By Chris Woodka - Pueblo Chieftain
“The mineral wealth brought people to Colorado,” said Colorado Supreme Court Justice Greg Hobbs, recounting the gold rush of 1859 on Friday at the annual meeting of the Ditch and Reservoir Company Alliance at the Pueblo Convention Center. “The persons who remained were the farmers who dug the ditches to feed the miners. The cities grew out from the ditches.”
Steamboat [Springs] Pilot & Today - By Collin Smith If the water court approves the request, Shell would draw 375 cubic feet of water per second from the Yampa River through two diversion points between Maybell and the base of Cross Mountain. The company plans to construct a 45,000 acre-feet reservoir south of the river and pump water to facilities in the Piceance Basin.
Re: “Water bills back saving on rainy days,” Feb. 10 news story.
The Colorado General Assembly is considering two pieces of legislation that would allow homeowners to install systems to capture rainwater for residential uses. Harvesting rainwater off the roof can be an eco-friendly practice, reducing the need to deliver water to the home from other sources, a process which can damage streams and aquifers and require use of significant energy.
But Coloradans should recognize that, in some cases, precipitation captured in a cistern would otherwise seep through the ground to a nearby stream for the benefit of fish and wildlife habitat and senior water rights. A large residential development with home rainwater cisterns might appear “green,” but could actually further stress an already depleted stream.
Recognizing the impact rainwater cisterns can have on streams, House Bill 1129 requires the proponents of rainwater harvesting projects to replace the water they remove from the system. In this respect, the bill provides a measure of protection to other water users and the state’s streams. The bill also favors cistern projects that include other water conservation measures, a smart provision in a semi-arid state with growing water demands.
Drew Peternell, Boulder
The writer is director of Trout Unlimited’s Colorado Water Project.
http://blogs.denverpost.com/eletters/2009/02/19/harvesting-rainwater-has-an-effect-downstream/
From MSNBC.com
Lexam acquired the mineral rights in the 1990s in what was then the 97,000-acre Baca Ranch. The land was later acquired by the federal government to preserve the terrain and geological features responsible for the sand dunes. Some of the land became part of the national park, with the rest becoming the refuge in 2004.
By J. ADRIAN STANLEY - Colorado Springs Independent
Because CDOT is contributing funds, state law says the Colorado Division of Wildlife must review the plan and ensure the animal environment isn't damaged. So far, the wildlife folks aren't pleased. Neither is Jack Hunter, president of the Cheyenne Mountain chapter of Trout Unlimited, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and creating trout habitat. He says the partners ignored his organization's tips on improving the environment for fish.
The SJWCD asked Archuleta County voters in 2004 to approve a bond to help fund the proposed Dry Gulch Reservoir, but the voters turned down the offer. Nevertheless, SJWCD and PAWSD continued to study and plan for the new reservoir — including making an application for significant new water rights out of the nearby San Juan River for the purpose of filling the future reservoir, since Dry Gulch — as one might expect from its name — has very little water of its own. Those water rights were granted in 2006, but the case was appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court, which remanded the case back to Durango Water Court Judge Greg Lyman for additional study.
http://www.pagosadailypost.com/news/11234/A_Dry_Look_at_Dry_Gulch/
Water Technology Online - Thursday, February 05, 2009
Geologist Geoffrey Thyne of the University of Wyoming, whose analysis of the large gas fields around Divide Creek found elevated methane and chloride levels in groundwater samples, said in the article, “They are injecting fluid that may or may not be hazardous into thousands of wells and not recovering all of it. We have to ask, what is in those fluids and where does the fluid go?”
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