Westward H2O! A plan to siphon off the Mississippi and send it west …
Posted by: Maven on February 7, 2012 at 8:53 amFrom Discover Magazine:
“The Southwest is struggling with drought. The Midwest is soaking under floodwaters. And there may be one solution to both problems: Shift the floodwaters of the Mississippi 1,000 miles west to the Navajo River, a tributary of the Colorado River.
The engineering firm Black & Veatch has developed a plan that would siphon off 1,000 cubic feet of water per second from the Mississippi and move it across the Great Plains and over the Rockies to southwestern Colorado. … “
Continue reading from Discover Magazine by clicking here.
Preserve legacy of the Colorado River, says commentary
Posted by: Maven on February 5, 2012 at 6:04 amFrom the Las Vegas Sun, this commentary by Carlos Ezeta, an appointed member of the federal National Museum of the American Latino Commission:
“Nevada’s Sen. Harry Reid is working to give a home to the National Museum of the American Latino. Bipartisan legislation was introduced in Congress that would allow the new museum to take over the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building on the National Mall. There is broad support for a national museum that honors the political, cultural and economic contributions of the Latino community.
As the president and co-founder of Casa de la Cultura Hispano Americana, the first Latino-owned and operated cultural center in Nevada, I know firsthand the importance of celebrating and preserving our heritage and history — both nationally and locally. And I know we have to honor and protect our culture wherever we find it. … “
Continue reading this commentary at the Las Vegas Sun by clicking here.
Chance of Rain blog: High good, low bad: Lake Mead in January 2012, plus comments from the Cadiz meeting in Joshua Tree
Posted by: Maven on February 4, 2012 at 6:55 amFrom the Chance of Rain blog:
“As promised, some Friday notes on Lake Mead, Colorado River snowpack and two public comment meetings on the groundwater mining project proposed for Cadiz Valley in the eastern California Mojave.
First, according to the federal Bureau of Reclamation, Lake Mead closed January 2012 at 1,134.18 feet. The good news is that the continued decanting of last year’s record snowpack down the Colorado River storage system has pushed Mead, its largest reservoir, to 58% full, the highest elevation since 2006. … “
Continue reading from the Chance of Rain blog by clicking here.
Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study releases updated technical reports
Posted by: Maven on February 4, 2012 at 6:53 amFrom the Bureau of Reclamation:
“The Bureau of Reclamation today updated two technical reports titled “Technical Report B – Water Supply Assessment” and “Technical Report D – System Reliability Metrics”. Initially published in June 2011 as part of Interim Report No. 1, they were updated to reflect comments on Interim Report No. 1, technical developments, and the ongoing input of stakeholders.
Reclamation’s Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study is part of the Department of the Interior’s WaterSMART program under the 2009 SECURE Water Act (P.L. 111-11).
Technical Report B provides a quantified assessment of four water supply scenarios. These include scenarios based on historical observed and paleo-reconstructed streamflow records as well as future climate projections from global climate models. Updates to this report include the adjustment of streamflow projections under the scenario informed by future climate projections from global climate models to account for hydrologic model biases. In addition, the report describes further analysis of the evaluation of the sensitivity of streamflow projections to greenhouse gas emission scenarios. … “
Continue reading from the Bureau of Reclamation by clicking here.
Water demands outstrip supply in Colorado River Basin
Posted by: Maven on February 3, 2012 at 7:07 amFrom the Public News Service:
“A coalition of businesses along the Colorado River took its concerns about water supply-and-demand issues to Washington this week. Members of the group “Protect the Flows” shared potential solutions with the Interior Department and members of Congress.
Recreation and tourism are the lifeblood of the West, says Steve Harris, who runs Far Flung Adventures in El Prado. He supports the establishment of water banks, a system where business users can make water “deposits” and “withdrawals.” … “
Continue reading from the Public News Service by clicking here.
Environmental Defense Fund submits proposal to protect Colorado River flow, ecosystems, western economy
Posted by: Maven on February 2, 2012 at 7:16 amFrom the Environmental Defense Fund, this press release:
“The Bureau of Reclamation today received a proposed set of common-sense solutions to solve the imbalance between supply and demand for water in the Colorado River Basin, where the Bureau projects river flow will decrease by an average of about nine percent over the next 50 years due to climate change. The proposal by Environmental Defense Fund — which includes ideas by other conservation groups and stakeholders — was in response to today’s deadline for public input of “options and strategies” for a study to define and solve future imbalances in water supply and demand in the basin through 2060.
“Our proposed solutions don’t include expensive new infrastructure and diversions that threaten the health of the Colorado River and the recreation and tourism economy of the region,” said Dan Grossman, Rocky Mountain regional director for Environmental Defense Fund and a former vice chairman of the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee in the Colorado Senate. “Instead, we are focusing on common-sense ideas — including water banks, water re-use and municipal and agricultural efficiency — to solve the imbalance between supply and demand, while protecting the healthy flows of the river.” … “
Continue reading from the Environmental Defense Fund by clicking here.
Inkstain blog: Colorado River models: wrong but useful
Posted by: Maven on January 30, 2012 at 7:08 amFrom the Inkstain blog:
“Climate scientist Tamsin Edwards triggered a fascinating discussion when she chose the famous George Box quote – “all models are wrong, but some are useful” – as the name for her new blog. In a delightful exchange on Twitter (which I followed in real time and which Edwards quotes extensively in the blog post linked above), Peter Gleick chastised Edwards for choosing “All Models are Wrong” for the title of her blog, arguing that it “buys into ‘everything is uncertain’ meme.” Edwards pushed back, and I tend to agree with her argument – that acknowledging and thinking well about uncertainties is incredibly important for the climate discussion to move forward.
I’m reminded of the problem exemplified by the news coverage (mine included) of the US Bureau of Reclamation’s Colorado River Basin Study … “
Continue reading from the Inkstain Blog by clicking here.
Southwest turns anxious eye to shrinking Lake Mead
Posted by: Maven on January 29, 2012 at 7:50 amFrom OPB News:
“In a dramatic reversal of fortune compared to last year, an unusually dry winter is causing the level of Lake Mead, Nevada, to decline, making water managers increasingly anxious about supplying water to the thirsty Southwest.
The latest U.S. Drought Outlook shows continued dry conditions in the Southwest are likely for the rest of the winter.
During the past three years, the level of Lake Mead has followed a boom and bust cycle, dropping to a record low in 2010 during an intense drought, then recovering during 2011 thanks to record mountain snowfall, and now dropping again in the midst of a dry winter. … “
Continue reading from OPB News by clicking here.
Western Weather Blog: Reversal of fortunes for Lake Mead
Posted by: Maven on January 28, 2012 at 8:10 amFrom Accu-Weather’s Western Weather Blog:
“I have documented many times in this blog in the last month the lack of rain and snow across the Southwest U.S. watershed this Winter and its seriousness. I have had one person question why am I being so pessimistic especially since there was a change in the weather coming (from two weeks ago). Some of you may remember this exchange. There was a nice round of precipitation a week ago in the Colorado River Watershed and also in California. But that has proved to be the exception and not the rule. This is no surprise to me as I have been saying all along the El Nino pattern we have been in would remain all Winter and the chance was quite high that the “pattern change” was only temporary. And indeed we are right back into the same kind of weather pattern now that has kept precipitation well below normal for December and much of January. … “
Continue reading from the Western Weather Blog by clicking here.
Colorado River risks are debated by state
Posted by: Maven on January 28, 2012 at 7:25 amFrom the Pueblo Chieftain:
“Colorado is struggling with determining the risks of further development of the state’s entitlement to Colorado River water under a seven-state compact signed in 1922.
“I think the question is: ‘What is the result of overdevelopment of Colorado River water, and who suffers the consequences?’ ” said John McClow, an attorney who represents the Gunnison River basin on the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
McClow said the task is difficult because sharing the information with other states could hurt Colorado’s position in ongoing negotiations with other states. … “
Continue reading from the Pueblo Chieftain by clicking here.
Prompted by scarcity, Colorado River basin states examine their lifeline
Posted by: Maven on January 26, 2012 at 10:25 pmFrom Circle of Blue Water News (hat tip to the Water Sisweb):
“The worst drought in the 105-year historical record of the Colorado River has opened a new era of water scarcity that is prompting state and federal water managers to evaluate never before considered options for increasing water supply and reducing demand.
The new ideas for managing the seven-state river basin, which supplies water to 30 million residents and thousands of farms, have attracted increasing attention from agricultural users and other big water interests, particularly in the upper basin states that counted on receiving more water under the region’s near-century-old water use agreement.
In Las Vegas last month, at the annual meeting of the Colorado River Water Users Association—the only organization bringing together stakeholders from each of the seven basin states—opponents and supporters made their views known during a speech by Doug Kenney, the director of the Western Water Policy Program at the University of Colorado-Boulder. … “
Continue reading from the Circle of Blue Water News by clicking here.
Commentary: Keeping poison out of our water
Posted by: Maven on January 22, 2012 at 6:52 amFrom the Las Vegas Sun, this commentary by Larry Brown, member of the Clark County Commission:
“Las Vegas is rightfully proud to be the doorway to thousands of tourists who travel to Grand Canyon National Park and the Colorado River. As our economy matures, we are becoming a destination for those seeking unique outdoor experiences. And of course, Southern Nevada has another inseparable tie to the Colorado River: The river gives us a safe, reliable water supply, providing more than 90 percent of our water needs.
Millions more downstream depend on the Colorado, but ours is the only big city whose needs are so closely intertwined with the fate of the river. So when it comes to people messing about with the river, regardless of their intentions, we take the issue seriously. Simply put, we have a very big dog in that hunt. … “
Continue reading from the Las Vegas Sun by clicking here.
Nuestro Rio: Latino campaign to save Colorado River opens new front
Posted by: Maven on January 18, 2012 at 6:04 amFrom Fox News Latino:
“It formed last year to raise awareness of the drought-stricken Colorado River, which snakes its way across seven states and parts of Mexico and is flanked by the soaring walls of the Grand Canyon.
Now Nuestro Rio, a network of Latinos working to raise awareness about the endangered Colorado River Basin, is expanding to other states in the Southwest this year and promoting its efforts with ads and town hall forums.
Members of the coalition have called for a more rigorous federal study of the basin’s water supply that takes into account the river’s Latino heritage. They also have met with U.S. Department of the Interior officials and brought groups of students on day trips to teach them about the importance of the river to Latinos. … “
Continue reading from Fox News Latino by clicking here.
Lower Colorado River Tour, March 14-16 – Register today!
Posted by: Maven on January 17, 2012 at 7:23 am
From the Water Education Foundation:
“The Colorado River is a lifeline to 35 million people in the Southwest, but in the Lower Basin, virtually every drop of the river is allocated. Yet demand is growing. As the drought moves into another year, California, Arizona and Nevada continue to work together to find ways to conserve, save and store water in Lake Mead to maintain its level.
Participants on this 3-day, 2-night tour will travel along the Colorado River from Hoover Dam to the Salton Sea and the Coachella Valley. You’ll hear from experts on all sides of the issues as we visit Lake Mead, the All-American Canal lining project and the Salton Sea. You’ll learn how the Lower Basin states are dealing with drought and making agreements to augment water supply. We’ll also be talking about the current status of the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA) and how it could affect California and other Western states.
Stops include the Warren H. Brock Reservoir (formerly called Drop 2), Havasu National Wildlife Refuge, farms in the Imperial and Coachella valleys, a private tour inside Hoover Dam and a boat ride on Lake Mead. The tour begins in Las Vegas and ends at California’s Ontario Airport.
Registration is $695 per person, single occupancy room; $595 each for two people sharing a room. Register four or more people for a discount – single occupancy rooms $625. Visit the Water Education Foundation’s website at www.watereducation.org/tours for more information or to register securely online.”
Picture of Hoover Dam from when I went on the Lower Colorado Tour. It was fun and very informative – I highly recommend it! Check out my slideshow about the tour by clicking here.
Inkstain Blog’s River Beat: A forecast for decline on the Colorado again this year
Posted by: Maven on January 15, 2012 at 6:13 amFrom the Inkstain Blog:
“It’s all fun and games until you actually have to measure snow.
The US Bureau of Reclamation’s first 2012 Colorado Basin reservoir forecast (the “24-month study”, pdf) projects a decline in total storage in lakes Mead and Powell, the Colorado River’s largest storage reservoirs, of 844,000 acre feet, or 2.76 percent.
There are two ways of framing this.
Let me start with the pessimistic, illustrated by this graph [available on click-through] comparing the December and January projections. The December projection is based on no real forecast at all, but rather what amounts to an assumption of normal snow. … “
Continue reading from the Inkstain blog by clicking here.
Adding up the water deficit: Even Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir in the U.S., will eventually run dry if its outgo consistently exceeds income, says commentary
Posted by: Maven on January 14, 2012 at 6:40 amFrom the Los Angeles Times, this commentary by William deBuys, author of the newly released “A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest”:
“Southern Californians are used to turning on the tap, or the sprinklers, and getting the water they want. Their ability to do so depends, in large part, on the Colorado River and the reservoir it feeds, Lake Mead.
In 2008, Tim Barnett and David Pierce, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, wrote that the lake — a lifeline not just for Southern California but for much of the desert Southwest — would soon teeter at the brink of failure. The Review-Journal in Las Vegas, a city especially dependent on that lifeline, responded with predictable bluster: “We’d love to buy some action on the odds provided by Mr. Barnett and Mr. Pierce. They can name the amount at stake. Are they willing to put their money where their mouths are?” … “
Continue reading this commentary at the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.
Inkstain blog: Dust and North American megadrought
Posted by: Maven on January 11, 2012 at 6:30 amFrom the Inkstain Blog:
“The Lamont-Doherty group that has done so much to help our understanding of the factors that drive multi-decadal droughts has added a nice piece to our understanding of the issues.
In a paper in review (for which they’ve done a nice accessible writeup), Ben Cook and colleagues looked at a number of drivers for long-duration drought: sea surface temperature, warming caused when grasses die off and leave bare soil, and then the added role of increased aerosols from dust kicked up in the ensuing mess. … “
For more from the Inkstain blog, including a link to the paper’s write-up, click here.
Secretary Salazar announces decision to withdraw public lands near Grand Canyon from new mining claims
Posted by: Maven on January 10, 2012 at 6:49 amFrom the U.S. Department of the Interior:
“Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced his decision to protect the iconic Grand Canyon and its vital watershed from the potential adverse effects of additional uranium and other hardrock mining on over 1 million acres of federal land for the next 20 years.
Secretary Salazar’s decision will provide adequate time for monitoring to inform future land use decisions in this treasured area, while allowing currently approved mining operations to continue as well as new operations on valid existing mining claims.
“A withdrawal is the right approach for this priceless American landscape,” Salazar said. “People from all over the country and around the world come to visit the Grand Canyon. Numerous American Indian tribes regard this magnificent icon as a sacred place and millions of people in the Colorado River Basin depend on the river for drinking water, irrigation, industrial and environmental use. We have been entrusted to care for and protect our precious environmental and cultural resources, and we have chosen a responsible path that makes sense for this and future generations.” … “
Continue reading this press release from the Department of Interior by clicking here.
Snow drought forces Colorado to face frightening new climate-change reality
Posted by: Maven on January 10, 2012 at 6:44 amFrom the Colorado Independent:
“Just a year after record snowfall throughout much of the Rocky Mountain West, the region is locked in a snow drought not seen since Jimmy Carter surrendered the White House to Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s.
“We have had some very unusual weather so far this season,” Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz said Friday. “For the first time in 30 years, a lack of snow has not allowed us to open the back bowls in Vail as of January 6, 2012, and, for the first time since the late 1800s, it did not snow at all in Tahoe in December.”
Vail saw eight inches of new snow on Saturday, but it still wasn’t enough to open the vast majority of the mountain. Ski industry woes aside, state water watchers and firefighters are nervously eyeing the miniscule mountain snowpack, which supplies so much of the water used by Front Range cities. As of Dec. 30, snowpack in the Colorado River basin was 44 percent of last year’s record level and just 63 percent of the annual average. … “
Continue reading from the Colorado Independent by clicking here.
US to limit mining near Grand Canyon
Posted by: Maven on January 9, 2012 at 6:27 amFrom the Fresno Bee:
“Fending off pressure from the mining industry and congressional Republicans, the Obama administration is moving forward with a plan to ban new uranium mining claims on 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is expected to finalize a 20-year ban on new mining claims on public land surrounding the Grand Canyon at an event Monday in Washington.
Salazar, who twice imposed temporary bans on new uranium claims, said last year that uranium remains an important part of a comprehensive energy strategy. But he said the Grand Canyon is a national treasure that must be protected. … “
Continue reading from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.
Inkstain blog: 2012: back to draining the Colorado River’s reservoirs?
Posted by: Maven on January 8, 2012 at 7:37 amFrom the Inkstain blog:
“Well that was fun while it lasted, eh? Looks like it’s back to draining reservoirs on the Colorado!
2011, a big sloppy wet kiss of a water year, pumped up total storage in the reservoirs behind Glen Canyon and Hoover dams by some 5 million acre feet. But the first forecast of the year suggests a turn back in the opposite direction. … “
Continue reading from the Inkstain blog by clicking here.
U.S. to block new uranium mines near Grand Canyon
Posted by: Maven on January 7, 2012 at 8:05 amFrom the New York Times:
“The Obama administration is set to announce on Monday that it will block new uranium mining on one million acres in northern Arizona near the Grand Canyon, lobbyists and Interior Department employees who had been informed about the decision said on Friday.
The department, which in 2009 imposed an interim ban that is soon due to expire, now plans a 20-year moratorium on new mines. Western environmental groups have long sought such a measure. … “
Continue reading from the New York Times by clicking here.
Colorado River Basin water supply forecast: Drier by the month
Posted by: Maven on January 7, 2012 at 8:03 amFrom Waterblogged:
“Early snowpack surveys in the Rocky Mountains had hinted strongly at the dry conditions across the Colorado River basin and the season’s first official water forecast confirmed it on Friday: Unless the weather changes abruptly, water managers won’t get their wished-for back-to-back wet winters.
The Colorado Basin River Forecast Center is projecting that inflow into Lake Powell this spring — essentially the melted snow on the upper river — will total 71 percent of average. If the forecast holds, the spring runoff will be less than half last year’s, when April-July inflow totaled 163 percent of average. Inflow into Lake Powell is typically a reliable indicator of conditions on the upper river. … “
Continue reading from Waterblogged by clicking here.
What seven states can agree to do: Deal-making on the Colorado River
Posted by: Maven on January 6, 2012 at 7:24 amFrom Stanford University’s Rural West Initiative:
“As western water leaders converged on Las Vegas in December 2001, Southern California’s inability to contain its voracious appetite seemed finally to be bumping up against reality – there is only so much water in the Colorado River.
Shared among seven states and Mexico via a shifting, uncertain set of bargains, the river was running up against the era of limits.
For years, California had been living large off the surplus of others. It slurped Colorado River leftovers other states weren’t using, pumping it 250 miles to rapidly growing coastal cities. But as the rest of the southwest grew and began taking its rightful share of the Colorado, California faced an urgent deadline. It had to come up with a plan to cut its use or see a large share of its water supply simply cut off on Jan. 1, 2003.
Testifying at a Dec. 10 House field hearing, Larry Anderson, head of Utah’s Division of Water Resources, was blunt. If California did not tame its appetites, the other states dependent on the Colorado River expected the federal government to step in and enforce the “Law of the River”, the maze of laws that govern distribution of the river’s water. “Appropriate enforcement is critical to protecting our rights,” Anderson said. … “
Continue reading from the Rural West Initiative by clicking here.
Chance of Rain blog: High good, low bad: Mead in 2011
Posted by: Maven on January 2, 2012 at 7:45 amFrom the Chance of Rain blog:
“When the federal Bureau of Reclamation recorded the closing elevation of Lake Mead to be almost 1,133 feet at midnight, December 31, the 2011 rise in the largest storage reservoir on the Colorado River was more than 46 feet, the first annual gain since 2005 and the largest since 1957 — so big that the decanting of last year’s snowpack has been causing a series of earthquakes in the Arizona desert. … “
Continue reading from the Chance of Rain blog by clicking here.
Tribes could turn the tables on water control
Posted by: Maven on December 30, 2011 at 7:21 amFrom The Range blog at High Country News:
“It seems like every week there’s another article about the future of western water—how much we’ll have, where it will come from, and who will get it. Since it’s key to our sustainability and growth, it’s something we ought to be talking about. But there’s a key element that is largely ignored in the mainstream media: the role of American Indians.
One exception is a recent article in the Denver Post, about the completion of a huge new reservoir outside Durango. While the Nighthorse reservoir holds enough water to serve over 300,000 households per year, it was not built exclusively to serve our bulging ‘burbs.
Lake Nighthorse is part of the Animas-La Plata Project, which was born of a settlement between the federal government and the two tribes that live in Colorado—the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Utes. The water will be shared by the Utes and by five other entities, including the State of Colorado, the Animas-La Plata Water Conservancy, the Navajo Nation, the San Juan Water Commission and the La Plata Conservancy District. Fully two-thirds of the water will be set aside for the tribes.
The agreement settles some complex and protracted water conflicts, and its enactment also offers an opportunity to take a look at the history of tribal water rights and what they mean for the future fights over the so-called “new gold” of the West. … “
Continue reading from the High Country News by clicking here.
Yuma farmland powered by billions of gallons of water
Posted by: Maven on December 28, 2011 at 11:24 pmFrom the Yuma Sun:
“More than 50,000 acres of farmland span across the Yuma Valley and require somewhere in the neighborhood of 370,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water per year to be delivered by the Yuma County Water Users’ Association (YCWUA).
Manager Tom Davis noted that one acre-foot of water converts to be about 326,000 gallons, which he likened to the amount of water necessary to cover a football field a foot deep.
The YCWUA’s job is to divert, transport and deliver those billions of gallons of water to local farmers through a gravity-flow open ditch delivery system. … “
Continue reading from the Yuma Sun by clicking here.
Rocky Mountain region water districts investing in cloud-seeding
Posted by: Maven on December 24, 2011 at 6:42 amFrom the Denver Post:
“With the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District facing steep revenue declines, district manager Frank Kugel realized the season’s cloud-seeding budget could fade.
So in his recent pitch to continue the district’s $26,500 contribution to the region’s $92,000 cloud-seeding program, Kugel told his board to trim a consultant’s expectations for snow by 90 percent.
“Even if we see 10 percent increased snowfall that the consultant has projected, it’s an incredibly beneficial investment,” Kugel said. “We took a long, hard look, but in the end my board felt the bang for the buck was worth it. There’s no other place to find water for $11 an acre-foot.” … “
Continue reading from the Denver Post by clicking here.
Commentary: Help us preserve and enhance the Colorado River
Posted by: Maven on December 24, 2011 at 6:37 amFrom the Denver Post, this commentary by Eric Kuhn, general manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District, David Modeer, general manager of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, and Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund:
“The skier at Vail, the programmer in Phoenix, the doctor in Las Vegas, the student in San Diego, and the rancher in Wyoming may not know it, but they are bound together by the Colorado River, its tributaries, and the intricate systems of dams and reservoirs that manage its water supply. Often called the lifeblood of the West, the Colorado River grows our crops, bathes our kids, electrifies our grid, quenches our thirst, and quite literally floats our boats in seven states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
The river defines our landscape and communities. It also provides food and shelter for the 80 percent of the region’s fish and wildlife that have no choice but to call it home. For all of us, managing the river well is not optional: it essential to our well-being and that of future generations who will call this river basin home. … “
Continue reading this commentary at the Denver Post by clicking here.
Imperial Irrigation District officials wary of Salton Sea agreement: Board seeking ‘Plan B’ in case state allowed to get out of water deal
Posted by: Maven on December 22, 2011 at 6:58 amFrom MyDesert.com (Desert Sun):
“As Bruce Kuhn helped negotiate one of the most significant water deals in the history of the American west, his colleague on the board of the Imperial Irrigation District, Don Cox, had one overriding concern.
“Don said, ‘Whatever happens, you cannot have the valley or the IID responsible for that Salton Sea,’” Kuhn, an Imperial County farmer and former IID board member, recalled this week. Cox died in 2006.
“To that end, we went to great lengths when I helped negotiate this thing that the state — someone — was going to take responsibility.” … “
Continue reading from MyDesert.com by clicking here.
MORE: Untangling the QSA, from the Inkstain blog
Inkstain blog: Coveting thy neighbor’s water
Posted by: Maven on December 22, 2011 at 6:54 amFrom the Inkstain blog:
“It’s not clear to me whether the US Bureau of Reclamation’s Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study is a tool for developing solutions to the long term supply-demand imbalance on the river, or a process for the states and other interests to stake out their turf. Probably some of both.
Witness, for example, the comments in a story I recently did framing the study from a New Mexico perspective … “
Continue reading from the Inkstain blog by clicking here.
Inkstain blog: Colorado River Water Users Association Meeting: odds and ends
Posted by: Maven on December 19, 2011 at 6:07 amFrom the Inkstain blog:
“Some more odds and ends from last week’s Colorado River Water Users Association meeting:
Yuma Desalting Plant
The trial run of the Yuma Desalting Plant “went well,” according to Terry Fulp, head of the USBR Lower Colorado office. YPD was built in the early 1990s to clean up icky agricultural drain water to meet US delivery obligations to Mexico, but it’s never really been used until a trial run in 2010-11 intended to see what it might take to put it to use. According to Chuck Cullom of the Central Arizona Project, one of the YPD trial run’s funders, the operational costs worked out to about $300 per acre foot of water for the 30,000 acre feet produced during the trial run. That makes it relatively expensive water. Fulp said one of the things they learned is that major infrastructure upgrades would be needed to move beyond the trial phase into routine operation. … “
Inkstain blog: A drought of the Lower Colorado River Basin’s own making
Posted by: Maven on December 18, 2011 at 6:53 amFrom the Inkstain blog:
“For better or worse, my decision to not pay the $15 a day for an internet connection at Caeser’s Palace has left me with a bow wave of things to write about after a week spent in an around the Colorado River Water Users Association’s annual meeting in Las Vegas, NV.
Let’s start with Lake Mead itself, which hovers over Las Vegas like a reminder of trouble to come. But hey, the reservoir’s up this year, what’s not to like? Lissa and I drove the scenic road past the marinas on Mead’s western shore, the Las Vegas playground that was not so playground-y when I was there a year ago. At Boulder Harbor this year, I found a couple of guys fishing off the boat landing that a year ago was mired in mud. The striped bass were biting, and they looked big and tasty. … “
Continue reading from the Inkstain blog by clicking here.
Press release: Partnerships in the Colorado River Basin demonstrate national promise of Interior’s WaterSMART program
Posted by: Maven on December 18, 2011 at 6:51 amFrom the Department of the Interior, this press release:
“During the annual Colorado River Water Users Association Conference today, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science Anne Castle announced the release of a report on the effectiveness of the Department of the Interior’s national WaterSMART Program as demonstrated by its work within the Colorado River Basin. The report can be found at www.usbr.gov/watersmart.
“The Colorado River Basin has really served as a pilot project area to test and demonstrate the various tools available through WaterSMART to address water supply and demand imbalances around the nation,” said Castle. “The report issued today demonstrates the diversity and significance of the activities undertaken by the Department in cooperation with the states, local governments, Tribes and others to sustain Colorado River resources for people, the economy, and the environment.” … “
Continue reading from the Department of the Interior by clicking here.
Court ruling provides surety for water supply, says the Desert Sun
Posted by: Maven on December 16, 2011 at 8:41 amFrom MyDesert.com (The Desert Sun), this editorial:
“Coachella and Imperial valley water officials are breathing sighs of relief after a higher court overturned a lower court’s ruling that blocked the largest water transfer in U.S. history.
A Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled in 2009 that the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA) that supposedly ended a decades-long debate over Colorado River water rights was unconstitutional because it was a blank check for the California Legislature to restore the Salton Sea.
The 3rd Appellate Court ruled last week that the QSA did not violate the California Constitution because drawing money from the treasury still requires an appropriation by the Legislature. … “
Continue reading this editorial by clicking here.
Giving assurances: Agency officials discuss cleanup of Topock PG&E compressor station
Posted by: Maven on December 14, 2011 at 7:09 amFrom the Mohave Daily News:
“A standing-room-only crowd of approximately 175 people packed the Golden Shores community center Monday to hear assurances from state and federal officials that hexavalent chromium from the Topock Pacific Gas & Electric compression plant has not made its way into the Colorado River or into the Arizona side of the waterway.
Officials from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality brought residents up to date with brief presentations and a question and answer period. … “
Continue reading from the Mohave Daily News by clicking here.
‘Mohave 2′ had its heyday on Colorado River
Posted by: Maven on December 12, 2011 at 8:02 amFrom the Yuma Sun:
“During the latter half of the 19th century, the isolated residents along the Colorado River relied heavily on grand steamboats to deliver goods and supplies.
Beginning in about 1852, the freight was transferred from seafaring vessels to flat-bottomed steamships at Robinson’s Landing, which was located in Baja California on the banks of the Colorado River delta. The supplies were then delivered to destinations up the river, including Fort Yuma.
During this time, the Colorado River Steam Navigation Co. was founded. It would become the largest and most well-known steamboat venture on the river. After an initial failure using a sidewheeler, the company turned to sternwheeler steamboats in 1855. … “
Continue reading this historical article from the Yuma Sun by clicking here.
Barry Nelson: Redford Center film to examine the future of the Colorado River
Posted by: Maven on December 10, 2011 at 7:58 amFrom Barry Nelson at the NRDC Switchboard blog:
“Early next year, the Redford Center will release a documentary on the Colorado River called The River Red, directed by Mark Decena. (Take a moment to follow the film on Facebook) The film couldn’t come at a better time. The Colorado, and the seven Western states that depend on it, face unprecedented challenges.
Earlier this week, the Bureau of Reclamation held a webinar to ask water managers, the public and others for suggestions regarding how to avoid severe water shortages of Colorado River water in the future.
Earlier this year, as part of its ongoing Basin Study, the bureau confirmed that growing demands on the Colorado River now exceed the average flows on the river. That is the primary reason for the dramatic drop in the level of Lake Mead in the past decade. A wet year has helped to raise the level of the lake this year, but the Bureau projects that climate change will cause basin water supplies to decline by 9% in the coming half decade. In the meantime, population in the West continues to grow. … “
Continue reading from Barry Nelson at the NRDC Switchboard blog by clicking here.
A big win in the war for water, says the San Diego Union-Tribune
Posted by: Maven on December 9, 2011 at 8:31 amFrom the San Diego Union-Tribune:
“As it has been for decades, the military is critical to San Diego’s economic future. So is tourism. So are agriculture and the science and technology industries that have helped make San Diego a player in the global economy. But ahead of all those critical economic engines is water. Without a reliable – and reliably growing – supply of water, this semiarid region at the tail end of the pipelines would shrivel and die as an economic powerhouse.
The battle to maintain existing sources of water and to develop new ones is never-ending and is fought on many fronts. One of those battle fronts is the courthouse, and San Diego County won a major legal ruling this week that would have been devastating had it gone the other way. … “
Continue reading from the San Diego Union-Tribune by clicking here.
Thursday’s top of the scroll: State appellate court rules QSA valid; case to head back to trial
Posted by: Maven on December 8, 2011 at 8:42 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press:
“The nation’s largest agriculture-to-urban water transfer is a valid agreement, ruled a panel of Sacramento-area judges on Wednesday.
However, a final outcome is still a ways off as the Quantification Settlement Agreement was ordered back to the Sacramento Superior Court for a decision on the environmental issues surrounding the case.
The Third District Appellate Court reversed the Sacramento Superior Court’s judgment on the agreement to send a portion of the Imperial Irrigation District’s entitlement water to coastal, urban communities. … “
Continue reading from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
From the San Diego Union-Tribune:
“A state Court of Appeal Wednesday ruled in favor of a landmark agreement that for years has delivered a vast new supply of water to the San Diego region while under a legal cloud.
The ruling is likely to be appealed to the state Supreme Court, but in the meantime the San Diego County Water Authority appears free to continue buying the water from Imperial County farmers.
Much is at stake for the San Diego region. In 2011 alone, Imperial Valley farmers sent 80,000 acre feet — enough to serve the needs of 160,000 average households for the year. Eventually the amount ramps up to 200,000 acre feet annually. … “
Continue reading from the San Diego Union-Tribune by clicking here.
From the Desert Sun:
“A California appellate court has reversed a lower court’s invalidation of a landmark Colorado River water deal, providing momentary relief for water districts that rely on the water apportions it set.
The decision will likely result in continued litigation.
“This is a good thing — for the Coachella Valley and for all of California — because of the surety that it gives to our water supplies,” Coachella Valley Water District General Manager Steve Robbins said of the ruling Wednesday on the Quantification Settlement Agreement, or QSA.
This is the 2003 water pact of which the Coachella Valley Water District is a partner. … “
Continue reading from the Desert Sun by clicking here.
COURT DOCUMENTS: Read the appellate court decision here.
MORE COVERAGE: Coverage from the Associated Press is here.
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