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COLORADO SNOWPACK IMPROVING

During the last week in February, snowpack jumped in every basin in the state. The Gunnison Basin snowpack is at 83% of average. The Upper Colorado stands at 90%, the South Platte is at 81%, the North Platte, Yampa and White are at 90%, the Arkansas is at 88%, the Rio Grande is at 73% and the San Juan is at 72% of the 30-year average. Hydrologists are estimating it will take 20% of the snowpack to replenish soil moisture.

LAKE POWELL DROPS TO LEVELS NOT SEEN SINCE IT FIRST FILLED

Lake Powell is almost half-empty, the lowest level since it was still filling for the first time. Tourists can see sandstone formations and canyons not exposed since 1973 but the situation poses headaches for marina operators. Arizona Republic; Feb. 12 and Salt Lake Tribune; Feb. 27 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6945> <http://www.enn.com/news/2003-02-14/s_2675.asp> <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=7241>

SOUTHWEST REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE DROUGHT, CRITICS SAY

The reaction to the region’s drought ranges from panic in parts of Colorado to head-in-the-sand denial in Arizona, according to experts. Local governments prepare for more drought. Denver Post; Feb. 16 and Phoenix Business Journal; Feb. 27 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=7016> <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=7269>

SCIENTISTS PREDICT PARADOX: MORE PRECIP, DRIER CONDITIONS FOR ROCKIES

Researchers at a Denver conference said global warming will bring more precipitation to the Rocky Mountain West over the next century, but drier soils and greater evaporation will more than offset the increase. Denver Rocky Mountain News; Feb. 17 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=7030>

COLORADO LAWMAKER RESURRECTS BILL FOR $10 BILLION IN NEW WATERPROJECTS

A Colorado legislator is reviving a plan for the state to issue $10 billion in bonds to finance new water-storage projects, but critics said it wasn’t financing that killed the idea the first time. Denver Business Journal; Feb. 4 & 14 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6795> <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6988>

COLORADO COMMITTEE APPROVES STUDY TO “SOLVE” DROUGHT PROBLEMS

A Colorado Legislative committee approved $190,000 to determine if thinning forests will increase runoff into streams. Denver Post; Feb. 6 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6828>

COLORADO ‘FANTASY’ WATER PLAN STRIPPED OF ITS STUDY

A Senate committee rejected a feasibility study for Colorado’s “Big Straw,” a plan to pipe Colorado River water back over the divide. Denver Rocky Mountain News; Feb. 23 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=7158>

WATER SCARCITY CREATES GROWTH INDUSTRY AMONG COLORADO ENGINEERS

Water is one of Colorado’s top environmental and economic issues, and it’s fueling a rising demand for engineers who specialize in water development and conservation projects. Denver Business Journal; Feb. 18 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=7056>

COLORADO CITIES FAULT ‘COMPROMISE’ WATER BILL

A bill intended to defuse a water fight between northeastern Colorado farmers with irrigation wells and a coalition of ditch companies and cities is weighted in favor of the farmers, critics said. Farmers are waiting to plant to see if they’ll have enough water to irrigate, and if they don’t, they’ll likely lose their markets and idle the land forever. Denver Rocky Mountain News; Feb. 5, Denver Post, 14 & 18 <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_1722749,00.html> <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6989> <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=7052>

DENVER WATER UTILITY EXPECTS TO AT LEAST DOUBLE DROUGHT SURCHARGES

Denver Water officials said that the current drought would likely force them to, at the very least, double drought surcharges as an incentive for users to limit outdoor water use. Denver Rocky Mountain News; Feb. 6 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6829>

DENVER WATER ADDING CAPACITY

At a cost estimate of $150 million, Denver Water is proposing to expand Gross Reservoir and build new storage in Jefferson County. This will add 22% or 72,000 af to its supplies of 325,000 af. They hope to have the new supplies in place by 2008. RMN, 1/23

COLORADO CITY FORBIDS GARDENS, NEW LAWNS TO SAVE WATER

Aurora, Colo., officials have banned the planting of any annuals, vegetable gardens or lawns this year, to try to stretch water reserves that are already three-fourths empty. 1/12 <http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E23447%257E1174025%257E,00.html>

COLORADO RANCHERS STRUGGLE TO OUTLAST DROUGHT

About 800 Colorado ranches have gone out of business in the past two years, driven under by the effects of drought — no feed, no grass and no rain. Denver Post; Feb. 9 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6882>

COLORADO RAFTING COMPANIES SUFFER FIRST-EVER YEAR OF DECLINE

Colorado’s whitewater outfitters lost 39 percent of their business last year, due to drought and forest fires, the first time the state’s biggest summer draw has seen a drop in numbers. Denver Post; Feb. 11 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/2003/02/20030211_2.phtml#Economy>

DENVER COULD BE ALMOST OUT OF RESERVOIR WATER NEXT YEAR

Denver’s reservoirs could be 80 percent empty this time next year, without stringent limits on water use this summer. Denver Rocky Mountain News; Feb. 19 <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_1754616,00.html>

DRY WINTER MAKES FOR EVEN WORSE DROUGHT CONDITIONS IN WEST

There is an unusual quiet in Denver’s parks these days. Golf courses that normally are open in winter have closed. Except for scavenging crows, birds aren’t <heard often. http://www.enn.com/news/2003-02-11/s_2593.asp>

REPLACEMENT WELL PERMIT APPLICATIONS JUMP 68%

The state issued 1,568 replacement well permits in 2002 up from 942 in 2001. The majority of permits were for residential wells ranging in depth from 200 to 500 feet. RMN, 1/22

INSTREAM FLOW IMPROVEMENTS

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted the Animas River Stakeholders Group $50,000 to purchase 15 cfs in the Animas River headwaters that was being diverted into the Uncompahgre River. The 15 cfs is being donated to the Colorado Water Conservation Board with 6.6 cfs being used to protect the environment and 8.4 cfs dedicated to improve water quality.

TERRORIST ALERT CLOSES WESTERN DAMS

Federal officials have closed to the public dams in 17 Western states to lessen the risk of a terrorist attack. Salt Lake Tribune; Feb. 12 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6926>

NEW MEXICO TRIBE GETS JUDGE’S OK TO USE MORE WATER

A federal judge said New Mexico officials can’t order Pojoaque Pueblo to curtail its water use for a golf course and resort hotel. Santa Fe New Mexican; Feb. 5 <http://www.sfnewmexican.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=6941053&BRD=2144&PAG=461&dept_id=367954&rfi=6>

ALBUQUERQUE MAYOR READY TO TIGHTEN UP ON WATER USE

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez announced plans to deal with the ongoing drought, including higher rebates for installing water-saving plumbing and stingier policies with the city’s excess water. Albuquerque Tribune; Feb. 12 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6930>

RIO GRANDE SILVERY MINNOW CRITICAL HABITAT

Some 157 miles of the middle Rio Grande, “the last remaining inhabited portion of the silvery minnow’s range in New Mexico,” have been designated as Endangered Species Act (ESA) critical habitat says the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) 2/19. The designation includes a 300-foot riparian buffer and levees on each side of the river but excludes Pueblo Indian lands due to voluntary conservation plans “that provide greater conservation benefits than does the critical habitat designation.” Supplemental water flows to maintain the critical habitat “will likely be similar, if not identical, to those now required to avoid jeopardizing the existence” of the silvery minnow. <http://www.eswr.com/f021903.htm>

REPORT SAYS PROPOSED NEW MEXICO MINE WOULD IMPACT SACRED LAKE

A new hydrological report commissioned by Zuni Pueblo concludes that a proposed coal mine would pump from the aquifer that is connected to a lake the tribe considers sacred. Santa Fe New Mexican; Feb. 13 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/2003/02/20030213_2.phtml#Tribes>

N.M. LAWMAKERS SHOULD REQUIRE WATER-SAVING TECHNOLOGY FOR POWER PLANTS

As New Mexico becomes an energy supplier to other states, it should require new power plants to incorporate water-saving technology, and lawmakers should start with a pair of pending bills. Santa Fe New Mexican; Feb. 5 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6806>

UTILITY TO DISMANTLE AGING UTAH DAM

PacifiCorp will remove one of the first hydroelectric dams built in Utah, a structure that adds little to the utility’s 8,000-megawatt capacity but whose operation impinges on the surrounding wilderness and imperiled native trout. Salt Lake Tribune; Feb. 25 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/2003/02/20030225_2.phtml#Environment>

UTAH WETLANDS STUDIED FROM ALL SIDES

Environmentalists, developers and local officials are in the midst of talking out a management plan for 70,000 acres of Tooele County, Utah, before growth pressure pushes the issue into court. Salt Lake Tribune; Feb. 24 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/2003/02/20030224_2.phtml#Environment>

WATER PROJECT THAT SHAPED PHOENIX CELEBRATES ITS CENTENNIAL

A century ago, Phoenix was about to collapse because it couldn’t control the Salt River; now, the Salt River Project can take credit for much of the city’s prosperity. Arizona Republic; Feb. 5 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6818>

COLORADO RIVER WATER DEAL MAY BE SUNK BY CALIFORNIA SUIT

Southern California’s two biggest water authorities will take their dispute to court, apparently ending attempts to negotiate a solution and save a pact governing Colorado River use. Boulder Daily Camera (AP); Feb. 25 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=7201>

DUELING OPINIONS

Norton had choices with Colorado River deadline

Interior Secretary Gale Norton could have postponed the deadline for cutting off excess Colorado River water to California, and it’s another example of her environmental callousness that she didn’t. A guest column. <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=7307>

Norton says decade of Interior efforts didn’t help – Interior officials worked closely with California water districts for more than a decade to avoid the shutoff of excess Colorado River water on Jan. 1. A column by Interior Secretary Gale Norton. Denver Post; March 2 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=7308>

AQUEDUCT REPAIR

The most exhaustive overhaul of the Colorado River Aqueduct in five decades has been completed by the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) which involved inspection and repairs at a cost of $8.2 million. Roughly 100,000 square feet of canal concrete was replaced. The opportunity to upgrade the aqueduct was an unexpected benefit of the U.S. Department of Interior’s recent decision to reduce by nearly half the amount of water the district would receive this year from the Colorado River. MWD used Hemet’s Diamond Valley Lake (reservoir) as a substitute supply during the shut-down. Los Angeles Times – 3/3

RENO-AREA WATER OFFICIALS WON’T USE WATER RESERVES TO FUEL GROWTH

Water officials in Reno have rejected a plan that would have cut water reserves to allow for new growth, despite predictions that a lack of water could halt growth by 2006. Reno Gazette-Journal; 2/14 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6993>

INVASIVE PIKE THREATENS DELTA

Despite efforts to kill invasive northern Pike in California’s Lake Davis with netting, explosives, electro-shock and poisoning, there are now more than ever. Scientists fear that if pike escape downstream they “could multiply further and take over the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in similar fashion, threatening fisheries and endangered species” says the San Francisco Chronicle 1/29. With its prolific reproductive ability, voracious appetite for other fish, “pike are dangerously well-equipped to take over ecosystems.” “E

Western Water Report: March 4, 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.