Arizona Republic; Dec. 15
* Water agreement cuts California back to its legal limit. The agreement recently finalized by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt will gradually decrease California’s use of Colorado River water until it drops back to the state’s fair share, to Arizona’s eventual benefit. Arizona Daily Star; Dec. 18
* Los Angeles to buy farmers’ water in precedent-setting deal.
Water-management officials in Los Angeles are about to conclude a historic deal to buy private water from a farming company, a case almost certain to have huge impacts on water policy in the arid Southwest. New York Times; Dec. 26
CLINTON SIGNS BILL FAVORING TRIBES
A bill President Clinton signed Wednesday will compensate a California tribe for land inundated by the Salton Sea nearly a century ago, and contains provisions affecting the Navajo Nation and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa community near Phoenix. Arizona Daily Sun; Dec. 29
COLORADO WATER MANAGERS HAVE BIGGER QUESTIONS TO PONDER
While two of Colorado’s top water managers take potshots at each other, issues dangle with vastly larger impacts: How can states increase their take of Colorado River water without skewing the ecology, what will Mexico do, and how can California keep its new promise? Denver Post; Dec. 20
THE BASIN FUND IS BANKRUPT
“Preferred customers” have long-term contracts to buy power from the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) which distributes power produced at several dams operated by the Bureau of Reclamation in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Because of the loss of power production at Glen Canyon and other dams as part of the effort to recover endangered fish, WAPA has had to go out on the open market to buy power to replace their shortfall to the preferred customers. WAPA will double their power rates early this year and this will have an effect on the costs of all water projects using power from Colorado River Storage Project units.
WARMER CLIMATE COULD MEAN SHRINKING COLORADO RIVER, STUDY SAYS
A two-year study by the Pacific Institute and the U.S. Geological Survey says global warming could drop the flow of the Colorado River and make it more difficult for Southwest states to get their share. A cursory story, but the full report is available for download at: http://www.pacinst.org/naw.html Arizona Daily Star (Las Vegas Sun); Dec. 19
NAVAJO HYDROLOGIST SAYS OUTSIDE ATTORNEYS CHEAT TRIBE OUT OF WATER
A Navajo hydrologist alleges that non-Indian attorneys have routinely failed to pursue Navajo rights to Colorado River water, bolstering the claims of other interests and denying the tribes what could amount to billions of dollars worth of water. Indian Country Today; Dec. 19
ALBUQUERQUE READIES FOR WATER WARS
Albuquerque is drawing its aquifer down five feet a year, a practice that can’t go on forever, but plans to divert San Juan-Chama river water down the Rio Grande for city use are under attack by environmentalists. In the past, the city has allowed some of its water entitlement to go toward conservation but is now desperately seeking ways to stop rapid growth from continuing to draw down the aquifer beneath the city. Albuquerque Tribune; Dec. 28
SWEEPING RULING UPHOLDS MONTANA STREAM ACCESS
A federal judge has rejected a challenge backed by the Denver-based Mountain States Legal Foundation to Montana’s stream-access law in what backers called a “total rout” of the effort to keep the public off certain streams. Billings Gazette; Jan. 5
REMOVING DAMS AN IDEA THAT’S CATCHING ON
Breaching dams that block fish runs and alter natural river flows has gone from outlandish idea to mainstream in just a few years. Salt Lake Tribune (Washington Post); Dec. 12
DAM REMOVAL: A CITIZENS GUIDE TO RESTORING RIVERS
The Citizens Guide is a new handbook designed for citizens, groups, local officials and others who are interested in learning about the option of dam removal. It is a collaborative project of the River Alliance of Wisconsin (www.wisconsinrivers.org) and the National Office of Trout Unlimited (www.tu.org). It costs $10 for River Alliance members, $15 Non-members plus $3.00 for postage and handling for the first guide and $1/addition copies. To order or get more information, contact River Alliance of Wisconsin, 306 E. Wilson Street, Ste 2W, Madison, WI 53703 ; wisrivers@wisconsinrivers.org or 608-257-2424.
BABBITT RETURNS HALF OF CALIFORNIA RIVER TO ITS STREAMBED
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt redirected some of California’s Trinity River back into its original channel, keeping a promise to the area’s indigenous tribe and angering Central Valley irrigators. The “consequences” of the diversion have been “devastating,” as “most Trinity River fish populations are either listed, proposed for listing or under status review for listing.” The 20 year fight to save the “dying” river was lead by the Hoopa Valley Tribe which had lived in the watershed for “500 generations” but the fight is not over as irrigators and power companies plan to challenge the water restoration in court. Arizona Daily Star (AP); Dec. 20
NEVADA VALLEY RESIDENTS WORRY OUTSIDE INTERESTS WILL TAKE THEIR WATER
Developers, casino operators and even a California county have filed requests for ground water from Sandy Valley, Nev., that amount to more than three times the annual regeneration. Boulder Daily Camera (AP); Dec. 27
GREATER STEELHEAD PROTECTION SOUGHT
A coalition of conservation groups is going to court to expand the recovery area boundaries for Southern California steelhead says AP 12/11. The groups say that expanding the recovery area to include “historic spawning habitat upstream” from dams and other barriers that currently block their passage is crucial to the recovery of a species that once numbered 35,000 but has been reduced to as few as 200. Dams, water diversions and grazing are blamed for the decline.
BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION HALTED TO PROTECT STEELHEAD
Construction of a bridge in Clackamas Town Center, OR has been stopped to ensure that “habitat of the Willamette River steelhead” will be protected says AP 1/3. The NMFS, charged with enforcing the ESA, contends that the bridge design would cause “rushing water to churn up sediments that would choke protected steelhead runs” and that promises to avoid “in- water work” were broken. Clackamas County engineers are now redesigning the bridge.
ESA LAWSUITS CHALLENGE WATER DIVERSIONS
The Idaho Watersheds Project and The Committee for Idaho’s High Desert have filed the “first ESA lawsuits against ranchers over water diversions” in Idaho’s upper Salmon River watershed say GREEN sources 12/20. The 3 lawsuits claim that the water diversions are harming salmon, steelhead, and bull trout habitat in violation of the ESA by trapping fish in ditches, blocking migration, and completely dewatering parts of some streams.
DAM OPERATION CHANGES TO BENEFIT STURGEON
As part of efforts to restore Kootenai River white sturgeon, whose population “plummeted after Libby Dam opened in 1974,” the federal government is preparing changes in the dam’s operation says the Spokane Spokesman-Review 12/27.
The USFWS has finally proposed critical habitat for the sturgeon and wants “to mimic naturally high springtime flows,” an end to “power peaking” and raising flood stage in a crucial 11 mile section of the river below Bonner’s Ferry.
MONTANA MAY LIMIT OUT-OF-STATE ANGLERS TO GIVE RESIDENTS A LITTLE CASTING ROOM
So many Montana residents complain about the crowds fishing their rivers that state officials have taken the first steps toward banning out-of-state fisherman from certain rivers at certain peak times. “Sportsmen are saying, `Wait a minute, there’s a reason we put up with cold weather and low wages.’ It’s the quality of life. But we’re losing our quality of life.” — Mike Whittington, a Billings advocate for the state’s proposal. New York Times; Jan. 3
B.C. “DESPERATE TO HEAD OFF” STEELHEAD “EXTINCTION”
British Columbia is “desperate to head off extinction of steelhead trout stocks” in many streams along the mainland side of the lower Georgia Straits says the Vancouver Sun 12/15. Although, the fisheries branch is ready to “impose an unprecedented series of angling closures and restrictions,” 4 years of “dismal returns” on most rivers have fishermen and biologists “gravely concerned” that the province will not adequately “respond to the crisis.” Development, agriculture, pollution and logging as well as ocean conditions are blamed yet the government continues to think “the private sector should take responsibility for saving steelhead.”
DEVELOPERS ATTACK SALMON CRITICAL HABITAT
“A coalition of building and development interests” have gone to court to nullify NMFS designation of critical habitat for 19 evolutionary significant units of salmon and steelhead in the Northwest says Greenwire 12/18.
According to the lawsuit, the NMFS designated “patently excessive amounts of land and water that are not “essential or even reasonably related to conservation.” The Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Associations contend that if successful the lawsuit would “destroy the most effective laws we have for protecting and restoring salmon stocks that support so many fishermen, small businesses and coastal communities.”
CA COASTAL COMMISSION BUYS MORE TIME
To avoid an expected rejection, the California Coastal Commission has given the Commerce Dept. more time to consider its request to review habitat conservation plans in the state says the L.A. Times 12/15. The CCC hopes to reach an agreement with the CA Dept. of Fish and Game “on each agency’s role” in the review process, which will smooth the way for the review authority, something that has been “routinely approved for 10 other states.”
HANFORD REACH SALMON REVERSING SEXES
Some 80% of the female wild chinook salmon from the Hanford Reach section of the Columbia River “began life as males” says AP 12/15. Scientists say “sex reversal” revealed by genetic samples may reduce the number of females available to produce eggs and could be related to “water temperature fluctuations caused by hydroelectric dams.” Researchers have ruled out errant radiation. Spokesman-Review; Dec. 20
FINAL SALMON PLAN LEAVES DAMS IN PLACE, FOR NOW
The federal government’s final salmon-recovery plan doesn’t call for breaching dams, but if a rigid series of performance standards for saving the species aren’t met, removing the dams remains the top contingency plan. Idaho Statesman; Dec. 22
TRIBES THREATEN TO SUE
A coalition of Northwest tribes says it may sue the federal government because the salmon plan doesn’t go far enough. Spokesman-Review; Dec. 22 “Essentially, (the federal plan) is a license to kill. At its very heart is the simple, self-serving goal of continuing business as usual on the river.” — Charles Hudson of the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission.
SCIENTISTS PLEAD FOR DAM REMOVAL
Over 200 scientists are asking the President to “prepare plans now to breach four Snake River dams in case other recovery measures fail” says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer 12/19. The exhortation came on the eve of the release of a federal biological opinion that put off dam breaching for at least 8 to 10 years, after which it would take another 8 to 12 years before “any benefit to fish would become apparent.” The scientists criticized the draft bi-op for not focusing on “main-stem river habitat” and said that “the recovery measures set forth in the biological opinion are unlikely to recover” threatened and endangered salmon.
SENATORS JOIN CHORUS CALLING FOR BREACHING PLAN
Seven U.S. Senators lead by California’s Barbara Boxer have now joined the growing chorus asking President Clinton to include in his Northwest salmon recovery plan “the presumption that removal of the four lower Snake River dams will be necessary” says American Rivers 12/21. Earlier in the week over 200 scientists also called on the administration to begin making preparations for dam breaching should it become apparent in the next five years that the alternative recovery measures are not working.
TRIBE’S CLAIM TO LAKE COEUR D’ALENE GOES TO U.S. SUPREME COURT
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the state of Idaho’s appeal of a lower court ruling that gave the Coeur d’Alene Tribe ownership of the southern half of the lake and part of the St. Joe River. Spokesman-Review; Dec.13 http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=121200&ID=s892433&cat=section.idaho
CORPS PLEDGES TO BALANCE INTERESTS IN MISSOURI RESTORATION
The Army Corps of Engineers “is promising to work with barge companies, farmers and environmentalists” to resolve conflicts over a controversial plan for a “spring rise” needed to restore habitat for the pallid sturgeon, least tern, and piping plover says the St. Louis Post Dispatch 12/15. The Corps’ just released draft plan “did not back away” from flow alterations but did stress the need for other changes such as “opening backwaters and removal of old dikes and rock structures.” While some fear the elections might halt the new river management plan, the USFWS says “biology doesn’t change with a change in administration.”
MUTANT CATFISH RAISES ALARM
According to scientists, a fish farm in rural Alabama raising catfish “laced with DNA from salmon, carp and zebrafish,” risks an “environmental disaster” says the L.A. Times 1/2.
Scientists’ “greatest fear” is that the catfish, which grow “60% faster than normal,” could escape and “wipe out other fish species,” or alter the ecological balance in unforeseen ways. An “equally troubling concern” is that the “federal government has limited legal authority to protect the environment” from the genetically engineered catfish and the system for reviewing the impacts is “full of holes.”
RESERVATIONS ACROSS CANADA FLIRT WITH DRINKING-WATER STANDARDS
An investigation of government records has revealed that 78 tribal water-supply systems across the nation — 27 of them in British Columbia — contain worrisome amounts of bacteria. Globe and Mail; Dec. 22
REPORT SAYS OPERATORS NOT WELL-TRAINED
One Saskatchewan tribe has been under a boil order for four years, and many tribal system operators lack necessary training and experience. More details on the findings. Globe and Mail; Dec. 22
NEW REPORT SUGGESTS THAT CLIMATE CHANGE MAY HAVE SERIOUS IMPACTS ON NATIONAL WATER RESOURCES
December 15, 2000. Oakland, California. In a report released today, Water: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, (available at: http://www.pacinst.org/naw.html) the National Water Assessment Group concludes that climate changes in this century may have serious implications for U.S. water resources.
The assessment is the culmination of more than two years of work by representatives of the government, corporate and non-governmental organization sectors to evaluate the implications of both existing climate variability and future climate change on national water resources.
The buildup of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere over the past century, primarily from fossil fuel combustion, has substantially contributed to a temperature increase of about two-thirds of a degree Celsius in the United States, with 1998 the warmest year on record. The report concludes that this has already resulted in substantial thawing of the permafrost in the Alaska Arctic and unprecedented melting of mountain glaciers, an increase in sea level of between 10-20 centimeters, and an alteration of water runoff patterns as a consequence of decreased snow and ice cover and earlier melting.
Climate models predict that temperatures could increase another 3-6 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. Warming of this magnitude could seriously affect U.S. water resources. Among the impacts outlined by the study are:
* Snowfall and snowmelt will be significantly affected in the Sierra Nevada, Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific Northwest, leading to changes in the timing and magnitude of runoff;
* Rising sea levels will threaten coastal aquifers and water supplies.
Vulnerable regions include Cape Cod, Long Island, the coastal aquifers of the Carolinas, and the central coast of California;
* The risk of increased flooding may be as serious and widely distributed as the adverse impacts of droughts;
* Changes associated with climate change, such as increases in lake and stream temperatures, permafrost melting, and a reduction of water clarity, could seriously threaten fish and water species and critical habitats, such as wetlands.
Peter Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute, and the lead author of the study, emphasizes the need to focus on measures to reduce the risks of climate change and to develop effective ways to adapt to changes that are inevitable. “Sole reliance on traditional management responses is a mistake,” Gleick stated, “water managers need to integrate possible climate change impacts into their planning processes and to build flexibility into the system to maximize our ability to respond to changing conditions.” Gleick also emphasized the importance of water conservation and efficiency programs, and the need to look beyond traditional options for water supply options, such as dams and reservoirs to potential alternative sources of supply, including wastewater reclamation and reuse and desalination. The Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment & Security is an independent, non-profit research group in Oakland, California. Contact: Wil Burns wburns@pacinst.org The report can be found at http://www.pacinst.org
