PLANS MOVING ALONG FOR FISH PASSAGE, KAYAK PARK IN COLORADO
The Bureau of Reclamation released revised plans for a kayak park and fish passage on the Colorado River near Palisade, Colo., that reduces the difference for the two because, though the agency supports the park, it can’t use federal dollars to build it. Grand Junction Sentinel; Nov. 1 <www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/11/01/11_1_1b_Whitewater_park.html>
MORE USERS THREATEN POPULAR COLORADO RIVER
Dowd Chute on the Eagle River in Colorado is a popular spot for fishing as well as white-water kayaking and rafting, and as the population of Eagle County increases along with the number of tourists, the associated increased pressure is taking its toll on fish populations and water quality. Vail Daily News; Nov. 14 <www.vaildaily.com/article/20061114 NEWS/111100077>
COLORADO GROUP ASKS COUNTY TO LEND A HAND ON WATER PROJECT
The supporters of the $500 million Grand Valley Lake water storage project proposed for Colorado’s Mesa County are asking county officials to help direct funds for a feasibility study for the project. Grand Junction Sentinel; Nov. 21 <www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/11/21/11_21_1B_Grand_Valley_lake.html>
FOUR YEARS LATER, HAYMAN FIRE STILL AFFECTING COLORADO WATER
The watershed around Denver Water’s Cheesman Reservoir sustained some of the worst damage during the 2002 Hayman Fire, and water managers said every time it rains, runoff sends torrents of mud, ash and decomposed granite into the reservoir, and the area hasn’t stabilized as expected. Denver Post; Nov. 27 <www.denverpost.com/ci_4713914>
WYOMING GOVERNOR SIGNS OFF ON TRI-STATE PLATTE RIVER DEAL
Colorado Gov. Bill Owens and Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman quickly signed off on a deal that would send more water downstream in the Platte River to bolster wildlife habitat in Nebraska, home to the federally protected whooping crane, piping plover, least tern and pallid sturgeon, but Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal he said he did so reluctantly. Casper Star-Tribune; Nov. 28 <www.trib.com/articles/2006/11/28/news/wyoming/1b846163156574538725723400088369.txt>
VOICES FROM THE GAS FIELDS
In Colorado, some landowners are criticizing coalbed methane and other natural gas operations in Garfield County because they say those operations are fouling their land, air and water. <www.orionmagazine.org/pages/om/06-6om/Clarren-Voices.html>
WYOMING PANELS WRANGLE OVER COALBED-METHANE WATER
Two Wyoming entities are working on what to do with all the water produced by coalbed methane operations in the state, but while one is drafting legislation that assumes this water has a beneficial use, the other panel is working on a rule that does not assume the produced water can be put to use and would give a landowner the option to refuse it. Casper Star-Tribune; 11/2 <www.orionmagazine.org/pages/om06-6om/deBuys.html> <www.trib.com/articles/2006/11/02/news/wyoming/fad43a61bf4191058725721a00004fb6.txt> <www.trib.com/>/articles/2006/11/03/news/wyoming/a8e7ea078cfba1eb8725721b000608b0.txt
WYOMING GRAD STUDENT TACKLES COALBED METHANE WATER QUESTIONS
A University of Wyoming graduate student is completing a second round of tests to examine how in-stream toxicity tests compare to laboratory toxicity tests required by the Environmental Protection Agency, and so far she’s found that fish are doing well in the in-stream tests. <www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/11/16/news/wyoming/25-coalbed.txt>
CONSERVATIONISTS PLEASED WITH JUDGE’S RULING IN FAVOR OF FISH REVIEW
A federal judge forced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reverse its earlier decision to not list the Colorado cutthroat trout on the endangered species list, and the agency will now review a petition to add federal protection for the fish. Casper Star Tribune;=Nov. 15 <www.trib.com/articles/2006/11/15/news/wyoming/e8fdadaeed027b00872572270002a664.txt>
WYOMING COUNTY TOLD IT NEEDS WATER, SEWER SYSTEMS TO GROW
Sweetwater County commissioners were told that the development in their Wyoming county could not go forward until water and sewer systems were updated. Casper Star-Tribune; Nov. 10 <www.trib.com/articles/2006/11/10/news/wyoming/03488aba3c3e90f287257222000271b3.txt>
WYOMING RANCHERS CUT HERDS AS DROUGHT WITHERS RANGE
Drought conditions appear to have eased across the West and Midwest, but there are still pockets of extreme drought that have forced Wyoming ranchers to sell off most of their cattle due to a lack of graze, and Army Corps of Engineers report that hydroelectric power production at six dams on the Missouri River was down 40 percent due to a lack of water. USA Today; Nov. 10 <www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20061110/a_drought10.art.htm>
IDAHO, ARIZ. WATER SETTLEMENTS WILL PROVIDE TEMPLATE FOR N.M. DEALS
The cost of settling three long-standing water disputes in New Mexico =has been pegged at $1.2 billion, and the state is asking the federal government to pick up $1 billion of that tab, and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said land transfers and wildlife habitat management could be used to help lower the tab, as was done in Idaho’s settlement with the Nez Perce tribe last year. Santa Fe New Mexican; Nov. 1 < http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/51428.html> <www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcrights/6bushadmi11.html>
EXPERT WARNS N.M. FARMERS THAT CITIES ARE COMING FOR THEIR WATER
A water and agriculture expert in New Mexico warned the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau about threats by cities to take water away from agricultural needs, and said the issues will likely be an issue in the next legislative session. Albuquerque Journal; Nov. 19 <www.abqjournal.com/news/state/513482nm11-18-06.htm?lrail>
NEW MEXICO ASKED TO DESIGNATE PRISTINE WATERS
PRESS RELEASE: “A coalition of conservation and wildlife groups has asked the State of New Mexico to protect some of the state’s cleanest waters that flow from its roadless national forests. Xtvworld, 10/31 <press.xtvworld.com/article15076.html>
N.M., GROUPS RESTORE NATIVE SPECIES TO RIPARIAN AREAS
There are a number of riparian restoration projects under way across New Mexico to eradicate non-native, invasive species such as salt cedar and Russian olive trees, and to plant native species such as sunflowers, grasses and march reeds. Albuquerque Journal; Nov. 12 <www.abqjournal.com/news/state/511693nm11-12-06.htm>
GIFT OF WATER BECOMES A SICKENING CURSE ON THE NAVAJO NATION
Leftover holes in the desert of the Navajo Nation created by uranium mining in the 1950s became oases and sources of water for wildlife, livestock and humans, but the contaminated water sources also spread sickness to all who drank from them. LA Times; Nov. 20 < www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-navajo20nov20,0,6106722.story?coll=la-home-headlines>
INSTREAM FLOW BILLS APPROVED BY UTAH LEGISLATIVE TASK FORCE
Two water-related bills — one that allows landowners to use water rights =to protect fish and another that lets water treatment facilities meet =quality requirements by increasing instream flows — were approved by =a Utah state legislative task force. Salt Lake Tribune; Nov. 19 <www.sltrib.com/news/ci_4687483>
UTAH, NEVADA RANCHERS WRANGLE WITH LAS VEGAS’ WATER PLAN
Ranchers =who live in the Snake Valley at the base of the Deep Creek Mountains on the Utah-Nevada border said longtime springs that bubbled to the ground on their land have already gone dry, and said that if Las Vegas gains approval to pump water from the aquifer underlying their land, the ecological impacts could be severe. Salt Lake City Weekly; Nov. 1 <www.slweekly.com/editorial/2006/feat_2006-10-26.cfm>
NEVADA COUNTY SAYS NO MONEY FOR WATER, NO SUPPORT FOR LANDS BILL
White Pine County Commissioners said they would not support the White Pine County Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act, which allows the sale of 45,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land in the Nevada county, unless some of the sales proceeds could be used to =study groundwater supplies in an area of the county targeted for a Las Vegas water supply project. Reno Gazette Journal (AP); Dec. 1 <hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NV_LANDS_BILL_NVOL-?SITE=NVREN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT>
NEVADA TRIBE’S WATER PROTEST COULD HALT DEVELOPMENT IN 2 COUNTIES
Pyramid Lake Paiute tribal leaders said the tribe was protesting all water transfers along the Carson River because the cumulative effect of such transfers would eventually end in diversions that would ultimately harm water quality in Pyramid Lake. Reno Gazette-Journal (AP); Nov. 26 <hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/>
ARIZONA RANCHERS HANG ON DESPITE 11 YEARS OF DROUGHT
Arizona’s traditional economy, known as the 5 “C’s” for cattle, citrus, climate, copper and cotton, has taken a beating over the past 11 drought-plagued years, but more Arizona ranchers are pledging to keep going than are calling it quits. Arizona Republic; Nov. 27 <www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1127drought-ranching1127.html>
WATER SET TO FLOW ONCE AGAIN IN CALIFORNIA RIVER
On Dec. 6, water =will once again flow through the Owens River, nearly a century after Los Angeles’ demand for water reduced flow to a trickle along 62 miles of the California river, and the residents of Owens Valley say the water can’t return soon enough. Los Angeles Times; Nov. 27. <=www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-owens27nov27,1,7012683.story?coll=la-news-environment&ctrack=1&cset==true>
MONTANA, WYOMING GOVS DISLIKE FEDERAL PLAN TO SHARE WATER
Wyoming =Gov. Dave Freudenthal said the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s proposal for water levels on Bighorn Lake allows too much water to be released, but Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer said the plan doesn’t release enough water into the Bighorn River. Billings Gazette (AP); Nov. 5 <www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/11/05/news/wyoming/30-lake.txt>
FEDS CONSIDER HOW TO PROTECT TINY FISH WITH MINIMAL HABITAT
The 1 =to 2.5-inch dace fish only lives in a 900-foot-long stretch of a creek in Wyoming, and the fish has been on the endangered species list since 1970, but since its habitat has been protected, officials are considering ways to continue to protect the fish. Casper Star- Tribune; Nov. 14 <www.trib.com/articles/2006/11/14/news/wyoming/=837f1d3f1325604e872572260001a4ad.txt>
PROGRESS ON WATER DEAL WITH MEXICO
As Western water managers work =toward new rules on how to share shortages on the Colorado River, progress also is being made on a similar agreement with Mexico, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said. Ely Times, 11/6 <www.elynews.com/articles/2006/11/06/news/news07.txt>
OFFICIALS MOVED TROUT TO SAVE THEM IN BURNED MONTANA WATERSHED
Biologists with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks decided that the best way to save endangered Yellowstone cutthroat trout in the watersheds burned by the massive Derby fire in Montana was to move as many as they could before erosion swept tons of sediment into the waterways. Billings Gazette; <www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/11/14/news/state/20-trout.txt>
MONTANA DENIES PETITION TO CREATE CONTROLLED GROUNDWATER AREA
Residents of Smith Valley asked the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to create a controlled groundwater area, which would require anyone who wanted to drill a new well in that area of Flathead County to get a permit and to prove the new well would not affect current users, but the application was denied by the =state because residents failed to prove groundwater was in short supply. Kalispell Daily Inter Lake; Nov. 17 & lt;www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2006/11/17/news/news05.txt>
MONTANA LAWMAKERS GET A LOOK AT PROPOSED RESORT’S WATER PLAN
< P>Fourof Ravalli County’s state legislators met with the chief operating officer of the Bitterroot Resort to hear how the resort plans to store irrigation water to be used in snow-making operations, a necessity for the proposed Montana resort. Ravalli Republic; Nov. 21 <www.ravallirepublic.com/articles/2006/11/21/news/news04.txt>
IDAHO GOV-ELECT DISPUTES BENEFIT OF BREACHING SNAKE RIVER DAMS
A report issued Tuesday by taxpayer grous, business groups and salmon advocates said breaching four Snake River dams in Washington would cost less than leaving the dams in place, would restore salmon populations and save taxpayers and lectricity consumers nearly $5 billion, but Idaho Gov.-elect Butch Otter aid he was skeptical about =the report’s claims. Idaho Statesman; Nov. 16 <www.idahostatesman.com/101/story/60326.html>
TEXAS PASSES NEW WATER SUPPLY PLAN
The Texas Water Development Board approved a new long-range water plan, calling for a mix of conservation, underground production and 14 new reservoirs to help generate nearly 3 trillion gallons a year of new supply by 2060. Houston Chronicle, 11/14 <www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4335397.html>
INDIA PREDICTED TO RUN OUT OF WATER BY 2020
According to a World Bank report, India will run out of water by 2020 if water management practices do not change soon. Rustomjee, 11/28 <www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1066368>
WATER TO BE RUSSIA’S TRUMP CARD AFTER OIL
The Human Development Report recently released by the U.N. Development Programme urges that =access to clean water be recognized as a human right … In just two decades, at least 40% of the world’s population will face acute water shortages, while between 2025 and 2035 global consumption of fresh water will almost equal the amount available. This situation foreshadows a bitter global crisis, because increasing competition for water resources may lead to armed conflicts, acts of water terrorism and full-scale wars. Terra Daily, 11/27 <www.terradaily.com/reports/Water_To_Be_Russia_Trump_Card_After_Oil_999.html>
DRILLING TOXINS
In New Mexico’s San Juan Basin, where coalbed methane operations have been ongoing since the 1990s, residents there say chemicals used to fracture rock t o force remaining resources out of the rock are contaminating their land and water, too. <www.orionmagazine.org/pages/om/06-6om/deBuys.html>
ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANCE DNA SHOWING UP IN DRINKING WATER
DNA that helps make germs resistant to medicines may increasingly be appearing =as a pollutant in the water … This DNA was found ‘even in treated drinking water,’ researcher Amy Pruden, an environmental engineer at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, told LiveScience. <www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,227106,00.html?sPage=fnc.science/naturalscience>
RECYCLED WASTEWATER RECHARGES ARIZONA’S AQUIFERS
Arizona has “banked” its allocation of Colorado River water underground for more than a decade, and now the Salt River Project has begun banking wastewater released from the Glendale wastewater treatment plan in its New River-Agua Fria Underground Storage Project. Arizona Republic; Nov. 6 <www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1104b3blog1104.html>
ARIZONA COMMUNITIES TURN UP THEIR NOSES AT WASTEWATER OFFER
Prescott Valley canceled its auction of treated wastewater after a lack of interest from bidders, and the Arizona town’s manager said part of the reason no one was interested is that the housing market is slowing down, ratcheting down the demand for water. Arizona Republic; Nov. 13 <www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1113auctionfolo1113.html>
WHITE HOUSE URGED TO FINALIZE ‘BLENDING’ RULE
< P>The White House must =finalize a stalled U.S. EPA “blending” policy to regulate sewage treatment practices during storms, according to a joint letter sent today by the National Association of Clean Water Agencies and the Natural Resources Defense Council. EPA’s draft policy was released last December and represents a compromise between the environmental group and the wastewater treatment industry. But the policy has yet to get a green light from the White House Office of Management and Budget. <www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2006/11/02/#3>
SCIENTISTS SAY RUSTLIKE CRYSTAL PULLS ARSENIC FROM WATER
Researchers at Rice University in Houston said they have found a way, using nanotechnology, the manipulation of materials so tiny they are measured in nanometers, or billionths of a meter, and crystals of magnetite, to pull arsenic from water using magnets, providing an inexpensive way to clear water of the naturally occurring element which poses a health hazard. New York Times; Nov. 10 <www.nytimes.com/2006/11/10/science/10rust.html?ref=science>
EPA WILL ALLOW SOME PESTICIDE USE IN WATER WITHOUT PERMIT
The agricultural chemicals industry says it welcomes a decision by the EPA that will allow pesticides to be applied by farmers, ranchers, and public health officials over and near bodies of water without first o btaining a permit under the Clean Water Act. Chemical & Engineering News, 11/28 < A HREF=”http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/84/i49/8449epa.html”>& lt;pubs.acs.org/cen/news/84/i49/8449epa.html>