EXPERTS SAY COLORADO FACING WATER CRISIS OF HISTORIC PROPORTIONS
Not one major reservoir or dam has been built in the state in the 40 years [hogwash!] since “water buffaloes,” men with the political power to broker deals and ride roughshod over communities to get water projects completed, roamed the state. 3/14 <http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~23447~2016430,00.html>
COLORADO SNOWPACK STILL BEHIND; MORE DROUGHT LOOKS LIKELY
Colorado needs 3 feet of snow by today to reach historical average for snowpack, an unlikely event forecasters say means the years-long drought is likely to continue. Denver Post; 3/30 <http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2049707,00.html>
DENVER WATER OFFICIALS LOOK AT DAYTIME WATERING BAN
Water conservation advocates have long argued for a permanent restriction on watering lawns between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., and Denver Water officials say the lingering drought may make the measure pass. Denver Rocky Mountain News; March 26 <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_2759595,00.html>
GRAND VALLEY WATER MANAGEMENT (GVWM) PROJECT
The GVWM was funded by the Upper Colorado River Recovery Program to increase the efficiency of water deliveries in the Grand Valley, making more water available to the 15-mile reach of critical habitat. GVWM was projected to reduce diversions by up to 28,000 acre-feet per year, but Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) estimates the average annual reduction will be more in the neighborhood of 40,000 – 45,000 acre-feet per year.
NEW MEXICO SENATOR THREATENS TO SCUTTLE COLORADO WATER PROJECT OVER COSTS
New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, long a key supporter of the Animas-La Plata water project in western Colorado, threatened to cut off all funding if the BOR can’t get a handle on soaring costs. Denver Post; March 25 <http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2039474,00.html>
BRINGING DRINKING WATER TO DRY COLORADO RESIDENTS WOULD COST $75 MILLION
The cost of a drinking water system to supply rural counties in Colorado and New Mexico from part of the Animas-La Plata project would be $75 million, according to BLM estimates. Durango Herald; March 25 <http://durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/04/news040324_2.htm> [The author of this story seems to be confusing BLM (Bureau of Land Management) with BOR (Bureau of Reclamation)]
HUNDREDS JOIN GROUP TO OPPOSE NEW MEXICO TRIBES’ WATER SETTLEMENT
Several hundred people turned out for the first meeting of a group opposed to a settlement of northern New Mexico tribes’ water rights and its requirement that non-Indians cap their private wells. Santa Fe New Mexican; April 1 <http://www.santafenewmexican.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=6&ArticleID=42757>
UTAH CITY DEAL SECURES FUTURE WATER
Park City officials signed a deal with a local water district that allows the city to purchase surplus water and sets in motion a $1 million BOR study on the best way to get the water to Park City. Salt Lake Tribune; March 15 <http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Mar/03152004/utah/148032.asp>
UTAHANS CAN EASE WATER CRISIS BY USING LESS
The best, cheapest and most efficient way for Utah residents to find more water is to conserve what they already have. Salt Lake Tribune; March 19 <http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Mar/03192004/opinion/149158.asp>
UTAH PLAN WOULD BRING MORE WATER TO GROWING WASATCH FRONT
Federal, state and local water officials unveiled a $2.3 billion project to transfer water from Uinta Mountain lakes to Wasatch Front communities and provide enough water for years to come. Salt Lake Tribune; March 30 <http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Mar/03302004/utah/utah.asp>
ARIZONA TRIBES’ LANDMARK WATER DEAL WOULD MAKE THEM POWER BROKERS
A pending water deal could triple the Gila River Indian Community’s water allotment and help make the tribes into water czars. High Country News; March 16 <http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~23447~2016430,00.html>
YAVAPAI TRIBE BROKERED WATER INTO EFFICIENT FARMS
When Congress approved the Central Arizona Project (CAP) in 1968, the plan called for the construction of Orme Dam at the confluence of the Salt and Verde rivers. “I propose,” said Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, “to make the small but fine little reservoir we are creating here into an Indian recreation development.” The Yavapai Tribe fought and won its 1968 battle against a dam that would have flooded half the reservation, and followed that with a settlement in 1990 that became the basis of the tribal economy. High Country News; March 16 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/HCN.yavapaiwater.html>
CENTRAL ARIZONA PROJECT KEEPS PHOENIX WATERED AT CUT-RATE COST
Phoenix enjoys plentiful water from the Colorado River, thanks to a massive project that has yet to be paid for. High Country News; March 16 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/HCN.capcost.html>
BLM HAS AUTHORITY OVER PRIVATE DIVERSIONS ON PUBLIC LAND, COURT RULES
A federal judge set legal precedent in Idaho when he determined that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has the authority and indeed responsibility to impose certain conditions on water diversions that cross BLM land if the diversions could affect species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Greenwire, 3/30
IDAHO WATER BATTLE PITS FISH AGAINST COWS, CROPS
An unexpected rapid decline in the eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer is threatening the water supply for more than a million acres of farms, cities and industries. Idaho Statesman; March 14 <http://www.idahostatesman.com/News/story.asp?ID=63175>
IDAHO WATER COMPROMISE HERALDS SHIFT IN MINDSET
A compromise in a looming southern Idaho water war recognizes that water is not limitless, and the attitude change might be the greater achievement. Idaho Statesman; March 17 <http://www.idahostatesman.com/Opinion/story.asp?ID=63398>
IDAHO IRRIGATORS FIND NOTHING SUNNY ABOUT BLUE SKIES
February’s fair weather may leave Idaho irrigators high and dry this summer unless March goes out like a lion and leaves moisture-laden snowpack in its wake. Idaho Falls Post Register; March 18 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/pr.idahoirrigators.031804.html>
IDAHO WATER CRISIS DEVELOPED OVER DECADES
In the last week of the legislative session, lawmakers finally addressed water problems confronting the state since the 1970s, and pushed through a $2 million bill to buy water and to develop a long-term plan to reverse the decline of the aquifer. Idaho Statesman; March 22 <http://www.idahostatesman.com/Story.asp?ID=63732>
SALMON AT RISK IN WATER SPILL WAR
It’s salmon vs. dams once again in the Columbia River Basin. “The great silvery horde” of Pacific Northwest salmon that Joseph T. Barnaby of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) wrote about in 1945 has become a distant memory. Instead, Columbia River stakeholders are again squaring off over the region’s water, and the salmon runs that have lived to see the 21st century are caught in the middle. At issue is the Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) proposal to curtail its summer spill program. The program spills water over the hydropower projects to help increase survival rates of juvenile salmon migrating downstream to the ocean. <http://www.indiancountry.com/?1079104491>
ENVIRONMENTALISTS SUE OVER APPROVAL OF COLUMBIA RIVER DREDGING
– Environmentalists went to court Tuesday to try to block a $136 million government project to deepen the Columbia River shipping channel, saying the dredging could harm salmon and other wildlife. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-03-31/s_22344.asp>
RECLAMATION PROJECT TRANSFERS
Last week the Water & Power Subcommittee of the House Resources Committee held an oversight hearing about transferring ownership of BOR projects to water districts. In some cases districts want to do things that would be difficult, expensive or impossible under federal ownership – build a power plant, take out loans using the facilities as collateral, shift water from irrigation to Municipal and Industrial (M&I) use, or upgrade facilities. In others, it seems that avoiding Section 7 of the ESA or general distrust of the feds is the motivation. Since 1996, Congress has authorized transfer of ownership to 16 projects, and 13 of those transfers have been completed. The main news is that Interior is looking at a categorical exclusion from National Environmental Policy Act) (NEPA) for at least some of these transfers – no word on how broad that exclusion will be. That would eliminate most formal public input into a proposed transfer, and certainly makes shortchanging protection of public benefits (recreation, fish and wildlife) easier. TU’s Western Waterfront, 3/31
CORPS REFORM
Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI), John McCain (R-AZ), and Tom Daschle (D-SD) introduced the Corps of Engineers Modernization and Improvement Act of 2004 (S.2188). The bill would overhaul the process that the Corps of Engineers uses to plan and build the nation’s water projects. Specifically, S.2188 requires independent review of Corps projects and environmental studies to ensure they are based on sound science and economics; requires the Corps to fully mitigate the environmental damage caused by projects in a timely manner; updates the Corps’ outdated planning guidelines to account for modern environmental laws and policies and significant advances in economics; ensures that Corps projects produce real economic and environmental returns to the nation; reduces the Corps’ $58 billion construction backlog; and implements sound cost-sharing requirements to help ensure that Corps projects are truly needed. This bill is strongly supported by the Corps Reform Network, which represents more than 100 local, state, and national conservation and taxpayer groups. <http://www.earthjustice.org/news/display.html?ID=794>
OREGON MAKES ITS WATER COUNT
The official estimate, reported by the U.S. Geological Survey, highlights how strikingly effective water conservation has become since the early 1980s. That was when nationwide water use hit all-time highs, and looming problems such as shortages and polluted industrial wastewater could no longer be ignored. “What the data show is that we can change how we use these resources; it’s not something that is out of our control,” said survey hydrologist Susan Hutson. The agency has compiled national estimates of water taken from rivers and wells since 1950, with updates every five years. <http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/front_page/107935560819000.xml?oregonian?fpfp>
FISH-KILLING BAN ON WILD STEELHEADS SPARKS CULTURE WAR IN WASHINGTON STATE
The long-smoldering debate over whether fishers should toss wild fish back into the water or take them home for dinner has flared into a culture war on Washington’s remote Olympic Peninsula. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-03-18/s_14142.asp>
GROUPS SAY HAULING SALMON AROUND DAMS A WASTE OF TAX MONEY
Two national groups’ report cited plans to barge salmon around four Snake River dams as the third most-wasteful Army Corps of Engineers project in the nation. The National Wildlife Federation and Taxpayers for Common Sense single out 29 wasteful projects. Casper Star-Tribune (AP); March 19 <http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/03/19/news/regional/846ac6d47d3eff5087256e5c000fb5d9.txt>
SALMON SCIENCE PANEL CLAIMS REPORT WAS CENSORED
Another day, another batch of scientists ticked off at the Bush administration. This week, it’s the Recovery Science Review Panel, an independent board of biologists and ecologists charged by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) with studying the effect of hatchery salmon on wild salmon populations. The panel claims that its report, which was critical of the Bush administration’s proposal to include hatchery salmon in its determination of the size and health of salmon runs, was disregarded by policymakers. To publicize their findings, panel members published an editorial in the journal Science. At issue is the possible removal of a variety of salmon populations from protection under the ESA. “There are different opinions and a great deal of uncertainty in science,” said Usha Varanasi, director of the NMFS northwest fisheries science center. But Robert Paine, a member of the panel, didn’t seem uncertain: “The science is clear and unambiguous. As they are currently operated, hatcheries and hatchery fish cannot protect wild stocks.” <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-me-salmon26mar26,1,3509142.story?coll=la-news-science>
FOR IDAHO CAVIAR, IT’S THE WATER
As the beluga sturgeon becomes more endangered and foreign caviar producers face U.S. bans on their product, Snake River fish farmers hope that local sturgeon eggs will soon become Idaho’s most expensive agricultural product. Twin Falls Times News; March 28 <http://www.magicvalley.com/news/business/index.asp?StoryID=4779>
WATER PRIVATIZATION SWEEPS WORLD DESPITE PROBLEMS
Water will be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th, predicted Fortune Magazine in May 2000, and it is shaping up to be a prescient claim. Multinational corporations now run the water systems that provide for 7 percent of the world’s population, with analysts expecting that number to rise to 17 percent by 2015. Private water management is a $200 billion business, and if the World Bank — which aggressively promotes water privatization — is to be believed, it will be a $1 trillion business by 2021. This would be good news for the fifth of the world’s population that lacks access to clean water if there were evidence that corporations provided better or cheaper service than governments, but such evidence is conspicuously lacking. Too often, privatization leads to a drop in water quality and a rise in prices, sometimes fueling citizen protest. To insulate themselves from complaints, many water corporations lobby heavily for immunity from lawsuits and legislation that would prevent municipalities from backing out of contracts, no matter how miserable the results. <http://www.theecologist.org/article.html?article=449>
ARID SAUDI ARABIA IS STRUGGLING TO CUT WATER USE
The parched desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia will launch a major water conservation drive this summer aiming to halve consumption in a million homes, a senior official said. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-03-31/s_22336.asp>
AFRICA’S NILE NATIONS CHART FAIRER USE OF WATERS
Poor nations that are home to some of Africa’s most arid corners will push for a fairer share of Nile waters, exploring joint ventures in energy and irrigation to spread the river’s bounty more equitably. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-03-18/s_14134.asp>
CHINESE DAMS BLAMED AS MEKONG RIVER LEVEL DROPS
Chinese dams and a drought have pushed water levels in the mighty Mekong River to record lows, threatening the livelihoods of millions in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, environmentalists said. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-03-25/s_22163.asp>
NEW RESOURCE GUIDE
A new resource is available for the nonpoint source community. <http://www.npscolorado.com>www.npscolorado.com/> is up and running. Please share it widely and please make recommendations for any inclusions you would like to see to <>loretta.lohman@colostate.edu.> <<>loretta.lohman@colostate.edu.>
EPA EXAGGERATED CLAIMS ABOUT CLEAN DRINKING WATER
A new report from the U.S. EPA’s inspector general slams the agency for systematically exaggerating its progress in cleaning up the nation’s drinking water, basing its declarations on faulty or incomplete data. The EPA claimed that 94 percent of U.S. residents drank water that met EPA health standards in 2002, and that number was parroted by the media, but the real figure may be more like 81 percent. <http://www.gristmagazine.com/muck/muck031604.asp?source=daily>
SUPREME COURT VACATES PUMPING STATION OPINION, ORDERS REHEARING
The Supreme Court, sidestepping a major decision on the government’s power to regulate clean water, told a Florida court to reconsider a pollution dispute involving the Everglades. The ruling extends a six-year fight between the 500-member Miccosukee Indian tribe and a water district the Indians accuse of illegally dumping pollutants into Florida’s Everglades. The South Florida Water Management District’s pump west of Fort Lauderdale dumps as much as 423,000 gallons a minute of polluted runoff from suburban lawns, farms, and industrial yards into the Everglades, including 189,000 acres the state leased to the tribe and promised to keep in its natural state. The district was sued in 1998 by the Miccosukees and Friends of the Everglades under the federal Clean Water Act. At issue was whether the district should be required to get permits for water pump facilities. The Court unanimously rejected the argument that the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program covers a point source only when pollutants originate from that source and not when pollutants originating elsewhere merely pass through the point source. Instead, according to the Court, the definition of a point source as a “conveyance” makes plain that the point source need only convey the pollutant to navigable waters. However, based on other considerations, the Court vacated the lower court decisions and remanded the case for further proceedings. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-03-24/s_15239.asp>
CALIFORNIA FIRST STATE TO ANNOUNCE PERCHLORATE LIMITS
California regulators announced a “public health goal” that will lead to formal regulations restricting levels of perchlorate — a toxic chemical used in rocket fuel that damages thyroid glands — in the water supply, thus becoming the first state to define such standards. The recommendation, 6 parts per billion, prompted much debate. Environmental groups had hoped for a more stringent standard, like the 1 ppb standard the U.S. EPA has provisionally adopted, pending a more comprehensive study by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The California Department of Health Services will now develop an official regulatory standard, taking into account the recommendation, the NAS study, and the costs of cleaning widely polluted water supplies like the lower Colorado River. The Pentagon is lobbying the state — and the U.S. EPA — not for the 1 ppb standard, nor the 6 ppb, but for … 200 ppb. We wish that were a typo. <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-me-perchlorate12mar12,1,6552704.story?coll=la-news-science>
MONTANA GROUP WORRIED ABOUT GAS, COAL DEVELOPMENT UPSTREAM IN B.C.
British Columbia plans to drill coalbed methane deposits and to reopen several coal mines has a Montana group worried about pollution in the Flathead River drainage. Missoulian; March 17 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/miss.bcgas.html>
SCIENTISTS ARE TESTING NATIONAL PARK SNOW FOR AIRBORNE POLLUTION
Scientists are packing blocks of snow from national parks into freezers for testing to determine whether airborne pollutants have fouled the areas that many people believe are unspoiled. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-03-25/s_22170.asp>
RURAL RESIDENTS JOIN FIGHT AGAINST FACTORY FARMS
Environmental groups who oppose industrial-style concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) on the grounds that they pollute air and water are finding support from an unexpected source: rural residents. Fed up by lax federal and state regulations — a report last year from the General Accounting Office (GAO) found that 60 percent of the largest CAFOs are almost entirely unregulated — local grassroots organizations are filing lawsuits across the country. The movement is meeting fierce resistance at the state level where government officials have close ties to agribusiness executives and argue that concentration is required by the global market and jobs will be lost if factory farms are pushed out. “It’s not about smell,” said CAFO owner James McCune. “It’s about people without money complaining about people with money.” Tom Drew, who owns a family farm, counters, “My land is my kingdom, and I shouldn’t have it invaded by odor, by bad disease.” <http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0403240263mar24,1,2641854.story>
U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS [LACK OF] ENFORCEMENT OF WETLANDS PROTECTION
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee has finally held a hearing to scrutinize a recent report by the GAO on how the Corps enforces wetlands protection. The report shows that the Corps has been inconsistent from region to region in its enforcement of the Clean Water Act. This inconsistency comes from the fallout following the 2001 Supreme Court decision Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The decision threw out the ‘Migratory Bird Rule’ that was used by the Corps to determine if certain waters were included under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act. The administration confused things further with unclear administrative guidance that gave the agency broad leeway to avoid enforcement, instead of clear guidance limited to the strict terms of the Supreme Court’s decision. The top Army Corps of Engineers policymaker told the House subcommittee the agency is reviewing the wetlands policies of its district offices to ensure consistency. Greenwire, 3/31
NUCLEAR WEAPONS PLANTS THREATEN WATER SOURCES, SAYS REPORT
Radioactive and toxic byproducts from the 13 nuclear weapons facilities in the U.S. pose a grave danger to several major water sources and tens of thousands of people who rely on them. So says a report released Monday by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, based on a two-year study by a coalition of environmental, health, and safety organizations called the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability. The report accuses the Department of Energy (DOE) of backing away from its commitments to completely clean the sites. Though the DOE has spent some $200 billion to date on cleanups, a toxic soup of contamination still threatens Texas’s Ogallala Aquifer, Tennessee’s Clinch River, Washington’s Columbia River, and other critical water sources around the country, says the report. “It’s time for DOE to obey all environmental laws, clean up its mess, and end plans to generate even more pollution by building new weapons plants,” said alliance director Susan Gordon. <http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-03-29-nuclear-gns_x.htm>
NEW SEARCH TOOLS ADDED TO ECHO
EPA has added two new search interfaces to the Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) Web site (http://www.epa.gov/echo/). These new features allow the public to more easily search for federal enforcement case information from the Integrated Compliance Information System (ICIS). ICIS tracks formal civil administrative and judicial enforcement actions taken by the U.S. EPA. This change does not add new data to ECHO, because ICIS case reports were previously available from the site. The new site will allow users to develop custom searches on EPA enforcement cases. The new “EPA Enforcement Cases Search” page allows users to search for any EPA enforcement case concluded after Sept. 30, 2000. Searches can now be performed based on a variety of criteria, including facility name, penalty amount, geographic location, and statute violated. Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEP) is part of an enforcement settlement in which a defendant/respondent voluntarily agrees to undertake an environmentally beneficial project. This new search page allows users to learn more about such projects, which are often community-based and are intended to improve or protect public health and the environment. The tool searches federal cases with SEPs that were concluded after Sept. 30, 2000. Both search pages can be accessed from ECHO’s left sidebar.
GROUP SAYS EPA DOESN’T ENFORCE CLEAN-WATER RULES
The EPA is doing little to enforce water-quality violations; 60 percent of facilities in the nation violated their permits at least once in 18 months, according to a new study by the U.S. Public Research Interest Group. A separate report by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility found that in 2000, the agency made 105 criminal referrals to the Justice Department; in 2002, there were 26. Washington Post; 3/31 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37356-2004Mar30.html>
SENATORS WANT EPA TO DRAFT NEW MERCURY RULES BASED ON SCIENCE
At least 40 U.S. senators from both parties will ask EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt to drop proposed limits on mercury emissions, following revelations that industry lobbyists helped write the new rules. Salt Lake Tribune; April 1 <http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Apr/04012004/utah/153097.asp>
MEXICO TO HOST NEXT WORLD WATER SUMMIT
– Many parts of Latin America don’t want for water. The problem is finding something that is drinkable. <http://www.enn.com/news/2004-03-24/s_14250.asp>
