Water Series-2011

Water_Series_2011

The Water Crisis at Home and Abroad
a 4 session discussion series offered by the League of Women Voters of La Plata County and the Durango Public Library

Upcoming meetings.  Series Syllabus.  Area Water News.  US Water News.  Global Water News.  Local Water Stories.  Additional Reading Sources.  Water References.  Past Meetings.  Pending Legislation.

Upcoming meetings

Series Syllabus

"The Water Crisis at Home and Abroad"

• session #1: Brief introduction (5 minutes). Show the documentary film, "Flow", which is a concise overview of the issues surrounding global water scarcity and the dwindling resource depletion. Pass out 4 or 5 key questions to participants to research and think about for next session.

• session #2: participant discussion of the documentary film, "Flow," and distributed questions from last session.

  Discussion questions for session 2 include:

  1-According to the documentary film Flow, what are some of the most serious threats to fresh water?

  2-How we grow food impacts how we use watert and who controls it. Discuss.

  3-Some hydrologists and earth scientists use the term "water apartheid." What do you think they mean?

  4-Our ideas of progress and growth are water dependent. Discuss.

  5-Some have argued that the wars of the 21st century will be fought over water, not oil. IS there evidence for this?

  6-Given the gravity of global water issues, what are some solutions?

• session #3: Show the documentary film, "When the Water Tap Runs Dry," whose focus is the water crisis in the United States. Particular attention is paid to the crisis of water in the Southwest. Pass out 4 or 5 questions to participants to research and ponder for last session.

• session #4: Participant discussion of the documentary film, "When the Water Tap Runs Dry." Discussion of the distributed questions from session #3. closing comments (5 minutes).

  Discussion questions for Session 4 include:

  1-According to the documentary, When the Water Tap Runs Dry, climate change will have a profound impact on the availability of water in the United States and, in particular, the Southwest. How so?

  2-Current water usage levels in the West cannopt be maintained for the long term, and water distribution systems in the West are not very resilient. How do we go about changing this situation?

  3-There is a controversy over hydraulic fracturing or "fracking. Some argue that fracking is a serious threat to drinking water. What do you think?

  4-Can growth in western cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas be sustained in the face of the mounting water crisis?

  5-How will the water crisis affect food production and the way we farm in the near future?

*Recommended Reading:

• 1. James Lawrence Powell, Dead Pool: Lake Powell, Global Warming, and the Future of Water in the West (University of California Press), 2008

• 2. Char Miller, Water in the 21st Century West (Oregon State University Press), 2009

• 3. Maude Barlow, Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water (New York: The Free Press), 2007

Area Water News

*11/10/11 Durango Herald:Forest Service chief sees Colo. as model for water funding Public-private collaborations help pay for project By CATHERINE TSAI Associated Press
DENVER + Collaboration among Colorado water providers, private corporations and the federal government to pay for forest projects that preserve drinking-water supplies could provide a funding model for the rest of the country, the agriculture undersecretary who oversees the U.S. Forest Service said Wednesday.
"As state governments and the national government have budgetary problems, we have to be much more focused on how we spend our money," said U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary Harris Sherman. "We have to reach out and develop new partnerships and foster collaboration."
Wildfires have burned more than 8 million acres nationwide this year. That's a concern for drinking water, Forest Service officials say, because rainstorms pounding on burned, barren soil can cause erosion that pollutes rivers and reservoirs. The Forest Service and its partners in Colorado have been reseeding burned areas and thinning diseased trees that could be fuel for a catastrophic fire.
The agency has reached out to the recreation industry and private companies to contribute. Vail Resorts Inc. and MillerCoors have had employees work on restoration projects. More than 20 ski areas have asked customers to pay a lift-ticket surcharge that benefits the National Forest Foundation, the congressionally created nonprofit partner of the Forest Service.
In an era of tight budgets, Sherman said, the Forest Service also is talking with utilities and insurance companies, which have an interest in preventing devastating wildfires that could damage power lines or homes.
Sherman's comments came the same day the Forest Service launched interactive "Forests to Faucets" maps that show important water resources nationwide; how they overlap with forests; and threats to those resources from development, fire, disease and pests such as bark beetles. The idea is to provide data for cities to prioritize spending on water resources...

*10/9/11 Durango Herald OpEdTributary or not? Decoding confusing water rules By Amy Huff On the Law
A gas producer doesn't need a water right to withdraw the nontributary ground water beneath your property; a well permit works just fine. Is a producer taking your private property when it withdraws the nontributary ground water beneath your property without your consent? Oddly enough, the answer is no.
In Southwest Colorado, there are two classes of water + tributary water and nontributary. Tributary water is that which runs in our surface streams and all the water that is connected to our surface streams. Nontributary water is water that is not hydraulically connected to our surface streams. Most commonly, nontributary water is deep ground water.
Colorado's Constitution declares that tributary water is public property that is to be used by the people of the state. Nontributary water, on the other hand, is not public property. So is it private property? Who does it belong to? And who has a right to use it?...

*10/9/11 Durango Herald:Nutrients are an emerging new water-quality concern Proposed rules would apply to sources such as water-treatment plants, sewers By Dale Rodebaugh Herald Staff Writer
Colorado is proposing to control nutrients in water for the first time, but a Durango attorney says the rules are too complicated, based on weak science and exorbitantly expensive.
Jeff Kane of Maynes, Bradford, Shipps & Sheftel brought Southwestern Water Conservation District board members up to date on the issues Thursday. They told him to work with the Colorado Nutrient Coalition and with the Legislature, if necessary.
Nutrients + mainly nitrogen and phosphorous + are essential for plant and animal growth, but they can create algae blooms that steal oxygen from aquatic life. Wastewater-treatment plants are the major source of nutrients, although leaking sewers and storm drains and fertilizer from farms and ranches also produce nutrients.
Colorado has nutrient standards for only a few problem bodies of water + among them Cherry Creek Reservoir in the Denver area and Fruit Growers Reservoir near Grand Junction + but no statewide standards. Only 17 states do, but none with standards that apply to all streams and lakes as Colorado is proposing. The coalition is about 40 entities + stormwater dischargers, water-conservation districts, homebuilders and wastewater dischargers + that would fall under nutrient guidelines...

*9/11/11 Durango Herald:CSU professors push gray-water recycling at Legislature By Joe Hanel Herald Staff Writer

DENVER + Households could save up to half their water if they could reuse "gray water" from shower and sink drains, two Colorado State University professors said last week. The duo convinced state legislators to at least consider changes in restrictive state laws governing gray water.
"We spend a lot of money to treat water to potable quality, and then we use it to either irrigate or flush toilets," said Sybil Sharvelle, an assistant professor at CSU. Sharvelle and professor Larry Roesner want the Legislature to pass a law that gives state water regulators the power to write new rules for reusing water from showers, sinks and washing machines.
They have run tests for several years on household systems that collect used water in tanks about the size of a hot-water heater and redirect the water into toilets or gardens.

*8/31/11 Durnago Herald editorial:Animas River's future River, water quality matter too much to allow inaction
For as long as humans have lived in Durango + indeed long before that time + the Animas River has figured prominently in the region's ability to support vibrant communities. That role has shifted over time, but the Animas' link to Durango's economic and environmental vitality has a long and varied history that will continue to shape the community's future.
What that future looks like depends on how the many and divergent interests invested in the Animas River's health and longevity are able to mutually address their concerns about the fundamentals of the river's health + and, by extension, the economies of the communities through which the Animas flows. The momentum that is generating around that common set of goals bodes well, but there is no shortage of complexities that will inform the discussion and decision-making processes that follow...

*8/31/11 Durango Herald:Water pipeline study proposed By Joe Hanel Herald Staff Writer
Colorado water officials will discuss next month whether to pay $150,000 to study a massive pipeline from Wyoming's Flaming Gorge Reservoir to Front Range cities and farms. Although the pipeline would be far away from Southwest Colorado, it involves Colorado River water, so it could complicate interstate agreements that require Western Colorado to leave water in the rivers for use downstream.
The Colorado Water Conservation Board will consider funding the grant at its Sept. 13-14 meeting in Grand Junction. The grant would pay for a series of meetings to discuss the pipeline over the next year, said Todd Hartman, spokesman for the Department of Natural Resources. He did not know whether the board will make a decision on the grant this month.
Environmental groups are urging the board to deny the grant, citing the high cost of the proposed pipeline and the possibility for damage to trout and endangered fish below Flaming Gorge dam....

The pipeline could carry up to 250,000 acre-feet of water a year, or 81 million gallons.

*8/31/11 Durango Herald :Everyone agrees: The Animas is resource worth preserving Promising cleanup efforts show progress is possible By Dale Rodebaugh And Lynda Edwards Herald Staff Writers (part 3 of a 4 part series)
With so many competing interests dependent on the Animas River, any successful efforts to clean it up and preserve it are going to require a lot of compromise. At some points, the complexity of the law, the depth of the bureaucracy and the passions of the opposing sides make reaching a consensus seem unattainably ambitious.
But glimmers of good-faith collaboration are giving those toiling in the trenches reason to hope. One such glimmer is the River Protection Workgroup, a coalition formed in 2006 as a result of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act approved by Congress in 1968...

Meghan Maloney, a former river-issues coordinator at the San Juan Citizens Alliance, said the coalition has been a model of community participation.

*8/30/11 Durango Herald:The Animas in a changed climate Are restrictions on the horizon? By Lynda Edwards Herald Staff Writer (part 3 of a 4 part series)
Durango's 2011 Water Efficiency Management Plan said that to avert possible shortages, Durango must decide by 2015 whether to raise water rates and impose conservation measures.
The most shocking fact in the plan is that more than 20 percent of Durango's water supply is unbilled and unaccounted for because of misplaced meters or unmetered buildings. The plan recommends infrastructure improvement like waterline replacements, meter replacements and new storage to curtail some loss.
Seven such projects were planned during the coming decade at a total cost of $14 million. The plan said the projects could be downsized if Durangoans reduce water demand.
Early in its 58 pages, the plan poses a major dilemma: It is hard for Durango residents to feel water conservation is urgent when the Animas and Florida rivers are rushing nearby. And it's true the city's current system could serve as many as 49,279 residents + more than double Durango's current population...

*8/29/11 Durango Herald:Want water? Take a number Line of Animas River water users - including kayakers and a fish called the humpback chub - is long and growing By Dale Rodebaugh Herald Staff Writer (part 2 of a 4 part series)
...The state's entire body of water law is based on the deceptively simple premise of "first in time, first in line." This means users are entitled to water based on when the court recognized their right, with senior rights receiving priority. To get a court-decreed right, users must put the water to beneficial use. Similarly, water rights can't be hoarded for an unspecified future use.
From the seemingly straight-forward assertion of first-come, first-served, a structure of laws has emerged so Byzantine that legions of high-paid lawyers depend on it for their livelihood.
The reason the battles are so pitched is that Colorado has limited water. Most of it is spoken for, if not overallocated, and, at the same time, people continue to flow into the state at a high rate. Census numbers place Colorado among the top 10 fastest growing states in the country...

*8/28/11 Durango Herald:"Our River is Ailing Modern demands have profoundly affected the Animas by Dale Rodebaugh Herald Staff Writer (part 1 of a 4 part series)
A giving waterway, the Animas has silently borne demands placed on it ever since the first settlers populated its banks. Native inhabitants of the region, by contrast, used it little.
First came hard-rock miners exploiting the immense riches of the San Juan Mountains in the 1860s. Later, mining produced radioactive tailings from uranium milling. The wounds left by mining still bleed contaminants into the Animas. In fact, toxic discharges have worsened in recent years, raising the specter of a major federal cleanup effort.
Less alarming, but still of growing concern, are wastes + herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, pet excrement + that ooze from the region's growing population like sweat from pores.
Then there is our thirst and the water siphoned to slake it....

*8/18/11 Durango Telegraph:Million in one by Missy Votel
...Seems Fort Collins businessman Aaron Million (his real name) is retooling his plan for a 578-mile pipeline that would siphon 250,000-acre-feet of water from the Green River and Wyoming's Flaming Gorge Reservoir, across the Continental Divide to Colorado's Front Range. According to Million, Colorado is entitled to its share of Flaming Gorge's water, since the Green takes a quick loop through Colorado before hooking up with the Colorado near Moab. The so-called "Regional Watershed Supply Project" would follow I-80 through Wyoming before dropping into Colorado along I-25 and ending near Pueblo.
Funny thing is, the "Million Pipeline," as it is more commonly known, is actually a huge misnomer. Its price is estimated to come in at a hefty $3 billion, although critics put it closer to $9 billion.
But critics, of which there are many + including Wyoming and Utah municipalities with water rights on the Green (including Uintah County), Trout Unlimited, the Sierra Club, American Whitewater and the Colorado-based Western Resource Advocates + are quick to poke holes in Million's pipedream. First and foremost are murky calculations over how much water is really available to Colorado residents. A 2007 study by the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees Flaming Gorge, pegged the basin's annual water availability at 165,000 acre feet through 2049, after which time reserves would drop to 120,000 acre feet. However, many factors, including climate change and interstate water agreements, could mean far less and result in a convoluted and drawn out legal struggle...

*8/2/11 Durango Herald:A full reservoir equals dreams fulfilled After more than 4 decades, A-LP nears finish line By Heather Scofield Herald Staff Writer
His personal trademark, which looks something like a traditional Native American medicine wheel, is etched into the concrete in a hidden, unreachable place.
The mark is a symbol of what the Animas-La Plata Project means to Ute Mountain Ute Vice Chairman Bradley Hight and many other tribal members involved in more than four decades of work on the endeavor. "In the beginning, it was just a job," Hight said, "but now it's a part of me."
After plenty of controversy and $500 million, the project charged with providing water to three Native American tribes and cities and water districts in two states is finally nearing the finish line. The reservoir was declared officially full this summer.

*7/14/11 NPR video: Why The Colorado River Stopped Flowing by NPR staff
Known by some as "America's Nile," the Colorado River stretches about 1,450 miles across seven states and two countries -- and photographer Peter McBride has traveled the entire thing, shooting photos for his new book, The Colorado River: Flowing Through Conflict.
McBride explains the conflict in an interview with All Things Considered host Michele Norris. The delta, which was once a vast, lush ecosystem, has all but dried up. "It shows what happens when you ask too much of a limited resource: It disappears," he says...

*7/7/11 Durango Telegraph editorial:The future of flow Dry times ahead for the Colorado River Basin by Will Sands
The West is in danger of going thirsty as population continues to grow and competition for water intensifies. However, there is also a glimmer of hope + water users all over the West are waking up to dry realities and flushing less of the wet stuff down the drain.
The Colorado River Basin includes the Rocky Mountain chain as well as portions of Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California. Water flowing into the Colorado River and its tributaries provides drinking water to some 30 million people, irrigation for 4+ million acres of land and hydropower to the tune of 4,200 megawatts. However, several recent studies have highlighted a growing discrepancy between the West's growing thirst and the availability of water.
Last month, the Bureau of Reclamation released an interim report titled "Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study." While the report acknowledges a "high degree of uncertainty" regarding future water supplies, the view through the crystal ball is not looking good. Based on continued climate change, the authors predict an increase in the frequency and severity of droughts in the West. Add increases in population into the mix, and the study predicts decreases in the natural flow of the Colorado River of approximately 9 percent over the next 50 years. The implications of the reduction could be staggering...

*7/1/11 Durango Herald:Lake Nighthorse reaches capacity Project took more than 40 years to bring to fruition By Dale Rodebaugh Herald Staff Writer
LAKE NIGHTHORSE + It's full + at long last. Lake Nighthorse, the centerpiece of the Animas-La Plata Project that was created by pumping water from the Animas River, reached capacity at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
"We shook hands and congratulated each other, but that was about it," Tyler Artichoker, the Bureau of Reclamation's first-fill engineer, said Thursday. "They're looking at some dates in August for a formal celebration."
A-LP, as it's known, was authorized by Congress in 1968. In 2003, construction began, and the first water was pumped to the site in Ridges Basin in May 2009.
It was generally accepted that Lake Nighthorse, honoring former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., had a capacity of 120,000 acre-feet. But the actual capacity is 123,541 acre-feet, Artichoker said...

*6/23/11 Durango Herald:Durango water use down 24% since 1990 City in line with trend in Southwest but still above state average By Joe Hanel Herald Staff Writer
Cities in the Southwestern United States are saving enough water every year to fill Lake Nighthorse a dozen times, a new report says.
The Pacific Institute report, to be released today, shows cities in the Colorado River Basin saved 2 million acre-feet a year compared with their per-person consumption rates in 1990. "That's a huge amount of water, so that's a lot of savings for the system," said Michael Cohen, author of the report.
The Colorado River carries approximately 15 million acre-feet of water a year, with large fluctuations. An acre-foot is enough to meet the yearly demand for about two suburban households.
The city of Durango cut back its per-person use by 24 percent since 1990, among the best performances in Colorado. Several Utah cities and Mexicali, Mexico, showed the greatest efficiency improvements in the report, titled "Municipal Deliveries of Colorado River Basin Water." Durango has made great strides, Cohen said. "The downside is they started higher than other cities and remain higher," he said.
Durangoans use an average of 209 gallons of water a day, above the 2008 Colorado average of 176 gallons...

*6/21/11 Durango Herald"Durango to see new water plan Implementation will cost about $75,000 per year By Jordyn Dahl Herald Staff Writer
The Durango City Council adopted a new water-management plan to help officials look for more efficient use at Monday night's meeting.
The city received a grant from the Colorado Water Conservation Board in 2010 to update the city's water-efficiency management plan, which led to development of a new efficiency plan. Previous plans adopted in the 1970s and '80s forced the city to reduce water wastage to meet the water needs of the growing population.
According to information provided by the Department of Public Works, Durango has seen more efficient water delivery. While the population has increased by more than 40 percent in the last 30 years, the city treated the same amount of water in 2010 as it did in 1980. But water is consumed in Durango at a total rate of 209 gallons per capita daily, which is higher than the Colorado average.
The Water Efficiency Management Plan was originally developed in the fall of 2010, and city staff members say the plan will not directly affect the city's 2011 budget. Eventually, implementation of the plan will cost about $75,000 a year...

*6/19/11 Durango Herald editorial:Discussions offer lessons in differences by Megan Graham, Herald editorial writer
Despite the diversity of interests in the Durango area, there are a number of unifying values that influence many residents' decisions to live here in the first place. Broadly, these can be defined as an appreciation of the region's natural surroundings, and as the discussion narrows to a particular topic, the associated values become more clearly articulated. Deciding how to protect, preserve, enhance or capitalize on those shared values is no cakewalk, though, regardless of how much agreement exists around values, as was witnessed through two recent local discussions.
While both the Hermosa Creek River Protection Workgroup process and the conversations surrounding the northern extension of the Animas River Trail centered on how best to address consensus around a commonly treasured feature + the Hermosa Creek watershed and Animas River corridor, respectively + the similarities end there. Certainly the goals diverge greatly: The Hermosa process centered around preservation of a natural area, whereas the Animas River Trail discussion focuses on developing an amenity, albeit one with a natural feature as its focal point. But the processes by which each of those discussions took place say much about the current state of their outcomes...

*6/8/11 Durango Herald:State's use of river could run dry Report cites potential for decreased flow By Joe Hanel Herald Staff Writer
DENVER + The changing climate could reduce the Colorado River's volume an average of 9 percent a year in the next half-century, making it unlikely that Colorado will ever get to use all the water to which it is legally entitled, according to a new federal report. Long droughts of five years or more will occur 40 percent of the time during the next 50 years, the report says.
Monday's report is the first of several in the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the seven states that use the Colorado River. Although several academic studies have been done on the Colorado River and climate change, this is the first major effort by the federal government...

*6/5/11 Durango Herald OP Editorial:Lake Nighthorse draft recreation plan dooms Ridges BasinKen Wright is a hunter, fisherman and boater who lives in Durango. He is also the author of The Monkey Wrench Dad (Raven's Eye Press) and other books.
Game over.

And the game has been over for a long time, I came to realize once I saw the Lake Nighthorse draft recreation plan. It was just that a lot of us hadn't realized it. But any illusions to the contrary + that the game might still be on, that there might still really be a chance to keep what was left of the precious undeveloped, quiet, wildlife-filled rarity that was Ridges Basin + were fully put to rest at the public meeting April 11.
On that night, it became clear that Ridges Basin, and the reservoir contained therein created by the Animas-La Plata Project, was going to become an abomination + an orgy of motorized and industrial-scale fee-driven recreation + and a desecration of the publicly owned blessing that was the pre-ALP Ridges Basin. Truly Lake Nightmare...

*6/3/11 Durango Herald editorial"Hermosa Creek Bill using group's plan honors consensus
Anytime you task five people with reaching agreement on a subject more complex than where to go for dinner, the challenge of finding consensus becomes painfully clear. Multiply that number by a dozen or more and add unique and long-standing positions on how the question at hand must be answered, and the prospects for agreement can become very dim indeed. It is nothing short of miraculous, then, that the Hermosa Creek River Protection Workgroup was able to reach consensus on a protection plan for the watershed. It is fitting that Sen. Michael Bennet is recognizing and acting on that agreement.
The discussions about how best to manage the 100,000-acre Hermosa Creek watershed north of Durango began in 2008, and wrapped up in early 2010 after more than twice the amount of time budgeted for the process had elapsed. The overage was worth it, though, as the end consensus product represented something all interests could live with + and the stakeholders were hardly a homogenous bunch. Wilderness advocates, mountain bikers, mining representatives, local governments, ranchers, hunters, water managers and horseback riders were among the diversity of interests at the table to discuss their shared + and divergent + visions for the watershed. In no small feat, facilitator Marsha Porter-Norton herded these cats to a consensus position wherein everyone walks away with something they like + and with something they have to swallow.
Sen. Bennet has embodied the group's recommendations in a draft bill, the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act of 2011, picking up the work begun by former Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, who lost his re-election bid in November. In so doing, Bennet is honoring the workgroup's efforts...

6/2/11 Durango Herald:New Mexico drought spurs wildfires, hurts ranchers By Ivan Moreno Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE + Albuquerque and Roswell are on pace for their driest years on record, mirroring conditions across New Mexico that have bolstered large wildfires, hurt crops and forced ranchers to sell livestock they can't afford to feed.
Rain has been scarce throughout most of New Mexico, and weather records from Albuquerque and Roswell offer this stark example: The cities have not been this dry during the first five months of a year since 1892, when the state began keeping records. The rest of the state is not much different. It's the third-driest year in state history so far...

*6/2/11 Durango Herald:Colo. braces for floods as snow melts By Dan Elliott Associated Press
DENVER + Many Colorado residents are bracing for floods as record mountain snows begin to melt, but authorities say it's too early to predict when or where rivers will overflow their banks.
Extended warm weather could melt the snow quickly and fill mountain streams with surging runoff, state climatologist Nolan Doesken said, but alternating cool and warm spells could make the runoff more gradual. "That is the piece of the puzzle we're still waiting on," he said Wednesday at a meeting of the Colorado Flood Task Force.
Tom Browning, task force chairman, said he's more concerned about flooding now than he has been all season. But he stressed that predicting floods isn't an exact science...

*5/29/11 Durango Herald:Sen. hikes Hermosa Creek Bennet praises the contributions of group offering plan for watershed By Stephanie Cook Herald Staff Writer
Fresh off the campaign trail, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet spent Sunday morning hiking the sunny trails of Hermosa Creek. Members of several local groups including the San Juan Citizens Alliance, the Great Old Broads for Wilderness, the Durango Historical Society and the Durango Water Commission gathered for a hike hosted by Bennet and his family.
One branch of Bennet's four-day tour throughout the Four Corners, the event served as a platform for the senator to discuss and gather feedback on a bill that would help protect and preserve the Hermosa Creek Watershed.
The bill is based on recommendations submitted by the Hermosa Creek Workgroup, a group composed of conservationists, water officials, landowners, outdoor recreation users, and several other groups of residents interested in preserving the Hermosa Creek area...

*5/25/11 Durango Herald:City looks to finance A-LP water buy By Dale Rodebaugh Herald Staff Writer
With the Animas-La Plata Project nearing completion, Jack Rogers, the city's public works director, told Durango city councilors it's decision time to figure out how to pay for the city's share of water.
Also attending Tuesday's City Council study session were members of the Durango Water Commission. While no vote was taken on financing the water purchase, by consensus, participants told Rogers to ask the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority for a loan.
Rogers said the $3 million, 20-year loan the city needs would have an interest rate of about 2.5 percent. It beats the rate the city would get anywhere else, Rogers said.
On the recommendation of a consultant, the city of Durango in 2005 asked the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority to reserve a portion of A-LP water in its name...

US Water News

*9/19/11 NY TImes:How Energy Drains Water Supplies By KATE GALBRAITH
AUSTIN, TEXAS -- The worst single-year drought in the recorded history of Texas has caused cotton crops to wither and ranchers to sell off cattle. It may also hurt power plants, which need vast amounts of water to cool their equipment. "We will be very concerned" if it does not rain by spring, said Kent Saathoff, an official with the Texas electric grid operator.
The worries in Texas bear out what an increasingly vocal group of researchers has been warning in recent years: that planners must pay more attention to how much water is needed in energy production. "Water and energy are really linked," said Henrik Larsen, a water policy expert with the DHI Group, a research and consulting firm based in Denmark. "If you save water, you save energy, and vice-versa."
Experts call this the "water-energy nexus." It takes huge quantities of water to produce electricity from a plant powered by nuclear energy or fossil fuels, and it also takes lots of energy to pump and process the water that irrigates fields and supplies cities.
In the United States, 4 percent of all fresh water is consumed in the energy sector, and 3 percent of all electricity used daily goes toward water and wastewater pumping, distribution, and treatment, according to Mike Hightower, a member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories.

A big problem, experts say, is that water is often taken for granted...

*8/27/11 NY Times:Water Use by Vineyards Is ChallengedBy JACOBA CHARLES>
The dense forests of redwood, oak and Douglas fir that once covered much of Sonoma County have for many decades been giving way to pastures, orchards, subdivisions -- and vineyards. Now, those vineyards are emerging as yet another threat to a fish that would go just perfectly with the region's signature pinot noir: the coho salmon.
Battered by a long history of habitat loss, logging and development, a dwindling number of coho struggle to survive in the rivers and streams where they return every year to spawn. Now they must contend with water-hungry vines, and especially a frost-prevention method that involves spraying plants with 50 gallons of water per acre, per minute. In smaller tributaries, the technique can literally suck stretches of a stream dry.
"There are a lot more grape vineyards than there really is water for," said Brian Cluer, a scientist with the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The acreage planted in vines has increased as much as 50 percent in some parts of the county over the last decade, and Mr. Cluer said the county was still issuing permits for new vineyards without requiring proof of an adequate water supply...

*8/16/11 NPR:Why Cleaned Wastewater Stays Dirty In Our Minds by Alix Spiegel
Brent Haddad studies water in a place where water is often in short supply: California. Haddad is a professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. About 14 years ago, he became very interested in the issue of water reuse. At the time, a number of California's local water agencies were proposing a different approach to the state's perennial water problems. They wanted to build plants that would clean local wastewater -- aka sewage water -- and after that cleaning, make it available as drinking water. But, says Haddad, these proposals were consistently shot down by an unwilling public.
"The public wasn't really examining the science involved," Haddad says. "They were just saying no." This infuriated the water engineers, who thought the public's response was fundamentally irrational, Haddad says. "That's what I would hear at these water agency meetings," Haddad says, "these very frustrated water engineers saying, 'My public is irrational! They are irrational! They simply won't listen!'...

*8/16/11 NPR:Heat, Drought Pressure Oklahoma's Water Supplies Michael Cross
It's been so hot and dry this summer that climatologists say the southern part of the United States is going through an "exceptional drought." Parts of Oklahoma have seen little rain since October -- not to mention a string of 100-degree days. The steamy conditions are pressuring the state's water needs.
About 1.2 million people live in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, and they are putting a drain on the city's water supplies. At the Lake Hefner Water Treatment Plant, manager Doug Holmes says the triple-digit temperatures have pushed demand for water to peak levels. "It's not necessarily been much of a call for water; it's just been more water over an extended period of time," Holmes says. "Normally, we're flowing at our maximum capacity for a couple of weeks; this time it's been about a month, month and a half."...

*7/30/11 NY Times:In the Flood Zone, but Astonished by High Water By A. G. SULZBERGER
DAKOTA DUNES, S.D. -- Some skeptical locals offered a warning when developers transformed this mostly barren peninsula at the intersection of two rivers into an exclusive planned community, complete with million-dollar homes and a private golf course designed by Arnold Palmer.
They call it "the Dunes" for a reason, the warning went -- the rivers put the sand there, and the rivers could sweep it away. But, much like the developers, the new residents were not worried. A few even paid a premium to be closest to the flowing water of the Missouri and the Big Sioux.
Now, a little more than two decades later, the stately homes on Spyglass Circle and Pebble Beach Drive have been evacuated and the 18th hole is under six feet of water, as miles of newly built levees strain to keep this community from surrendering to a historic flood.
Many residents here at the southeastern tip of the state, where it borders Nebraska and Iowa, say they never imagined this chain of events. Scott Mackie, like most of his neighbors, did not take out flood insurance on his newly built house -- not because he could not afford it, he said, but because he believed the Missouri had been tamed by a system of dams and reservoirs...

*7/21/11 Economist Magazine:Bone-dryDrought has blanketed nearly a third of the lower 48
EVERY year's weather is worse than the year before's. Each summer is hotter, each winter more bitter. At least, that's what people like to grumble; sometimes, though, the impression is actually accurate. According to a report on July 12th by the United States Drought Monitor, nearly 30% of the land in the contiguous United States (the 48 states other than Alaska and Hawaii) is affected by drought. Rainfall is at a fraction of its usual levels, heat at historical highs. Temperatures this week have exceeded 105°F (40°C) in many places--not just in the sweltering South, but in parts of the mid-Atlantic and the Great Plains, where soil soaked by the spring floods adds a horrible humidity.
About 12% of the country is in an "exceptional" drought, the worst category. That swathe of fire is centred on Texas, stretches north into Kansas, and sprawls from Arizona in the west to Georgia in the east (see map). And according to forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, things will get worse before they get better...

*7/26/11 NPR audio:Two States Protect Lake Tahoe, But One Eyes Changes by Brandon Rittiman
Lake Tahoe sits right on the state line between California and Nevada, and the two states work together to protect the lake's ecosystem. The partnership has helped to stall the reduction in the remarkable clarity of the lake's deep blue waters.
But now Nevada wants out of the partnership if it doesn't get some concessions from California...

*7/26/11 NY Times:Storing Water for a Dry Day Leads to Suits By FELICITY BARRINGER
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Peter Key knew something was strange when the water levels in his tropical fish tank began to go down last summer. Then the washing machine took 40 minutes to fill, and the toilets would not flush.
But even as Mr. Key and neighbors spent $14,000 to deepen their community well here, they had identified a likely culprit. They blamed water banking, a system in which water-rights holders -- mostly in the rural West -- store water in underground reservoirs either for their own future use or for leasing to fast-growing urban areas.
So the neighbors' small local water utility has gone to state court to challenge the wealthy farming interests that dominate two of the country's largest water banks...

*6/2/11 Durango Herald editorial:Clean water Regulate but don't block mine cleanup efforts
As the snowpack melts, much of Colorado's water rushes across rocks and still-frozen ground, collecting in streams that pour from the high country. On the way, it picks up evidence of everything it passes. As the weather warms, some of that water does not run off; it begins to percolate down + into crevasses and into the soil to run along layers of impermeable rock until it either bubbles to the surface again or joins the groundwater below.
In Colorado, a lot of that water trickles into abandoned mines and washes across the tailings piles found in the upper end of nearly every drainage in the state. According to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, there are at least 7,300 abandoned mines in the state, and 450 are known to be leaking measurable toxins + including arsenic, cadmium, copper and zinc + into the state's watersheds. (The DNR has inadequate staff to monitor all mines; it is logical to believe that many more are pollution hazards.)...
Yet according to the Post, the fear of liability has deterred anyone + companies that want to renew mining, water utilities, environmental groups and even governmental entities + from tackling the cleanup. If they accidentally make matters worse, they could face federal prosecution under the Clean Water Act for polluting waterways without a permit. Although President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar want to reduce that liability, legislative gridlock has stalled the effort...

*6/1/11 Durango Herald:Judge tosses bid for water rights Ruling could strengthen rights of landowners over gas companies By Joe Hanel Herald Staff Writer
A Durango judge tossed out several gas companies' applications for water rights Friday in a ruling that could strengthen the hands of landowners in negotiations with drillers.
Judge Gregory Lyman's ruling is the latest development in a long struggle concerning water rights and gas drilling that began in his Durango courtroom in 2007. In that case, Lyman ruled for Southwest Colorado ranchers who sued to get the state to regulate water use by natural-gas drillers. The state Supreme Court upheld Lyman's 2007 ruling and required gas companies to get water well permits and water rights. In response, several gas companies + including BP, Samson, Chevron, XTO Energy and other operators + filed for water rights in area streams and groundwater formations. But several local landowners and governments, including the city of Durango and the U.S. Forest Service, filed statements of opposition...

*5/29/11 Durango Herald:Cost of Texas drought climbing with each dry day By Betsy Blaney Associated Press
LUBBOCK, Texas + A historic drought has already cost Texas farmers and ranchers an estimated $1.5 billion, and the cost is growing daily as parched conditions persist in much of the state.
May is typically the wettest month in Texas, but parts of the state haven't seen significant rain since last August. Officials said if the drought continues into June, losses for the nation's second-largest agriculture producer will top $4 billion, making it the costliest season on record...

*5/29/11 The Seattle TimesClean water down the toilet: more than a drop in the bucket By Kathleen Parker
NEW YORK -- In a slender essay titled "Here Is New York," E.B. White wrote about the implausibility of the great city, mentioning among other things the millions of gallons of water needed each day just so people could brush their teeth.
That was in 1948. Since then, the implausibility factor has increased thousands-fold -- or at least an awful lot -- a fact among many that prompted Charles Fishman to expand White's thought in his new book, "The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water."
If you read it -- and you should -- you will be very thirsty. And you will never flush again with the same nonchalance...

Global Water News

*11/19/11 Economist:Unquenchable thirst A growing rivalry between India, Pakistan and China over the region's great rivers may be threatening South Asia's peace
SONAULLAH PHAPHO has spent half a century picking a living from Wular lake high in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Today he is lucky if he scoops a fish or two out of the soupy mess. Push a boat into the knee-deep lake and the mud raises a stink of sewage. A century ago Wular and its surrounding marshes covered more than 217 square kilometres (84 square miles), making it one of Asia's larger freshwater lakes. Now, thanks to silt and encroachment, the extraction of water by nearby towns and tree planting on the shore, it measures only 87 sq km and is shrinking.
Compared with much of South Asia, Kashmir, a disputed territory in northern India, has many rivers and relatively few people. But even here fresh water is running short. To see how contentious this can be, drive half a day south to where the Baglihar dam (shown above) is rising up. An enormous wall bisects the valley, dressing it in white spray, and three huge jets of water blast from its sluices...

*10/16/11 Durango Herald:Challenges loom as world population hits 7B By DAVID CRARY AP National Writer
She's a 40-year-old mother of eight, with a ninth child due soon. The family homestead in a Burundi village is too small to provide enough food, and three of the children have quit school for lack of money to pay required fees. "I regret to have made all those children," says Godelive Ndageramiwe. "If I were to start over, I would only make two or three."... But in Burundi, Uganda and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, the demographic news is mostly sobering as the region staggers under the burdens of the world's highest birthrates and deepest poverty. The regional population of nearly 900 million could reach 2 billion in 40 years at current rates, accounting for about half of the projected global population growth over that span.
"Most of that growth will be in Africa's cities, and in those cities, it will almost all be in slums where living conditions are horrible," said John Bongaarts of the Population Council, a New York-based organization.
Is catastrophe inevitable? Not necessarily. But experts say most of Africa + and other high-growth developing nations such as Afghanistan and Pakistan + will be hard-pressed to furnish enough food, water and jobs for their people, especially without major new family-planning initiatives.
"Extreme poverty and large families tend to reinforce each other," says Lester Brown, an environmental analyst who heads the Earth Policy Institute in Washington. "The challenge is to intervene in that cycle and accelerate the shift to smaller families." Without such intervention, Brown says, food and water shortages could fuel political destabilization in developing regions.
"There's quite a bit of land that could produce food if we had the water to go with it," he said. "It's water that's becoming the real constraint."...

*9/2/11 Irrawaddy Times:'Save The Irrawaddy' Campaign Gains Momentum
A petition signed by nearly 1,600 influential Burmese persons, including politicians, journalists, writers, artists and film directors, has been sent to President Thein Sein on Thursday with a campaign message titled "From Those who Wish the Irrawaddy to Flow Forever." The signatories included: Win Tin, a prominent member of the opposition National League for Democracy; veteran journalists Sein Win and Maung Wun Tha; Kyaw Thu, the founder of the Free Funeral Services Society; writer Than Myint Aung; social activist Aung Thin; the acclaimed writer Zaw Zaw Aung; and film director Cho Tu Zal.
The campaign was organized by Myat Thu, a prominent member of the 88 Generation Students group. Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Myat Thu said, "Along with the petition we sent a letter that outlined our anxieties."
The Irrawaddy River is considered the main artery of Burma and million sof people depend on it for their livelihoods. It has its source in Kachin State in northern Burma at the confluence of the N'mai and Mali rivers, and flows 2,170 km (1,348 mi) through many of the country's main cities, including Myitkyina, Bhamo, Mandalay, Sagaing, Bagan, Magwe and Pyay, before emptying in the fertile Irrawaddy delta.
But today the river is faced with an unprecedented threat in the form of ongoing dam projects in Kachin State. Burma's previous ruling military regime and China's state-owned Chinese Power Investment Corporation (CPI) agreed to built a megadam at Myitsone, the confluence that acts as the source of the Irrawaddy. If completed, the hydropower dam project will be the 15th largest hydroelectric power station in the world, and will cost an estimated US $3.6 billion. The length of the dam is to be about 499 ft (152 m), and its height about 499 ft, equivalent to a 50-story building. The surface area of the reservoir is to be 295.8 sq mi (766 sq km), larger than the city state of Singapore. Environmentalists, activists and politicians have given voice to growing concerns about the fate of this mighty river, but the government is reluctant to take action to stop construction.
Meanwhile, political parties and independent candidates have called on the Supreme Court to take action to save the Irrawaddy River...

*Water Wars Part 1 - The Weather Channel
Explosive growth and recent droughts have made the American Southwest a hotbed of water woes. Here's the story of 2 towns caught up in a war over water.

*Global Water Shortage Pt.1 / BBC World News America
A Billion people don't have access to sufficient water and with water use.

*6/7/11 NYTimes:The Earth is Full by Thomas L. Friedman
You really do have to wonder whether a few years from now we'll look back at the first decade of the 21st century -- when food prices spiked, energy prices soared, world population surged, tornados plowed through cities, floods and droughts set records, populations were displaced and governments were threatened by the confluence of it all -- and ask ourselves: What were we thinking? How did we not panic when the evidence was so obvious that we'd crossed some growth/climate/natural resource/population redlines all at once?...

*Water as a Critical Resource United Nations Population Fund
Water is among the most precious of natural resources, essential for the survival of life on Earth. As the global population has grown, demands on the finite supply of fresh water have increased dramatically. More than half of all available fresh water is now appropriated for use by the planet's 6.1 billion people. The additional amount that can be harnessed for the more than 9 billion people we will be in the future is limited...

Local Water Stories

*Do you have a local story about water conditions, drought and/or water conservation??

If so, send it to your webmaster at eandrpark@aol.com and it will be posted here.
THANKS!

*9/10/11: from Lois Carpenter

I learned recently that Texas Monthly had an article about Midland and water in the Sept. issue. Checked it out and actually found 3 items at http://www.texasmonthly.com.

---Blame It on No Rain by Kate Galbraith
---A Q & A with Kate Galbraith
---Mother Nature finally smiles on Midland with needed rain by James Cannon

I do remember Wes Perry and expect he is a much better mayor than many of Midland's past mayors. Though his wife is called Rickie, they are not related to the guv, thank goodness. And Burr Williams has been doing his bit to educate stubborn west Texans about Mother Nature and the desert for decades.

In 1980 our church in Midland bought and built a new church on the 5 acres where Burr grew up and his parents still lived. It had been rural when they bought the land, but by 1980 the town had grown up around them. When the Midland Mall was completed on the northwest edge of town, their street suddenly became one of the busiest in town. They wanted to move farther out, so it was a good deal for all. They had always left the 5 acres as a natural environment replete with mesquite, cactus, birds, insects and wild beasties. I'm sure they had their share of rattlesnakes and scorpions, and it may have been the last place in the city limits that anyone could have found a live horny toad! Now that land is occupied by our UU church on the corner and a Lutheran church that bought about half the five acres from us. And the neighbors, despite their misgivings about UU's, were happy not to have that 5-acre "wasteland" in their neighborhood!

Looking forward to the water discussion next week.
Lois

*8/30/11 2011 movie trailer with Johnny Depp Rango
Rango is an ordinary chameleon who accidentally winds up in the town of Dirt, a lawless outpost in the Wild West in desperate need of a new sheriff. Rango soon learns that controlling water equals control of everything in the wild west...

*8/24/11 Pride of the West project video an 8 minute video of the Animas River Stakeholders Group work to close an open slope at the Pride of the West Mine

*8/18/11 Durango Herald Letters to the Editor:The water crisis by Ross Park
To the Editors,
For the past several weeks, the local media has carried articles focused on the importance and the growing scarcity of water. Water is, unquestionably, the most familiar and most important substance in our lives, which makes the growing water-availability problems that we face critical to our ongoing survival. Changes to how we view and plan for water usage should be approached now with creativity and forethought rather than at the advent of a crisis. All water problems are local or regional, and their solutions must originate locally or regionally, underlining our individual responsibility for our water behavior and habits. To help us learn more about water issues and possible solutions, the League of Women Voters of La Plata County and the Durango Public Library invite you to attend "The Water Crisis at Home and Abroad," a study and discussion series to be held in 4 sessions from noon to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays, Sept. 6, 13, 20 and 27 in Program Room #2 at the Durango Public Library. We are honored to have Dennis Lum, Professor Emeritus of Fort Lewis College, who will provide information, as well as moderate and facilitate our discussions. For more information and a syllabus of each session, see http://www.lwvlaplata.org/waterseries.html.
Ross Park, Durango

*Having grown up not far from the banks of the muddy Canadian River that is located northeast of Amarillo, Texas, I keep fond memories of afternoons spent baiting my hook and casting across the river for a lazy catfish dinner. Guess those days are gone or at least on hold... Ross - your webmaster

8/11/11 Durango Herald:Texas' killer droughtDomino effect of weather could harm wildlife for years to come By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI Associated Press
CANADIAN, Texas In a muddy pile of sand where a pond once flowed in the Texas Panhandle, dead fish, their flesh already decayed and feasted on by maggots, lie with their mouths open. Nearby, deer munch on the equivalent of vegetative junk food, and wild turkeys nibble on red harvester ants - certainly not their first choice for lunch.
As the state struggles with the worst one-year drought in its history, entire ecosystems, from the smallest insects to the largest predators, are struggling for survival. The foundations of their habitats - rivers, springs, creeks, streams and lakes - have turned into dry sand, wet mud, trickling springs or, in the best case, large puddles.
Since January, Texas has gotten only about 6 inches of rain, compared with a norm of about 13 inches, making it the most severe one-year drought on record. Last week, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center said the La Niņa weather pattern blamed for the lack of rain might be back soon, and if that happens, the dry spell would almost certainly extend into 2012...

*8/5/11 Durango Herald opinion: Vital importance of water visible on drive across state by J. Paul Brown, J. Paul Brown represents House District 59 in Colorado's General Assembly. The district encompasses San Juan, Archuleta and La Plata counties and parts of Montezuma County. Contact Rep. Brown by phone at (303) 866-2914 or by email at jpaul.brown.house@state.co.us.
My favorite color is green. I was reminded of that as I traveled to Greeley to attend and speak at the annual Colorado Farm Bureau summer conference. We truly do have a beautiful state, and it is no wonder that everyone would like to live here.
I began my trek traveling through the Florida Mesa, Oxford, Ignacio, Allison and Arboles southeast of Durango and viewed the beautiful green hay fields irrigated by the stored water of Lemon and Vallecito reservoirs and contrasted by the yellow nonirrigated dry lands that hunger for rain. I traveled on to the high mountain meadows of Pagosa Springs, Wolf Creek Pass and Southfork kept green by mountain showers and the rotational grazing of multicolored cattle. I then proceeded through the San Luis Valley with miles and miles of blooming alfalfa and potato fields interspersed with barley fields made green with water pumped from underground reservoirs rejuvenated by the Rio Grande runoff. I concluded my trip in Weld County, which is one of the top agriculture-producing counties in the United States. There I saw acres and acres of carrots, onions, lettuce, cabbage, sweet corn, alfalfa, grass, wheat and barley fields made green by stored water from the mountain snow runoff. Add to this the rest of Colorado, and you have a huge industry.
You can't talk about agriculture without talking water. Whether it is the half-acre garden for growing products for the local farmers market, the 200-acre diversified family farm or the 1,000-acre cattle ranch with a forest permit, water is essential for survival in Colorado.
Until recently, Southwest Colorado has been as brown as winter, except where irrigation water has quenched the land's thirst. If it weren't for our stored water, we would be in bad shape. Conversely, Northern Colorado has had almost too much rain. Fueled by development, the Front Range of Colorado has an insatiable thirst for water, especially Western Slope water. That demand will continue until it is satisfied...

*8/1/11 NY Times:Complaint Box | Water Wasters By TED BOTHA
There are many gripes one can have about the gym -- guys who don't rack their weights, who grunt so forcefully you'd think they were giving birth, who hog the equipment, or who sing aloud to their iPods oblivious that they are off key and audible to the whole world. But it's in the locker room where, for me, the worst offenders reside: the guys who leave the water running while they shave (their faces, heads, backs, whatever)...

*7/27/11 Durango Herald:Sewage estimate: 300,000 gallons Durango releases amount it thinks spilled into the Animas River By Lynda Edwards Herald Staff Writer
Durango has given the Colorado health department an official estimate of how much sewage spilled into the Animas River the weekend of July 15: 300,000 gallons.
For context, that's how much a Wisconsin water park touts it uses in its 19 indoor water slides, five swimming pools, water fort and body-surfing wave pool.
David Kurz, lead wastewater engineer for the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, said a variety of unknowns make determining the exact amount of leaked sewage impossible. "Estimates are made at the moment of the spill based on flow, and those estimates are not always accurate," Kurz said...

*7/24/11 Durango Herald:LeBlanc: Our system failed City has no written emergency-response plan for sewage spill By Lynda Edwards Herald Staff Writer
After sewage spilled into the Animas River last weekend, Durango residents had a lot of questions, from why repair crews failed to notify the Public Works director immediately to why it took three days to warn the public about a health hazard.
City manager Ron LeBlanc offered a brutally honest and painful answer. "Our system failed; our communications failed," LeBlanc said. "The city has no written emergency-response plan for a sewage spill. I was disappointed to find that out as a result of this spill. ... Sometimes we don't do a good job in an emergency response. This was one of those times. It's my job as a city manager to see that we do a good job in the future."...

*Water story from Lois Carpenter, Durango, CO 6/1/11:
Looks as if you are out to educate the public on the water situation. It's good to try. It's hard to get the general public to be concerned about water. Sometimes it is even hard to get public officials in an area of frequent drought to acknowledge that water should not be wasted. Growing up in Midland, TX, in the 40's, I learned to be careful about water use. My parents were careful and taught me to be careful. It never occurred to me to leave the water running while brushing my teeth.

In the 70's in Midland, we lived on a rectangular block with only 3 houses on one narrow end of the block. An alley ran behind the houses, and the rest of the long block beyond was a public park, one of many drainage parks in Midland designed to hold ponded water after a rainstorm. After a storm the water would be pumped, via temporarily laid pipes, to a street designed for drainage whence it flowed to the nearest draw.

There was play equipment at one end of the park, right behind our house where our children often played. The side edges of the park were landscaped with a few trees and grass. Of course most of the time it was not raining. The city would irrigate the grass with long pipes with sprinkler heads at intervals. It might be a week or so between waterings, then the city would turn the water on. Those sprinklers would spout water for 2 to 5 days, day and night, in the same place! The first couple of summers we lived there I would call the city offices to complain about their totally wasting water. We homeowners didn't water like that! Why should they? It didn't make the park's grass grow any faster. Midland's water was so hard and full of calcium it probably did more to pollute the earth than to make grass grow.

One day I got patronized by the head of the department who explained to me very patiently that the city did not need to worry about its water supply. It had plenty of water. In fact it had enough water rights to supply Midland with all the water it needed until 2026. Anyone who glanced at the local newspaper headlines was well aware of that. Apparently the city could not conceive of anything farther into the future than 50 years or that the city might still need water after that date. It was as though merely having water rights obligated them to use it up as fast as they possibly could. I don't suppose any of those same people are still there running the city now. But today 2026 doesn't sound very far away. I wonder how far into the future their water rights extend now to supply water to a much larger population. And I wonder if they ever stopped wasting the water. Somehow I still doubt if leading by setting a good example every occurred to them. So glad I don't live there any more!
Lois

Additional Reading Sources

• Alex Prudehomme, The Ripple Effect - the fate of fresh water in the twenty-first century, , Simon & Schuster, 2011

• Maggie Black & Janet King, The Atlas of Water - mapping the world's most critical resource, University of California Press, 2009

• Steven Soloman, Water - the epic struggle for wealth, power and Civilization, Harper, Collins 2010

• Charles Fishman, The Big Thirst: The secret life and turbulent future of water, Free Press, April 12, 2011

• Brown and Caldwell Rocky Mountain Water News

Water References

*12/19/11 Link TV Video (YouTube):Fracking Hell: The Untold Story

*11/10/11 USDA Forest Service: Forests to Faucets

*10/3/11 Time Magazine:Droughtbusters By Anita Hamilton
The world is getting thirstier. Five ways we can keep from going dry.

*8/29/11 Charity: Water charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of public donations directly fund water projects. Learn more or donate.

*8/24/11 International Water Management Institute An Ecosystem Services Approach to Water and Food Security 5.6MB download

*8/23/11 International Water Management Institute Opinion: The Water Deficit
Current farming practices draw too much of the world's freshwater supplies to be sustainable. A change is needed to support growing agricultural demand. By David Molden | August 23, 2011

*8/22/11 Animas River Stake Holder Group meeting of May 19, 2011
The Animas River Stake Holder Group convened a meeting in Silverton to educate the community about the current situation with draining mines in the upper Cement Creek watershed.
Peter Butler, Bill Simon and Steve Fearn, Coordinating Committee for ARSG, presented the program. The program included a history of the ARSG and efforts to remediate the worst of the acid mine drainage in the Animas watershed. Following is an attempt to document most of the points made in the meeting.
Current Situation: Over the last 5 years or so there has been an increase in the concentrations of metals in Cement Creek and into the Animas River at Silverton. Studies have documented significant declines in aquatic invertebrates (bugs that trout eat) and the trout species (we've lost 3 out of 4 species at one sampling site in the Animas River Canyon below Silverton). Further, studies show deteriorating water quality at the Bakes Bridge sampling site...

*8/6/11 Durango Herald opinion: Collaborating for the Animas RiverDan Randolph is interim executive director of San Juan Citizens Alliance. Reach him at dan@sanjuancitizens.org. Bruce Whitehead is executive director of Southwestern Water Conservation District. Reach him at brucew@southwesternwater.org. They both serve on the River Protection Workgroup Steering Committee.

We would like to invite everyone interested in the Animas River to join a discussion regarding the future of this important component of our communities, economy and landscape.
The River Protection Workgroup for the Animas River is in its initial stages, and we want to make sure people understand the goals of the process and that their input is not only welcome but is strongly desired...

• Pacific Institute Dr. Peter H. Gleick, President The Pacific Institute is a nonpartisan research institute that works to advance environmental protection, economic development, and social equity The Water and Sustainability Program works to improve efficiency, ensure basic access to water, and protect the environment.

• Animas-La Plata Project U.S. Dept of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation

• Water Resources in the Four Corners Region The Water Information Program

• Water Headlines United States Environmental Protection Agency

• Water Conservation News Science Daily

• Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study The Bureau of Reclamation today released a report titled "Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study Interim Report No. 1." The reports and analysis prepared as components of the Study will better define options for future water management of the Colorado River Basin where climate change, record drought, population increases and environmental needs have heightened competition for scarce water supplies. The Colorado River Basin (Basin) was selected as one of the first three basin studies approved by the Bureau of Reclamation in September 2009...

• River Protection Watergroup Organized in late 2006 by the Southwestern Water Conservation District and the San Juan Citizens Alliance, a River Protection Workgroup Steering Committee is carrying out a community process to involve the public in developing measures to protect the natural values of selected streams in the region while allowing water development to continue.

• Hermosa Creek Workgroup Our Proposal for the Future - Protecting the watershed for the long run

• Global Footprint Network Global Footprint Network is an international think tank working to advance sustainability through use of the Ecological Footprint, a resource accounting tool that measures how much nature we have, how much we use and who uses what. By making ecological limits central to decision-making, we are working to end overshoot and create a society where all people can live well, within the means of one planet.

Past Meetings

*10/7/11 Water 101 Seminar
The Water Information Program's Annual Water 101 Seminar will be conducted Friday, October 7th from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm at the Pagosa Springs Community Center (451 Hot Springs Blvd). The Seminar qualifies for 7 continuing education credits (CECs) for lawyers and 8 CECs for realtors. This is a great opportunity to learn more about water law and issues in our basin. Please consider attending and/or pass the information along to any whom you feel would be interested.
The Seminar features a line-up of qualified speakers, including the keynote-Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs. In addition, representatives from federal, state, and local water agencies will provide a basic understanding of water and related issues in the area.
The fee is $35 if registered before the seminar or $40 at the door (includes lunch, snack, and information packet). For more information and/or to register contact Denise Rue-Pastin at the Water Information Program at (970) 247-1302, denise@waterinfo.org.

*The League of Women Voters of La Plata County and the Durango Public Library
invite you to attend a study and discussion series titled

"The Water Crisis at Home and Abroad"

to be held in 4 sessions from noon to 2PM on Tuesdays, September 6,13,20,27 in Program Room#2 at the Durango Public Library
We are honored to have Dennis Lum, Professor Emeritus of Fort Lewis College, moderate and facilitate our discussions.
Click water series flier to get more information.

Please put this event on your calendar and reserve the dates for this interactive series

*Dear LWVLPC member,

If you have been thinking that you can ignore the problems related to water quality and availability, maybe you should reconsider... Check out the Sunday edition of the Durango Herald (8/28/11)

• Our river is ailing: Modern demands have profoundly affected the Animas http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20110828/NEWS01/708289891/Our-river-is-ailing

• Hotchkiss: Avoid drinking the tap water: Contamination could lead to increased cancer risks http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20110828/NEWS02/708289893/Hotchkiss:-Avoid-drinking-the-tap-water

• Reservoir to be drained to repay Kan. water debt http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20110828/NEWS02/708289895/Reservoir-to-be-drained-to-repay-Kan-water-debt

  Join us for the "The Water Crisis at Home and Abroad" sponsored by the League of Women Voters of La Plata County and the Durango Public Library each Tuesday in September (6/13/20/27) from noon to 2pm. A discussion group moderated by Dennis Lum, Professor Emeritus of Fort Lewis College. (no, you don't have to make every one...)

  Ross Park - LWVLPC tel 970 799-1382 check out our Water Series page at http://www.lwvlaplata.org/waterseries.html

  *6/25/11 San Luis Valley, CO: 2012 will be water celebration Posted: Saturday, Jun 25th, 2011 BY: RUTH HEIDE VALLEY -- Prepare to party -- and learn -- in 2012. The entire state including the San Luis Valley will be involved in the Colorado Water 2012 celebration next year, and already plans are underway for various celebratory and educational events. Some of the Colorado Water 2012 events will be combined with ongoing or already scheduled activities such as the annual water festival coordinated by educator Judy Lopez. The annual Rio Grande/Rio Bravo meeting will be hosted next October by Alamosa and is expected to bring 100-150 people to the area. The Rio Grande Reservoir will celebrate its 100th anniversary in conjunction with the Colorado Water 2012, and a display on the history of area reservoirs will be circulated in local libraries, city halls, visitor centers and colleges. Other possible promotions next year include: regular informative newspaper articles and possibly a special insert; radio spots; tours of projects such as reservoirs and the Closed Basin; and a student art project on the subject of water. The Colorado Water 2012 began small, as a way to commemorate legislation and organizations that were celebrating anniversaries in 2012, but it has grown to encompass all of the river basins in the state. The Colorado Foundation for Water Education is spearheading the celebration. Goals for Colorado Water 2012 include: raising awareness of water as a valuable and limited resource in the state; increasing support for management and protection of Colorado's water and waterways; showcasing water projects; educating Coloradans about water. For more information see water 2012, email Wendy Newman at wnewman@cfwe.org or call 720-289-6015. 2205 State Ave., Alamosa, CO 81101

Pending Legislation

*10/19/11 Durango Herald:Water committee flushes toilet measures GOP concerned about increased regulations By Joe Hanel Herald Staff Writer
DENVER + Bipartisanship stops at the bathroom door for legislators on a special water committee. The panel shot down two bills Tuesday that sought water savings from toilets. Republicans expressed concerns about increased regulations and the effects on rural communities that depend on generous flushing from Front Range cities to fill eastern Colorado rivers.
The vote was a setback for the Interbasin Compact Committee, a group the Legislature created in 2005 to find a peaceful solution to the state's West vs. East water wars. The IBCC last year endorsed strict statewide plumbing standards for a variety of appliances. The bill that failed Tuesday focused only on toilets, setting a 1.28 gallons-per-flush standard for new toilets sold in stores, tighter than the national standard of 1.6 gallons.
IBCC member Taylor Hawes urged legislators to vote "yes" to send the IBCC a message that its work matters, especially because the panel is proposing other options that are even more politically unpalatable. "This is the easy path. We have much, much harder choices in front of us," Hawes said...

*10/16/11 Durango Herald:Durango asks voters for $4M to buy water Reservoir storage would ensure ready supply By Dale Rodebaugh Herald Staff Writer
The city of Durango wants residents to take on $4 million in debt to buy water from the Animas-La Plata Project as a backup supply and to prepare for future growth. The proposal will be put to voters Nov. 1 as Ballot Issue 2A.
As it stands, the city can store 60 million gallons of water (180 acre-feet) + a seven-day supply. In peak season, daily use is 9.5 million gallons, counting irrigation. The purchase of 3,800 acre-feet from the A-LP, as it's known, would make 1,900 acre-feet available for consumption. Only half of any A-LP water may be used annually. The other half must remain in Lake Nighthorse, the reservoir southwest of Durango.
An acre-foot of water would cover a football field to the depth of one foot. About 680 million gallons of water would be available by the addition of the 1,900 acre-feet. The cost of 3,800 acre-feet is about $6.2 million. The city has paid $1 million and has $1.2 million available from a surplus in its water fund. The $4 million balance would be borrowed.
Durango paid the $1 million in 2005 in anticipation of buying A-LP water, city Director of Public Works Jack Rogers said Friday. It was cheaper to install the needed plumbing at the A-LP pumping plant while it was being built than retrofitting, he said.
If the city can borrow from the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority, the rate would be 1.95 percent for 20 years, a total cost of almost $5 million. Debt service would be funded from water rates and plant investment fees (charged to new development)...

*10/6/11 Durango Telegraph Soapbox: An Empty Choice An empty choice
Dear Editors,
City residents will soon be voting on a bond issue to fund purchase of water from the Animas-La Plata project in a decision with some important ethical and environmental considerations. The best argument for the City to purchase this water is that much of the environmental damage is already done, therefore this provides an alternative means for storage in case of drought or damage to our Florida and Animas river water supplies.
However, participation in A-LP creates a quandary for citizens who wish to live lightly. The project is an example of living beyond our means, unsustainably. The primary problem is little impending need for the water.
Our current supplies would have handled a 40,000 population in the drought of 2002, widely accepted to be a 100-year event. Only downstream irrigators or New Mexico could trigger our needing more water storage. Regrettably, a compact between Colorado and New Mexico was not part of the A-LP settlement, leaving the City of Durango with uncertainty.
Currently, our rivers serve as our reservoirs! Plans call for purchase of water in preparation for when City of Durango population hits 40,000. The City share of A-LP water would be used about 50 days every 20 years. Nearly half of the stored water would only be used one year in 100 + it will be left there to evaporate in the other 99 years. The bulk of this is for lawn care, which appears to now have equal footing with indoor water use as a requirement of our society. Durango summertime use is nearly five times our winter use, thus triggering the "need" for storage and fear-inducing statistics about the lack of current storage.
Most of the water purchase is to hedge against the possibility of downstream irrigators or the State of 4 most measures, this is a good price for water rights into perpetuity, and other options could be much more expensive.
The City engineering study evaluating the water purchase makes no adjustments for improved conservation or water use patterns in the future due to higher-density growth. In fact, it assumes higher consumption per capita. City forecasts do not account for the relative high seniority of City water by placing a call on the river, effectively subsidizing other users. Admittedly, these potential efficiencies are very small compared to the assumed demands from downstream states.
The power use of the project is also beyond our means. The entire A-LP uses electricity + a lot of it + 67.1 million kwh annually. This exceeds all Durango residential use! WAPA hydroelectric provides the power at preferential prices.
However, replacement power will most certainly be from global warming and polluting coal-fired power plants (which may increase the likelihood of our "needing" additional storage). The pumping has no accommodation for "smart grid" time-of-power use.
In another example of the project being beyond our means, annual evaporation and leakage from the A-LP reservoir equals or exceeds Durango's annual water use! Sadly, the power use, evaporation loss and other environmental harm will happen regardless of whether the City decides to buy its full share of water (a 4 percent "slice" of the reservoir).
So city residents are left with an empty choice. Purchase water that we might not need until the next 100-year drought + "Buy more now because it is cheap!" Or, a choice to not participate, which means the water allocation defaults to the State of Colorado, and then perhaps to the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes for whom the reservoir was justified (they hold approximately 80 percent of the water in the project).
Sadly, Western water law encourages everyone to grab as much water as possible + "use it or lose it" + without any incentive for substantial conservation. Some voters may contemplate water problems of threatened species and dewatered rivers, such as our Animas and the Colorado River water often not reaching the delta in the Sea of Cortez. Who speaks for these sorts of issues as we make our local decision? For me, it is a pity this vote is too late to mitigate the damage.
How one decides to vote presents a difficult choice ... buy now because it is cheap insurance, versus sending a message about unsustainable project design.
+ Kent Ford, Durango

*9/22/11 Durango Telegraph:Buying into Animas-La Plata Durango voters to face $4 million A-LP ballot measure by Missy Votel
Durango voters will soon decide whether or not to take a gulp from the Animas-La Plata Project. This year's ballot, which is mail-in only, will contain a measure from the City of Durango asking residents to approve a $4 million loan to be used to buy 3,800 acre feet annually from the project.
City Charter requires a vote of the electorate before assuming debt. The $4 million would be borrowed from the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority, a state agency established to promote water and power development in Colorado. As such, the city will get a more favorable rate than it would on the open market. The 20-year loan will be at an interest rate of 1.95 percent, making for total repayment of just under $5 million...

*6/9/11 Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act extension propsed by Senator Michael Bennet based on the recommendations of the Hermosa Creek Workgroup

*9/11/11 Durango Herald:CSU professors push gray-water recycling at Legislature By Joe Hanel Herald Staff Writer

DENVER + Households could save up to half their water if they could reuse "gray water" from shower and sink drains, two Colorado State University professors said last week. The duo convinced state legislators to at least consider changes in restrictive state laws governing gray water.
"We spend a lot of money to treat water to potable quality, and then we use it to either irrigate or flush toilets," said Sybil Sharvelle, an assistant professor at CSU. Sharvelle and professor Larry Roesner want the Legislature to pass a law that gives state water regulators the power to write new rules for reusing water from showers, sinks and washing machines.
They have run tests for several years on household systems that collect used water in tanks about the size of a hot-water heater and redirect the water into toilets or gardens.

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