US MUST BRACE FOR A WATER CRISIS, REPORT SAYS
The U.S. must develop a nationwide water plan that details cooperation between governments and regions and is aimed at controlling drought, floods, municipal water supplies and water quality if the nation is to thwart a water crisis, according to a report from the Water Resources Policy Dialogue. Salt Lake Tribune; 1/10 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6304>
COLORADO RESIDENTS TOLD TO PREPARE FOR WORSE DROUGHT
Colorado’s snowpack is 25 percent below normal and state officials are predicting next summer’s drought will be as bad or worse than last year’s. Denver Post; Jan. 29 <http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E23447%257E1142721%257E,00.html>
COLORADO GOVERNOR WANTS COMPROMISE ON WATER STORAGE
Colorado Gov. Bill Owens urged the Legislature to approve his agenda on the economy, education and health care, and stressed a compromise on water storage in his state of the state address, but said little to fix the $850 million budget shortfall. Denver Post; Jan. 17 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6439>
COLORADANS FROM BOTH SIDES OF DIVIDE WORK ON WATER PACT
Leaders from the Front Range and the West Slope of Colorado met seeking an agreement on how to manage the state’s water resources that would balance urban and rural water needs. <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6615> <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_1695414,00.html>
COLORADO REPUBLICANS NIX WATER BILL
A bill aimed at lowering taxes on water-efficient items and prohibiting homeowner associations from requiring excessive watering was rejected by state Republicans. Boulder Daily Camera; Jan. 24 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6592>
COLORADO CITIES BARGAIN FOR FRONT RANGE FARMERS’ WATER
Colorado Front Range cities are negotiating for irrigation water in deals that could leave 10,000 acres of prime farmland out of production next summer. Denver Rocky Mountain News; Jan. 12 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6337>
FAST-GROWING COLORADO CITY READY TO SECURE ITS WATER FUTURE
Aurora, Colorado’s second-largest city, is preparing a $100 million bond issue, the first part of $290 million in water projects. Denver Business Journal; 1/21 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6511>
COLORADO AGRICULTURE PREPARES TO DEFEND ITS WATER
Colorado agriculture uses 85% of the state’s water to support a multibillion-dollar industry, but cities say their demands are more important. Denver Business Journal; Jan. 21 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6512>
CRITICS SAY COLORADO’S BIG STRAW WILL DIE OF ITS OWN EXPENSE
Environmentalists and Western Slope irrigators aren’t too worried about Colorado’s Big Straw project to pump unused Colorado River water back over the divide; they say it’s far too expensive to pass. “We feel the whole idea is ridiculous.” – Matt Sura, director of the Western Colorado Congress, with environmentalists’ prognosis for the state’s $5 billion Big Straw project. Denver Rocky Mountain News; 1/7 <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_1656133,00.html> <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6230>
LESS SNOW IN COLORADO KILLS RENTAL MARKETS
Low snowfall in Colorado is hurting resort-town rental markets, as well as the ski industry. Denver Post; Jan. 19 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6468>
NEW WATER REPORTS RELEASED
Several important water reports have been released recently. The Land and Water Fund of the Rockies, with the cooperation of High Country Citizens’ Alliance, has released an impressive report on the Gunnison River called Gunnison River Basin: No Panacea for the Front Range. This comprehensive report discusses the hydrology of the Gunnison Basin, the water rights and court cases that define water use, and a thorough explanation of how the Front Range can meet its needs without the need to import water from the Gunnison Basin. The report is available as a pdf file on the LAW Funds website, <http://lawfund.org/media/pdf/Gunnison_Report_Final.pdf>
Another worthwhile read is a report authored by several water policy experts about the impact the current drought has on future water management in Colorado. Written by Dan Luecke, John Morris, Lee Rozaklis and Robert Weaver, it makes a compelling argument for why building large new dams is not the answer for drought protection. Instead, it promotes “smart storage,” enlarging existing storage and expanding supplies incrementally. It, too, is accessible on the website of one of its sponsors, Trout Unlimited. The pdf file can be found at <>www.cotrout.org. Also available at Trout Unlimited website is an update of their Dry Legacy Report which explains progress being made to protect instream flows threatened by drought and development. It also reveals new threats and recommends solutions for the future.
NEW TAX-REFUND CHECKOFF TO FUND WATERSHED PROTECTION
Colorado taxpayers worried about the drought and the possibility of another devastating fire season, will have the opportunity this year to better protect their forests, rivers and streams through a new tax refund checkoff on their 2003 Colorado Individual tax forms. The watershed fund will provide money for a new competitive grant program to help local watershed protection groups to restore and better protect our rivers and streams, as well as lands within Colorado’s watersheds. The money raised by the new Fund will flow through the Colorado Water Conservation Board, which will work with the Colorado Water Quality Commission and the Colorado Watershed Assembly to administer the new grant program. Funds will be distributed to established watershed initiatives for projects that “work toward the restoration and protection of lands and natural resources within the watersheds in Colorado.”
ALBUQUERQUE, ENVIRONMENTALISTS WAIT FOR SILVERY MINNOW DECISION
A
federal appeals court has heard oral arguments in the Rio Grande silvery minnow case. The court must now decide if a lower court was correct in compelling federal water managers to use water allocated to irrigators and the City of Albuquerque to keep the imperiled species from becoming extinct. The case turns on whether the “ESA takes precedence over Bureau of Reclamation contracts and other federal laws” and the outcome would be binding for New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming. Albuquerque Tribune; Jan. 14 <http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news03/011303_news_fish.shtml>
NEW MEXICO INTERESTS SHOULD START PLANNING FOR WATER WARS
Growing demand for water in San Juan County, N.M., and what may be the end of a 20-year wet cycle all but guarantees conflict, and residents should start deciding how they will handle it. Farmington Daily Times; Jan. 15. <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6384>
KILLING TROUT ONLY ONE WAY TO HELP SAVE COLORADO RIVER FISH
Scientists and officials should consider other options to save the endangered native chub in the Colorado River besides electrocuting introduced trout. Arizona Republic; Jan. 19 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6466 [This>
opinion piece attracted an immediate response from Living Rivers saying that stocking the endangered chub will not help without first addressing the habit needs of the chub.]
FOIA REGULATIONS
The Bush administration revised the regulations for implementation of the Freedom of Information ACT that would allow the government to charge the full cost of complying with requests for information. On 10/8/02, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, representing Grand Canyon Trust, requested information related to development of the recovery goals for the Upper Colorado River Recovery Program. That information was compiled and delivered to Earthjustice by Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). If the Service had denied Earthjustice’s request for a fee waiver (which they could have done under the new FOIA regulations), the cost of responding to the FOIA would have been $5-6K. As reported earlier, Earth Justice filled a 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue on 11/25/02 over the approval of the recovery goals. On 1/28/03, the FWS responded to the Notice and offered to meet with the plaintiffs.
RECOVERY PROGRAM NEWS
The Yampa River Management Plan and Environmental Assessment are progressing and are expected to be completed before the end of August. The Programatic Biological Opinion (PBO) should be completed in the same timeframe. Contingent upon the findings of the PBO, the Service will negotiate an agreement with Wyoming and Colorado to implement the plan. A 404 permit is being prepared for the enlargement of Elkhead Reservoir. At the recent meeting of the Management Committee, options to get the Gunnison PBO process back on track were discussed. Colorado does not want to provide estimates of reasonable expected future depletions until after the Statewide Water Supply Initiative study is completed in about 2 years. The State also wants the consultation to revisit the Dolores Reservoir depletions. The three options discussed are not to do a PBO and do consultations project by project, just do the PBO on existing depletions, or do a PBO that would include up to 50,000 af of future inbasin depletions. This would avoid the question of whether there will be a future transbasin diversion out of the Gunnison River. Colorado will be partnering with the Program to study streamflow transit losses in the lower Gunnison. It has been decided that the Recovery Program will pay Reclamation for the O&M costs for water being stored in federal reservoirs for release to protect endangered fish. The drought is requiring the delay of some of the Program’s research and implementation of the some of the Program’s actions.
EL NINO NOW IN STRONGEST PHASE IN UNITED STATES
The global weather anomaly El Nino has strengthened and is expected to worsen the drought in several Western and Plains states while drenching California and the Southeast through the spring, the government said. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said El Nino, which is blamed for vicious droughts and floods worldwide, had entered its “mature stage” and would linger through April. “Because the last couple of years have been so dry, even normal snow pack this winter will not be enough to get many Western states out of their drought,” said Douglas LeComte, drought specialist at the federal Climate Prediction Center. El Nino is an abnormal warming of waters in the Pacific that distorts wind and rainfall patterns around the world. <http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2003/01/01102003/s_49327.asp> <http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2003/01/01222003/ap_49394.asp>
SNOWPACK ACROSS WEST IS WELL BELOW NORMAL, REPORT SAYS
A new report by the Natural Resources Conservation Service says that snowpack in mountain ranges across the West is well below normal, and some believe this may be the worst drought in 1,400 years. Arizona Republic; Jan. 19 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6465>
DROUGHT FORECAST BODES ILL FOR SALMON
In the Pacific Northwest, a winter “too warm for snow,” combined with predictions for continued dry conditions have set the stage for an “abysmal water year” in the Columbia Basin says Greenwire 1/22. Basin tribes are “deeply concerned” that this year’s expected strong run of outmigrating juvenile salmon and steelhead will run into trouble because of an anticipated “serious tug of war with BPA (Bonneville Power Administration) on flow and spill this spring and summer.”
ARIZONA CITIES JUST BEGINNING TO FEEL THE DROUGHT
Smaller Arizona communities are suffering from four years of drought, while cities that draw from the Colorado River and its huge reservoirs are relatively unscathed. But that is changing. The Salt River Project will cut by one-third its water deliveries to Phoenix, as the drought finally starts to hit home in Arizona cities. Arizona Republic; Jan. 20&26, New York Times; 1/27 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6487> <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6637> <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6613>
WEST’S CHEAP WATER MAY SOON BE HISTORY
Waning supplies and rising demand make it likely that water will become a far more valuable commodity in the near future, and consumers will start paying something closer to its real value. Arizona Republic; 1/22 <http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0122drought-waterrates.html>
PERSISTENT DROUGHT LIKELY TO CONTINUE, REPORT SAYS
A new climate report said the drought will continue over most of the West, and some states can expect water shortages this year. Arizona Republic; 1/22 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6549>
WEST’S RANCHERS WATCH SPRINGS DRY UP, HERDS WITHER
Ranchers across the West have been culling their herds as feed and water sources dried up; they lost an estimated $300 million last year and another year of drought could be disastrous for many. Arizona Republic; Jan. 22.
Western Water Report: February 3, 2003
Although portions of this report are used on occasion in Colorado Central Magazine, we do not publish the full report there, as we do on this website. It is prepared by Steve Glazer of Crested Butte and is distributed early each month via an email list. To subscribe to that list, email to <listserv@lists.sierraclub.org> with SUBSCRIBE RMC-CONS-WATER as the message.
Please note that this is an archive, and some links may no longer function.
US MUST BRACE FOR A WATER CRISIS, REPORT SAYS
The U.S. must develop a nationwide water plan that details cooperation between governments and regions and is aimed at controlling drought, floods, municipal water supplies and water quality if the nation is to thwart a water crisis, according to a report from the Water Resources Policy Dialogue. Salt Lake Tribune; 1/10 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6304>
COLORADO RESIDENTS TOLD TO PREPARE FOR WORSE DROUGHT
Colorado’s snowpack is 25 percent below normal and state officials are predicting next summer’s drought will be as bad or worse than last year’s. Denver Post; Jan. 29 <http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E23447%257E1142721%257E,00.html>
COLORADO GOVERNOR WANTS COMPROMISE ON WATER STORAGE
Colorado Gov. Bill Owens urged the Legislature to approve his agenda on the economy, education and health care, and stressed a compromise on water storage in his state of the state address, but said little to fix the $850 million budget shortfall. Denver Post; Jan. 17 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6439>
COLORADANS FROM BOTH SIDES OF DIVIDE WORK ON WATER PACT
Leaders from the Front Range and the West Slope of Colorado met seeking an agreement on how to manage the state’s water resources that would balance urban and rural water needs. <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6615> <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_1695414,00.html>
COLORADO REPUBLICANS NIX WATER BILL
A bill aimed at lowering taxes on water-efficient items and prohibiting homeowner associations from requiring excessive watering was rejected by state Republicans. Boulder Daily Camera; Jan. 24 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6592>
COLORADO CITIES BARGAIN FOR FRONT RANGE FARMERS’ WATER
Colorado Front Range cities are negotiating for irrigation water in deals that could leave 10,000 acres of prime farmland out of production next summer. Denver Rocky Mountain News; Jan. 12 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6337>
FAST-GROWING COLORADO CITY READY TO SECURE ITS WATER FUTURE
Aurora, Colorado’s second-largest city, is preparing a $100 million bond issue, the first part of $290 million in water projects. Denver Business Journal; 1/21 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6511>
COLORADO AGRICULTURE PREPARES TO DEFEND ITS WATER
Colorado agriculture uses 85% of the state’s water to support a multibillion-dollar industry, but cities say their demands are more important. Denver Business Journal; Jan. 21 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6512>
CRITICS SAY COLORADO’S BIG STRAW WILL DIE OF ITS OWN EXPENSE
Environmentalists and Western Slope irrigators aren’t too worried about Colorado’s Big Straw project to pump unused Colorado River water back over the divide; they say it’s far too expensive to pass. “We feel the whole idea is ridiculous.” – Matt Sura, director of the Western Colorado Congress, with environmentalists’ prognosis for the state’s $5 billion Big Straw project. Denver Rocky Mountain News; 1/7 <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_1656133,00.html> <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6230>
LESS SNOW IN COLORADO KILLS RENTAL MARKETS
Low snowfall in Colorado is hurting resort-town rental markets, as well as the ski industry. Denver Post; Jan. 19 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6468>
NEW WATER REPORTS RELEASED
Several important water reports have been released recently. The Land and Water Fund of the Rockies, with the cooperation of High Country Citizens’ Alliance, has released an impressive report on the Gunnison River called Gunnison River Basin: No Panacea for the Front Range. This comprehensive report discusses the hydrology of the Gunnison Basin, the water rights and court cases that define water use, and a thorough explanation of how the Front Range can meet its needs without the need to import water from the Gunnison Basin. The report is available as a pdf file on the LAW Funds website, <http://lawfund.org/media/pdf/Gunnison_Report_Final.pdf>
Another worthwhile read is a report authored by several water policy experts about the impact the current drought has on future water management in Colorado. Written by Dan Luecke, John Morris, Lee Rozaklis and Robert Weaver, it makes a compelling argument for why building large new dams is not the answer for drought protection. Instead, it promotes “smart storage,” enlarging existing storage and expanding supplies incrementally. It, too, is accessible on the website of one of its sponsors, Trout Unlimited. The pdf file can be found at <>www.cotrout.org. Also available at Trout Unlimited website is an update of their Dry Legacy Report which explains progress being made to protect instream flows threatened by drought and development. It also reveals new threats and recommends solutions for the future.
NEW TAX-REFUND CHECKOFF TO FUND WATERSHED PROTECTION
Colorado taxpayers worried about the drought and the possibility of another devastating fire season, will have the opportunity this year to better protect their forests, rivers and streams through a new tax refund checkoff on their 2003 Colorado Individual tax forms. The watershed fund will provide money for a new competitive grant program to help local watershed protection groups to restore and better protect our rivers and streams, as well as lands within Colorado’s watersheds. The money raised by the new Fund will flow through the Colorado Water Conservation Board, which will work with the Colorado Water Quality Commission and the Colorado Watershed Assembly to administer the new grant program. Funds will be distributed to established watershed initiatives for projects that “work toward the restoration and protection of lands and natural resources within the watersheds in Colorado.”
ALBUQUERQUE, ENVIRONMENTALISTS WAIT FOR SILVERY MINNOW DECISION
A
federal appeals court has heard oral arguments in the Rio Grande silvery minnow case. The court must now decide if a lower court was correct in compelling federal water managers to use water allocated to irrigators and the City of Albuquerque to keep the imperiled species from becoming extinct. The case turns on whether the “ESA takes precedence over Bureau of Reclamation contracts and other federal laws” and the outcome would be binding for New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming. Albuquerque Tribune; Jan. 14 <http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news03/011303_news_fish.shtml>
NEW MEXICO INTERESTS SHOULD START PLANNING FOR WATER WARS
Growing demand for water in San Juan County, N.M., and what may be the end of a 20-year wet cycle all but guarantees conflict, and residents should start deciding how they will handle it. Farmington Daily Times; Jan. 15. <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6384>
KILLING TROUT ONLY ONE WAY TO HELP SAVE COLORADO RIVER FISH
Scientists and officials should consider other options to save the endangered native chub in the Colorado River besides electrocuting introduced trout. Arizona Republic; Jan. 19 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6466 [This>
opinion piece attracted an immediate response from Living Rivers saying that stocking the endangered chub will not help without first addressing the habit needs of the chub.]
FOIA REGULATIONS
The Bush administration revised the regulations for implementation of the Freedom of Information ACT that would allow the government to charge the full cost of complying with requests for information. On 10/8/02, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, representing Grand Canyon Trust, requested information related to development of the recovery goals for the Upper Colorado River Recovery Program. That information was compiled and delivered to Earthjustice by Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). If the Service had denied Earthjustice’s request for a fee waiver (which they could have done under the new FOIA regulations), the cost of responding to the FOIA would have been $5-6K. As reported earlier, Earth Justice filled a 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue on 11/25/02 over the approval of the recovery goals. On 1/28/03, the FWS responded to the Notice and offered to meet with the plaintiffs.
RECOVERY PROGRAM NEWS
The Yampa River Management Plan and Environmental Assessment are progressing and are expected to be completed before the end of August. The Programatic Biological Opinion (PBO) should be completed in the same timeframe. Contingent upon the findings of the PBO, the Service will negotiate an agreement with Wyoming and Colorado to implement the plan. A 404 permit is being prepared for the enlargement of Elkhead Reservoir. At the recent meeting of the Management Committee, options to get the Gunnison PBO process back on track were discussed. Colorado does not want to provide estimates of reasonable expected future depletions until after the Statewide Water Supply Initiative study is completed in about 2 years. The State also wants the consultation to revisit the Dolores Reservoir depletions. The three options discussed are not to do a PBO and do consultations project by project, just do the PBO on existing depletions, or do a PBO that would include up to 50,000 af of future inbasin depletions. This would avoid the question of whether there will be a future transbasin diversion out of the Gunnison River. Colorado will be partnering with the Program to study streamflow transit losses in the lower Gunnison. It has been decided that the Recovery Program will pay Reclamation for the O&M costs for water being stored in federal reservoirs for release to protect endangered fish. The drought is requiring the delay of some of the Program’s research and implementation of the some of the Program’s actions.
EL NINO NOW IN STRONGEST PHASE IN UNITED STATES
The global weather anomaly El Nino has strengthened and is expected to worsen the drought in several Western and Plains states while drenching California and the Southeast through the spring, the government said. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said El Nino, which is blamed for vicious droughts and floods worldwide, had entered its “mature stage” and would linger through April. “Because the last couple of years have been so dry, even normal snow pack this winter will not be enough to get many Western states out of their drought,” said Douglas LeComte, drought specialist at the federal Climate Prediction Center. El Nino is an abnormal warming of waters in the Pacific that distorts wind and rainfall patterns around the world. <http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2003/01/01102003/s_49327.asp> <http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2003/01/01222003/ap_49394.asp>
SNOWPACK ACROSS WEST IS WELL BELOW NORMAL, REPORT SAYS
A new report by the Natural Resources Conservation Service says that snowpack in mountain ranges across the West is well below normal, and some believe this may be the worst drought in 1,400 years. Arizona Republic; Jan. 19 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6465>
DROUGHT FORECAST BODES ILL FOR SALMON
In the Pacific Northwest, a winter “too warm for snow,” combined with predictions for continued dry conditions have set the stage for an “abysmal water year” in the Columbia Basin says Greenwire 1/22. Basin tribes are “deeply concerned” that this year’s expected strong run of outmigrating juvenile salmon and steelhead will run into trouble because of an anticipated “serious tug of war with BPA (Bonneville Power Administration) on flow and spill this spring and summer.”
ARIZONA CITIES JUST BEGINNING TO FEEL THE DROUGHT
Smaller Arizona communities are suffering from four years of drought, while cities that draw from the Colorado River and its huge reservoirs are relatively unscathed. But that is changing. The Salt River Project will cut by one-third its water deliveries to Phoenix, as the drought finally starts to hit home in Arizona cities. Arizona Republic; Jan. 20&26, New York Times; 1/27 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6487> <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6637> <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6613>
WEST’S CHEAP WATER MAY SOON BE HISTORY
Waning supplies and rising demand make it likely that water will become a far more valuable commodity in the near future, and consumers will start paying something closer to its real value. Arizona Republic; 1/22 <http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0122drought-waterrates.html>
PERSISTENT DROUGHT LIKELY TO CONTINUE, REPORT SAYS
A new climate report said the drought will continue over most of the West, and some states can expect water shortages this year. Arizona Republic; 1/22 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6549>
WEST’S RANCHERS WATCH SPRINGS DRY UP, HERDS WITHER
Ranchers across the West have been culling their herds as feed and water sources dried up; they lost an estimated $300 million last year and another year of drought could be disastrous for many. Arizona Republic; Jan. 22.
