From The Ag Journal (Candace Krebs) via The La Junta Tribune-Democrat:
A central theme of every Colorado Ag Water Summit is collaboration, and the latest gathering was no exception. A series of panels discussed how to work collectively to foster more water storage, ensure future funding opportunities and support beneficial policies that will keep the water flowing in agriculture even as an ominous regional drought persists.
Welcome snow greeted participants at the in-person event in Winter Park the same day as Denver received its latest first snowfall on record. Winter snow accumulation has been alarmingly low across much of the West in recent years, with the state's designated Colorado River compact negotiator, general counsel for the Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy John McClow, sharing sobering graphs of plunging inflows into reservoirs Mead and Powell since 2000.
With challenges so immense, strategic partnerships — between urban and rural interests and even between regions and states — are no longer a luxury but an imperative, according to many of the speakers on the two-day program that was simultaneously broadcast online.
Indicative of this trend was a panel moderated by Terry Fankhauser, chief executive of the Colorado Cattlemen's Association, which included colleagues from the environmental community, including Aaron Citron, senior policy adviser for The Nature Conservancy; Ted Kowalski, senior program officer for the Walton Family Foundation; and Brian Jackson, senior manager of western water for the Environmental Defense Fund.
Fankhauser said the group had been meeting informally for four or five years to explore how to use collective resources and political clout to gain support for water improvement projects with multi-purpose benefits. Getting to know each other personally while hashing out various positions was essential to building trust, he said…
Along with collaboration, another theme was creativity.
New reservoirs to capture surplus water have long been on the wish list of many agriculturalists, but the water storage of the future will probably look different than the storage of the past, according to one panel.
Scott Lorenz, senior project manager for Colorado Springs Utilities, said converting old gravel pits across the Lower Arkansas basin into water holding facilities had turned a former liability into a positive…
Combining the new pits with rehabilitation of existing structures could create a more dynamic, flexible system better suited to dealing with the droughts of the future, he said.
One benefit is the ability to move water from lower elevations in the winter to higher elevations in the summer to reduce evaporative losses, he said.
On-farm micro-storage is also becoming more popular in the Arkansas basin, he added, noting that many individual farmers are obtaining federal EQIP (environmental quality incentive) conservation funds to help make improvements.
Asked about underground storage, in which treated water is pumped into aquifers, the panelists said it was not a cheap or easy replacement for surface storage but could help augment it.
With limits on water, existing water users will need to find creative ways to share it. Municipal water managers emphasized their interest in working with irrigation districts to keep land in production.
Parker Water and Sanitation District Director Ron Redd said his district's environmental mitigation efforts were focused on preserving rural culture rather than trout streams or whitewater rapids. Parker recently formed a partnership with the Lower Platte district, which will involve capturing excess spring runoff in Prewitt Reservoir in northeastern Colorado and then piping the water to Parker Reservoir. The goal is to reduce the fast-growing suburb's reliance on non-renewable aquifer water while also supporting smaller municipalities along the way by helping them build new treatment plants…
That project centers on developing a new water right rather than just sharing some of the water back to where it originated, such as a Colorado Springs program that returns water to farmers along the Lower Arkansas five years out of ten.
McClow said ongoing river compact negotiations by the seven states that share the Colorado River would also require give-and-take.
One existing bone of contention is that the upper basin, which includes Colorado and Wyoming, is charged for evaporative losses, while the lower basin is not.
The Chimney Hollow Reservoir Project hosted a groundbreaking event on Aug. 6, 2021. Photo credit: Northern Water
Click here to read the newsletter. Here's an excerpt:
Several noteworthy undertakings in 2021 led to a number of achievements for Northern Water, the Municipal Subdistrict, project participants and water users. Milestones include the start of construction on a new reservoir, fire recovery efforts, campus development projects and more.
January kicked off with the connection of the Southern Water Supply Project pipeline into the new Eastern Pump Plant. The plant, located near Platteville, increases capacity of the SWSP pipeline to meet the growing demands of users benefitting from the supply.
In March, two projects earned awards from the Colorado Contractors Association. The Poudre River Drop Structure earned an award in the best Open Flow Concrete Structure category, and the Cottonwood Siphon earned an annual award as the Best Slipline Project under $6 million.
The Chimney Hollow Reservoir Project hosted a groundbreaking event on Aug. 6, 2021.
April 21 marked an exciting milestone for the Chimney Hollow Reservoir Project, as the Municipal Subdistrict reached an agreement with environmental groups to settle ongoing litigation over the project. The $15 million settlement will ultimately fund aquatic habitat enhancements in Grand County. It also allowed construction of Chimney Hollow Reservoir in Larimer County to begin.
Northern Water also began construction on multiple aspects of its campus development efforts in May on both the Berthoud campus and new West Slope facility. With growth to our operations and throughout the region, we are in need of additional facilities to meet our collection and delivery efforts, as well as the advancement of new water projects. Phase I construction commenced on May 13 at the Berthoud headquarters and includes new buildings to house the Operations Division, fleet storage, a parking lot expansion and other campus improvements. The West Slope's Willow Creek Campus near Willow Creek Reservoir will include 41,000 square feet of offices, fleet maintenance space and a control room. The new facility will replace much of the existing office and shop facilities at Farr and Windy Gap pump plants. The project is making significant progress and we expect it to open its doors in August 2022.
In June, the first public electric vehicle charging station in Berthoud was installed at our headquarters. The station can provide a full charge to a standard EV in just three to four hours. Northern Water also opened a temporary office at the Grand Lake Center to better serve Grand County residents affected by the 2020 East Troublesome Fire. This location allowed us to work with landowners and assist with watershed recovery efforts.
The implementation of our fire recovery efforts took full effect in July. Debris booms were placed in Grand Lake and Willow Creek Reservoir to intercept floating debris from the East Troublesome Fire burn area. Aerial seed and mulch treatments also began at Willow Creek Reservoir. This 15-minute recap video offers a look at the projects completed this year while describing future recovery needs.
August found its way into our historical records when Northern Water's Municipal Subdistrict celebrated the groundbreaking for Chimney Hollow Reservoir on Aug. 6. The ceremony culminated an extensive permitting process that began in 2003. The project includes the construction of a 90,000 acre-foot reservoir situated behind a 350-foot dam – the tallest to be built in the United States in 25 years – all to add resilience to the water supply for more than 500,000 Northeastern Colorado residents.
Northern Water was honored with two more awards during October and November, including the 2021 WaterSense Partner of the Year Award and the Colorado Waterwise Gardener Award. Promoting water-efficient products, homes and gardens and continually educating individuals and organizations on the importance of water conservation continues to be a growing part of our mission.
As population growth in Northern Colorado persists, we will continue to manage and pursue water projects to ensure an adequate supply of reliable water well into the future.
Clovis, New Mexico. Photo credit: Clovis and Curry County Chamber of Commerce
From KQRE (Allison Keys):
The federal government will allow a Clovis dairy to be reimbursed after its groundwater was contaminated by the Cannon Air Force base. The government announced it will finalize a rule change allowing compensation for cows that are not likely to be sold.
Art and Renee Schaap own Highland Dairy. They say a firefighting foam contaminated their water supply which reduced milk production in their cows.
The milk that was produced had to be thrown out for fear it was contaminated too. They filed a lawsuit against the federal government in 2019 saying the military knew about the contamination but didn't tell them.
Leviathan Creek below an abandoned open pit mine, an EPA Superfund site in the Sierra Nevada, where iron oxide deposits coat the stream bottom. (Photos by David Herbst)
From The Washington Post (Dino Grandoni):
The laboratories and other buildings that once housed a chemical manufacturer here in New Jersey's most populous city have been demolished. More than 10,000 leaky drums and other containers once illegally stored here have long been removed. Its owner was convicted three decades ago.
Yet the groundwater beneath the 4.4-acre expanse once occupied by White Chemical Corp. in Newark remains contaminated, given a lack of federal funding…
But three decades after federal officials declared it one of America's most toxic spots, it's about to get a jolt. This plot in Newark is among more than four dozen toxic waste sites to get cleanup funding from the newly-enacted infrastructure law, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday, totaling $1 billion…
On that same day in November that Freeman looked out at the White Chemical site, President Biden signed legislation reviving a polluter's tax that will inject a new stream of cash into the nation's troubled Superfund program. The renewed excise fees, which disappeared more than 25 years ago, are expected to raise $14.5 billion in revenue over the next decade and could accelerate cleanups of many sites that are increasingly threatened by climate change.
The Superfund list includes more than 1,300 abandoned mines, radioactive landfills, shuttered military labs, closed factories and other contaminated areas across nearly all 50 states. They are the poisoned remnants of America's emergence as a 20th-century industrial juggernaut.
The 49 sites receiving money from the infrastructure law include a neighborhood in Florida with soil contaminated from treating wooden telephone poles, a former copper mine in Maine laced with leftover metals, and an old steel manufacturer in southern New Jersey where parts of the Golden Gate Bridge were fabricated.
America's toxic spots
Many of these sites are also in poor and minority communities, such as Newark, where most residents are African American. Biden has said easing the pollution burden that Black, Latino and Native Americans bear is central to his environmental policy.
No state boasts more Superfund sites than New Jersey. Some of them, such as the White Chemical site, have lingered on the agency's "priorities list" for decades…
The law that established the Superfund program in 1980 gives the EPA the power to compel polluters to clean up their noxious messes. But many of these companies have gone out of business, or in some cases, it is hard to find the culprits. Congress taxed the chemical and oil industry to create a trust fund for these orphaned sites, but the taxes expired in 1995.
By the early 2000s, the trust fund was drained. The agency has grappled with a mounting list of costly and complex hazardous waste sites ever since…
The new bipartisan infrastructure law reestablishes fees on the sale of more than 40 chemicals often found in fuels, plastics and other products, ranging from 44 cents to $9.74 per ton depending on the compound.
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) and other groups lobbied unsuccessfully to defeat the proposal…
Biden administration officials, however, said the tax revenue will provide a critical boost for underfunded projects. Carlton Waterhouse, Biden's nominee to head the EPA's land office, said that even after paying for projects that got no financial support last year, there will still be money left over…
To fully clean up the ground where White Chemical once stood, crews will have to inject a cocktail of chemicals underground to break down lingering volatile organic compounds such as trichloroethene, which is linked to neurological problems and several kinds of cancer. Right now, no building can be constructed over the contaminated aquifer without the risk of hazardous fumes accumulating indoors…
Until Friday, the EPA had to shelve the plan for nearly a decade because it cost $16.6 million. But with the tax reinstated and with Congress providing an additional $3.5 billion for the Superfund program, work in Newark and on dozens of other orphaned sites will begin "as soon as possible," according to the agency. Global warming gives these projects even greater urgency. The Frelinghuysen Avenue lot is one of more than 900 toxic waste sites facing ever-increasing risks from rising seas, fiercer wildfires and other disasters driven by climate change, according to a 2019 report by the Government Accountability Office.
Climate impacts could unleash hazardous waste at 60 percent of Superfund sites, mainly due to flooding. More than a dozen Superfund sites flooded after Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas Gulf Coast in 2017. In Newark, even a Category 1 hurricane could damage the White Chemical site, the GAO said…
Reviving the chemical production fee is a step toward making the Superfund program operate as originally intended, with industry paying to clean up its messes even after companies go bankrupt. The tax will be up for renewal again in 2031.
Maybe it's this holiday season or maybe it's my need for inspiration to counter this ongoing pandemic and drought impacting our lives and families, but I find myself looking back at 2021 for the gems of hope in our Western Water work.
This year, dry conditions across the West were the worst they have been in recorded history—lowest levels at Lake Mead, Great Salt Lake, and diminishing flows across the Colorado River and Rio Grande basins. And the superlatives are not hyperbolic. Extreme. Exceptional. Unprecedented. Catastrophic. Record-breaking. There's no doubt that the conditions have been terrible—and rivers, lakes, and wetlands and the birds and wildlife that depend on them are suffering as a result.
But even in the midst of these dire circumstances, Audubon and our partners were able to create hope for a brighter future. These impactful successes this year and their stories of courage and collaboration will stick with me—and our Audubon team—as we push for more change in the year ahead. Hopefully you'll find inspiration from our water work too, as we need your support to help birds and the places upon which they depend across our arid western landscape. Here are our top three wins:
#1: Water flowed again in the Colorado River Delta—connecting the river to the sea again
From May to October 2021, the Colorado River flowed again in its final 55 miles thanks to binational commitments from the U.S. and Mexican governments. Water in the river provides an oasis in the midst of the Sonoran Desert for birds and the people that live there. The water creates and supports habitat for birds like the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Yuma Ridgway's Rail, and Vermilion Flycatcher.
I know I'm not alone in feeling tremendous hope seeing birds return, and smiling faces and playful splashes as people enjoyed the of water flowing down the Colorado River.
On top of that, Audubon and Raise the River partners are excited that the binational collaboration took a sophisticated approach to water delivery. Using results from prior monitoring, scientists designed the flows to optimize the location and timing to benefit the restored habitats that have documented increases in bird abundance and diversity. This year's flows were also studied in order to add to our understanding of how to best use the limited supply of water available for the environment. This will inform management of the Colorado River for the future.
#2: Even in this dry year, rivers (and Great Salt Lake) are getting more dedicated flows
From the amazing partnership that implemented water deliveries down the Jordan River to Great Salt Lake in Utah to the groundbreaking state policy changes in Colorado and Arizona to allow more water for rivers, our efforts this year resulted in good news for people and birds in seeing water return to important bird habitats.
An innovative collaboration led by Audubon's Saline Lakes Program, with businesses, government agencies, and the Nature Conservancy, achieved a first in Utah water rights history in securing water for the drying Great Salt Lake. With dedicated water rights on the Jordan River donated to the cause, we are now delivering water to the Farmington Bay in Great Salt Lake-and will do so for up to ten years.
With two wins for rivers in a dry year, we highlighted how our multi-year efforts succeeded in expanding the State of Colorado's existing "instream flow" program for water rights holders to loan water to the environment, allowing for more water to stay in a river. This policy change was immediately put to use to benefit 43 stream miles in western Colorado. And with the unprecedented engagement of our supporters, we were able to retain water quality protections for all of Colorado's rivers.
In Arizona, we took a pivotal step forward to benefit rivers and the bird habitats they provide. With our support, a new state law was passed to allow surface water users like farmers an incentive to conserve water on their property—by switching to less thirsty crops for example—and be confident that any water saved will not be subject to the loss of water rights.
#3: Birds will benefit from new and restored habitats
Of course, our work in water policy and management benefits birds and other wildlife, but our team accomplished some key wins focused on bird habitat this year that bring new hope for migratory birds and communities.
In Nevada, a long-awaited transfer of more than 23,000 acres of wildlife habitat gives birds a boost. Along with lands from Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge and the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribal Wetlands, Carson Lake and Pasture is part of the Lahontan Valley Wetlands complex, now as a state wildlife management area, within a designated Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) site of hemispheric importance. The 220,000-acre site, east of Reno, has freshwater marshes and shallow flooded mudflats providing excellent habitat for breeding and migrating shorebirds like American Avocets, Black-necked Stilts, and Wilson's Phalaropes, as well as Canvasbacks, White-faced Ibis and Pied-billed Grebes. And we have more work ahead for shorebird management planning in the Lahontan Valley.
Audubon's team at the Salton Sea is leading the way in adaptive habitat management with opportunities at emerging wetlands such as those near Bombay Beach. With partners in 2021, we focused on the existing 400-acre Bombay Beach wetlands to stabilize and preserve existing high-quality wildlife habitat; increase the amount and quality of habitat available for target species; provide dust control benefits to the adjacent playa areas and decrease dust emissions for local communities improving public health; and provide local and regional public access and research opportunities. This project is in the first phase of habitat and dust control project design, with scientific monitoring and data collection underway, and community engagement in planning design.
In the Southwest, Audubon continues to collaborate with numerous partners to implement sustainable on-the-ground habitat restoration projects to address habitat loss and degradation along the Isleta Reach of the Rio Grande in New Mexico. And in Arizona, from the freshly renovated wetland habitat at the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center in Phoenix to the newly planted cottonwoods, mesquites, and willows along the Colorado River with the Cocopah Indian Tribe and Yuma Audubon, birds and other wildlife are benefitting from many partnerships.
Even as 2021 will go down as one of the driest years ever recorded in the West, with record-setting heat, catastrophic fires, and continued declines in river flows and lake levels, birds tell us when we are doing some things right. Birds remain beacons of hope for me—and so many of you, I know. Birds and the places upon which they depend across this arid western landscape need our support—and capturing gems of hope and inspiration keep us going. It's also a call to do more in the coming years.
Please help us to accomplish much more in 2022 and join us in speaking up and taking action for the birds, rivers, lakes, and habitats they so desperately need.
More than two decades of drought in the Colorado River Basin have left Lake Mead, the nation's largest reservoir, at just 34 percent of capacity. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation)
From The Nevada Independent (Daniel Rothberg):
For years, scientists have warned that climate change would have significant ramifications for the Colorado River. But it took two back-to-back dry years and dramatic declines in Lake Mead to drive home the point: The Southwest needs to plan for a world where water scarcity is the reality.
What that planning process looks like — and exactly how it takes shape — was a primary topic of conversation at an annual Colorado River conference in Las Vegas over the past week. At Caesars Palace, water managers listened to speeches, milled about the hallways and convened closed-door side meetings. Their focus: how to move forward, what kind of future the region should prepare for, and how to overcome serious political challenges.
"The really bad conditions that we are seeing right now, the dramatic drops in the reservoirs, are forcing conversations that are extremely uncomfortable, but really important and useful," said John Fleck, a University of New Mexico researcher and author of two books on the river.
In many ways, the Colorado River Water Users Association Conference is a microcosm of the global challenges and negotiations to reconcile science and policy in grappling with a changing climate, which has already left a major imprint on how water cycles through the environment.
Each year, the conference brings together water users from across the Colorado River Basin, which includes about 40 million people from seven Western states, more than two dozen tribes and the country of Mexico. The river, the region's environmental lifeblood, is diverted for cities, farmers and industry, all sectors that send representatives to negotiate at the conference.
The watershed's size and scope, even in years where there is far more water in the reservoirs, means the stakes for negotiations are always high. Those stakes are especially high now, with the river's two largest reservoirs — Lake Mead and Lake Powell — at 32 percent of capacity.
Everyone at the conference has different interests and the representatives who attend must grapple with politics at home, leaving them with less negotiating power than it might appear. Moreover, the river's governance is diffuse and decentralized, with different nodes at different parts of the basin. This fact has, in the past, shut certain water users out of the discussions.
In 2007, the last time the states negotiated guidelines for managing the basin's reservoirs, tribal nations were not included, despite having rights to about one-fifth of the river. As states start to renegotiate those guidelines and work through the process of planning for a drier future, tribal leaders have stressed the importance of inclusion.
"You've heard it so many times," said Maria Dadger, executive director of the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona. "Historically, tribes have not been a part of the negotiations around the management of the Colorado River. And let's just say that's past history, because that is no longer the case."
But even as many water managers see the need to plan for less, some are seeking to develop more. Today, nearly a century after states signed the Colorado River Compact, one of the river's primary governing documents, there are proposals to divert more water from the river, including a pipeline that would move water from Lake Powell to the fast-growing area of southwest Utah.
Some water managers are pushing for the Lake Powell Pipeline to bring more water to southwest Utah, including St. George. (Ted Wood/The Water Desk)
For years, Brad Udall, a climate scientist at Colorado State University, has been a leading voice in communicating the ways in which a warming, aridifying landscape in the Southwest has altered the average flows of the river. On Wednesday, Udall laid out the scientific literature on the Colorado River and suggested reframing the conversation: The system is not stationary.
Brad Udall: Here's the latest version of my 4-Panel plot thru Water Year (Oct-Sep) of 2021 of the Colorado River big reservoirs, natural flows, precipitation, and temperature. Data (PRISM) goes back or 1906 (or 1935 for reservoirs.) This updates previous work with @GreatLakesPeck.
"When I hear 'new normal,' I actually get a little frustrated," Udall said during a presentation. "If you are going to call it anything, call it the 'new abnormal.'"
People took note. What Udall said was not necessarily new, but his comments were echoed by water managers throughout the week, a recognition that climate change is already affecting the river.
Many water managers have seen it in real-time. Last year, snowpack was observed at around 85 percent of average, yet the amount of water that made it to the river was a near record-low — about 30 percent of average. In remarks on Wednesday, federal Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton called the disparity a "staggering difference."
Even so, planning for a "new abnormal," acknowledging it in policies, is far more challenging than talking about it. In the past, water users have planned for a Colorado River that averages about 15 million acre-feet (an acre-foot is the amount of water that can fill one acre to a depth of one foot). As the climate changes, the question is what baseline water managers should use.
Last week, Las Vegas became one of the first regions to lay down a revised baseline of what kind of river to be planning for. Colby Pellegrino, a deputy general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said the agency is preparing for an 11 million acre-foot river. To achieve that, Pellegrino announced a slate of aggressive conservation and efficiency policies.
On Monday, the water authority board will consider two resolutions that, if local politicians sign off, would prohibit grass and evaporative cooling in new development. The goal is to bring down per capita daily water use significantly to not only meet future growth, but to also recognize that warmer temperatures are likely to increase water use on outdoor lawns and in cooling systems…
Lake Powell, upstream from Glen Canyon Dam. At the time of this photo in May, 2021, Lake Powell was 34% full. (Ted Wood/Water Desk)
There is not yet a consensus, however, on what baseline to use in climate change planning. For other states, the politics are more challenging. In many cases, planning for years when the Colorado River only has 11 million acre-feet of inflows would mean expensive and painful reductions in water use.
In planning for climate change, Nevada has a number of advantages over other states that make an aggressive benchmark more palatable. The state's Colorado River apportionment is used almost entirely by Las Vegas. In other states, many sectors (agriculture, industrial, etc.) with varying interests and multiple layers of governance share a Colorado River apportionment.
Some water managers believe a number closer to 14 million acre-feet is a more realistic tool for planning. Others believe multiple scenarios should be used. Either way, establishing a baseline will be important as the states look to update the 2007 operating guidelines that currently govern the river's management. Those guidelines expire in 2026.
Next year, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees the river's reservoirs, plans to outline the process for renegotiating the guidelines. The bureau plans to initiate a formal environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act, better known as NEPA.
At a press conference Thursday, David Palumbo, a deputy commissioner for the bureau, said the NEPA process, which allows for public comment, will help the agency collect input on what climate change planning should look like…
For the past two years, as hydrology on the river worsened, water managers have engaged in short-term negotiations to stave off extreme conditions at Lake Mead and Lake Powell…
Modeling has continued to show Lake Mead dropping to severe elevations, the point at which there are increased risks for the water supply and operating the reservoir. As a result, officials from California, Arizona, Nevada and the federal government signed a memo on Wednesday, outlining the contours of a $200 million two-year plan to keep more water in the lake.
Lake Mead modeling for the next 24 months. (U.S. Bureau of Reclamation)
At the ceremony, the Colorado River Indian Tribes and the Gila River Indian Community also signed agreements with the United States to contribute water as part of the two-year plan, a recognition of the increasingly important role that tribal nations are playing in Colorado River management.
Even the signing was a change from 2019. Both tribal nations played a key role in the DCP, yet they were not official signatories. On Wednesday, the leaders of the Colorado River Indian Tribes and the Gila River Indian Community signed the agreements in front of a row of ceremonial flags, including the flags of tribal nations belonging to the Ten Tribes Partnership (the partnership consists of a coalition of Indigenous communities from across the basin).
Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Roe Lewis described the tribes as "a vital part" of the planning process. He added that "by bringing the parties together, fostering productive cooperative dialogue and providing much-needed critical resources, tribes, shouldering this sacred responsibility, this leadership, can and will help shape the future of the Colorado River."
The plan to keep water in Lake Mead, while significant, is a temporary solution to a long-term problem unfolding on the Colorado River: A fundamental imbalance between supply and demand that has grown larger with climate change. The longer-term negotiations are beginning to unfold as the federal government considers how to structure the process for updating the river's existing operating guidelines.
Tribal leaders said they want to ensure they have a seat at the table as the longer-term water negotiations unfold. Many Colorado River tribes, whose claims to water predate those of the states, are still working to quantify and use the water rights that belong to their communities.
But there remain concerns about whether a structure exists to ensure future management decisions are made in an equitable manner, given that many ideas are discussed informally and outside of public spaces.
At the Thursday press conference, Tanya Trujillo, an assistant secretary for water and science at the U.S. Department of Interior, said the agency was working to ensure that tribes had input in the process for updating the operating guidelines. The Bureau of Reclamation is part of the Interior Department.
Trujillo said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland recently wrote a letter to tribal leaders in the Colorado River Basin. The letter, Trujillo said, announced a listening session early next year and emphasized the need for government-to-government consultation…
Last weekend, Haaland attended a meeting at Springs Preserve in Las Vegas with Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) and Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV). The water authority's general manager, John Entsminger, was also at the meeting, which focused on drought and implementing the $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure package, which includes about $8.3 billion for water investments.
At a press conference, Haaland, the first Indigenous Interior Secretary and an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna, emphasized the federal government's relationship with tribal nations…
As water managers consider long-term commitments, conservationists are urging policymakers to also include the environmental community at the negotiating table.
Bart Miller, a director at Western Resource Advocates, said the upcoming round of negotiations should be holistic. He said, "this will have to be a different discussion and negotiation than it was 15 years ago." Miller emphasized the need for transparency so that all water users can see what is being discussed.
When asked whether a structure to do that exists, he said "it remains to be seen."
"There is a need for providing pathways for these other voices," he said.
The tension is not only around how to reduce use and adapt to climate change. It is also in how to approach new efforts to develop Colorado River water that states claim a legal entitlement to use. This is a major source of controversy, mainly for the states upstream of Lake Powell. Some officials are eying expensive infrastructure projects to divert more water away from the river.
Miller said any project that would increase demand should be viewed skeptically.
Photo credit: Ryan Michelle Scavo
From The Alamosa Citizen (Owen Woods):
ANGLING is a time-honored tradition that spans family generations and fills a spiritual or even religious void in many people's lives. Above it all, though, it is an almost daily connection with nature. These days, changes in the environment around us are becoming more apparent and even alarming.
This story started out as a pursuit to gain an understanding of climate change through the gaze of the Valley angler. Most of the questions were broad and allowed the angler to speak freely, but as more interviews were conducted, there became a series of throughlines, common subjects, and themes that became present: water levels, the Hoot Owl, an increase in recreational angling, and the Rio Grande cutthroat trout.
"The water is never gonna be what it used to be," said Larry Zaragoza. He is an avid angler and fisher, who's observed a stark decline in water levels and fish health over the past two years.
In his 53 years of fishing the Valley's waters, Zaragoza said that he cannot compare these last two years to any other. He said the average 14-16 inch trout he catches are not as healthy looking, "not as meaty," and slender-looking. As a catch-and-release fisherman, he said that there's hardly even anything to catch and release.
What do he and his fellow anglers discuss when they meet or get together? "Water level is the first thing we talk about."
Photo credit: Ryan Michelle Scavo
Deacon Aspinwall, the City of Alamosa's planning and development specialist, is an avid angler himself.
Aspinwall has a science background and prefaced his answers by stating that in the 10 years he's fished in the Valley's waters it's hard to draw long-term conclusions. However, he did say that within the last 10 years we have seen climate shifts, with runoff occurring much earlier than it did 20 years ago. He's observed, through the angler's perspective, a two-phase runoff, with the initial snow melt surge dubbed the "meltoff," which is occurring earlier in the season from drier and warmer days.
His climate concerns as an angler are the lower snowpacks and earlier runoffs. In 10 years of fishing here he has noticed some changes in the fisheries – such as more "snot moss" turning up, and in higher elevations. And some fisheries that 10 years ago were fishable have now dried up.
He said that trout populations in Cat Creek and East Pass Creek that existed 20 years ago no longer exist today. "What will the next 20 years look like?" he pondered, especially, at what high mountain lakes and streams will look like in two decades.
Aspinwall said that it's often difficult to discuss climate in a meaningful way that resonates with people. He added that a changing climate is natural, but the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere isn't.
On top of this, Aspinwall said that a real concern of his is the increase in angling pressure on fisheries. In the last year alone, he noticed that the Valley's waters have seen an increase in angling and fishing.
"Some fisheries can't handle more than one angler a day," he said, pointing out that we all have a responsibility to fish and angle sustainably, for the next generation, and that all anglers and fishers should ask themselves, "Are we doing this sustainably, are we doing this responsibly?"
Conversations with the Hoot Owl
He said anglers need to be mindful of the "Hoot Owl." This is the time to stop fishing. Catch-and-release fishing in warming waters after 2 p.m. can cause harm to the fish.
Trout Unlimited has worked closely with CPW to suggest that fishers and anglers voluntarily stop fishing between noon and 2 p.m.
Aspinwall and Kevin Terry, Trout Unlimited's Rio Grande Basin program director, both brought up the point that it is a common misconception that the coolest part of the day to fish during is as the sun goes down. For catch-and-release fishing on warmer days in warmer waters, this presents a problem, as the warmest water temperatures, in fact, often don't break until 9 or 10 at night.
So, the solution to this is to fish earlier in the day.
Terry said that if the water temperatures are high, and cause for concern, then fishing in the evening and at night is a problem, but if the temperatures are fine, then fishing in the afternoon is also fine. He said that it is the anglers' responsibility to take a temperature reading of the stream to be certain it's okay to fish there.
This goes against traditional thinking, but anglers have to evolve. This becomes more difficult for traveling anglers who spend time and money and travel to fish in the Valley's waters. Though it is voluntary to adhere to the Hoot Owl, most catch-and-release anglers respect it.
Terry works for the National Trout Unlimited, and is a board member of the SLV Trout Unlimited chapter.
It's worth noting that during the interview, Terry stressed that anglers and farmers are having similar water issues. There is a larger picture of the San Luis Valley's water and how it affects everyone who lives here – and it brings attention to recent attempts to export water to the Front Range and the chronic unease that is felt around the Valley's water.
The Rio Grande cutthroat is the only trout native to the San Luis Valley. Evidence suggests it was a native fish to Lake Alamosa 700,000 years ago. Photo credit: Ryan Michelle Scavo
Terry talked more on the Rio Grande cutthroat trout and its dwindling historic range. Native RGCT now only live in about 10 percent of that range, with about 10 "aboriginal" populations that have "never been messed with." Those populations have never been reintroduced, moved, or hybridized.
A consistent population of RGCT requires isolation, with "fish barriers" such as waterfalls, culverts, or man-made structures. These allow the fish to maintain genetic isolation and avoid other risks. However, isolated streams can become vulnerable. Wildfires can send ash and soot down a high mountain stream and wipe out populations, or low-flow streams (less than 1 CFS) during one drought season can be "blinked out."
For fishery biologists, Terry said that the conservation of RGCT is an "extremely high priority."
He noted that these fish are not at historic sampling sizes, and that 2-3 populations have "blinked out" in the past 8 years.
The solution is to reintroduce these fish to more streams and bigger streams to make them less localized, isolated, and less at-risk. It is slow work.
Mark Seaton, president of the SLV Trout Unlimited chapter, said that the organization is anything but a fishing club. It's a conservation organization that works closely with local groups to focus on habitat.
Seaton has noticed that shoulder seasons (spring and fall) have become longer and that winter temperatures are not as cold.
He stressed that rising temperatures are not good for trout.
The fly fishing community is aware of climate change he said, and that the last couple of years have been tough to fish.
The "number of boats on the river (Rio Grande) have increased dramatically," he said.
For Seaton, the most concerning issues are low snowpack and the lack of water in streams and creeks. He said climate change is "a pretty big deal" in Trout Unlimited.
Trout Unlimited is a conservation-based organization with 400 unique chapters. There are 300,000 members from Maine to Alaska. Within TU's ranks, there are state councils that organize the chapters. Through these state councils, state-wide efforts can be identified and tackled. Trout Unlimited can also provide state agencies with support through its members, providing much needed eyes, ears, and flies on the ground to provide empirical data.
Cutthroat trout historic range via Western Trout
Disease, algal blooms and the Rio Grande cuttthroat trout
Though the Valley has many species of fish, including kokanee salmon, largemouth and smallmouth bass, carp, northern pike, and bluegill, the trout is the most abundant and diverse species found in our waters. The Valley is home to rainbow, brown, brook and native Rio Grande cutthroat trout. The Rio Grande cutthroat is the only trout native to the San Luis Valley. Evidence suggests it was a native fish to Lake Alamosa 700,000 years ago.
Being the only native fish species to our land, it has been near extinction more than once. According to the book The Geology, Ecology, and Human History of the San Luis Valley, "mining, logging, over-harvesting, and extensive stocking of non-native fish drastically reduced their populations." The biggest threats are "non-native fish, over-grazing, and the myriad issues associated with a warming climate: low snowpack and early melting, rising summer stream temperatures, high-severity wildfires, and low stream flows."
The biggest issue facing fish populations is rising water temperatures. Trout are a cold water fish, requiring water temperatures between 37-66 degrees Fahrenheit for their life cycle from spawning, incubation, and growth. Water temperatures that exceed 70 degrees contain less dissolved oxygen. Trout, at these temperatures, have a difficult time getting oxygen and are more prone to disease such as Whirling disease.
Whirling disease is a parasitic infection that occurs in salmonid fish species – in Colorado, rainbow and cutthroat trout are the most at risk. Estevan Vigil, CPW's Valley aquatic biologist, says it is the biggest disease to combat in the Valley.
Rising water temperatures can also lead to algal blooms. Algal blooms are a rapid growth of algae that bloom to the surface. Most blooms occur through a high nitrate content in the water which can occur through nutrient pollution from surrounding farms, industrial buildings, or cities. However, with high mountain lakes, blooms occur with warmer water or rural nutrient runoff, which allows more harmful bacteria to thrive in the algae causing it then to take in more light and grow.
Most blooms create foul odors and mucky surfaces, but some are toxic. Humans and animals exposed to toxic algae can show symptoms ranging from lung irritation to neurological damage.
Climate change will cause lakes and streams to warm over time and become more stagnant, which encourages more bacteria growth in algae.
Angling in a fish-less world
The act of angling is a method in mindfulness and a grounding meditation that has proven to de-stress. In England there are some therapists that have prescribed fly fishing to their patients. Project Healing Waters helps veterans with disabilities recover through time spent on the water. Casting for Recovery is an organization that helps women with breast cancer enhance their lives through fly fishing.
The lessons learned about angling in an unsteady climate are clear. The future remains the only unclear, murky aspect of angling. Some data from hundreds of years ago can be fun to look at, but averages can't fully paint the picture of what's happening now and a year from now, let alone 20 years from now.
Angling and fishing will continue for a long time in the Valley. There will still be safe havens on our streams and in our reservoirs for anglers and fish alike, but there needs to be constant attention to sustainability and responsibility. Meat fishing must be done within state regulations and angling must be done with temperature and conservation in mind.
Snowpacks will become more unpredictable. With meltoffs occuring in off seasons, the downstream effects are yet to be determined.
Climate change will cause lakes and streams to warm over time and become more stagnant, which encourages more bacteria growth in algae.
Polar bear. Photo credit: Eric Regehr, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
From The Guardian (Tom Perkins):
Toxic PFAS "forever chemicals" in the ocean are transported from seawater to air when waves hit the beach and that phenomenon represents a significant source of air pollution, a new study from Stockholm University has found.
The findings, published in Environmental Science & Technology, also partly explain how PFAS get into the atmosphere and eventually precipitation. The study, which collected samples from two Norwegian sites, also concludes that the pollution "may impact large areas of inland Europe and other continents, in addition to coastal areas".
"The results are fascinating but at the same time concerning," said Bo Sha, a Stockholm University researcher and study co-author…
The study highlights the chemicals' mobility once they're released into the environment: PFAS don't naturally break down, so they continuously move through the ground, water and air and their longevity in the environment has led them to be dubbed "forever chemicals". They have been detected in all corners of the globe, from penguin eggs in Antarctica to polar bears in the Arctic.
The Stockholm research team collected aerosol samples between 2018 and 2020 from Andøya, an Arctic island, and Birkenes, a city in southern Norway. It found correlating levels of PFAS and sodium ions, which are markers of sea spray. The chemicals' transfer occurs when air bubbles burst as waves crash, and the study found that PFAS can travel thousands of kilometers via sea spray in the atmosphere before the chemicals return to land.
Some regulators and the chemical industry have long claimed that dumping PFAS into the ocean is an appropriate disposal method because it dilutes the waste to a safe level. The study concluded that the approach isn't safe because the chemicals are returned to land, which can pollute drinking water sources, among other issues.
"The common belief was that PFAS would eventually wash off into the oceans where they would stay to be diluted over the timescale of decades," said Matthew Salter, a co-author of the study and researcher at Stockholm University. "But it turns out that there's a boomerang effect, and some of the toxic PFAS are re-emitted to air, transported long distances and then deposited back onto land."
From The Pagosa Springs Sun (Clayton Chaney):
Snow report
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Water and Climate Center's snow pack report, the Wolf Creek summit, at 11,000 feet of elevation, had 8.2 inches of snow water equivalent as of 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 15.
That amount is 79 percent of that date's median snow water equivalent.
San Miguel, Dolores, Animas, and San Juan Basin High/Low graph December 16, 2021 via the NRCS.
The San Miguel, Dolores, Animas and San Juan river basins were at 80 percent of the Dec. 15 median in terms of snow pack.
That figure is up nearly 50 percent from the Dec. 8 report.
Westwide SNOTEL basin-filled map December 19, 2021 via the NRCS.
Yamaguchi South Planning Project site layout via the City of Pagosa Springs.
From The Pagosa Springs Sun (Clayton Chaney):
During a work session held by the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) on Dec. 7, the board heard from Al Pfister with the Upper San Juan Watershed Enhancement Program (WEP) in regard to a matching fund request for the south Yamaguchi Park project.
The WEP is requesting $10,000 in matching funds. The funds would come from the county's Conserva- tion Trust Fund (CTF), which can only be used for outdoor recreation purposes.
The total cost of the project is estimated at just over $664,000, with more than $500,000 coming from the grant.
The WEP needs a 25 percent cash match, or just over $166,000 to be awarded the grant.
Pfister explained the WEP is a stakeholder group that was formed to develop a stream management plan for the upper San Juan River basin…
He explained the WEP is working under the Colorado Water Plan and the Southwest Basin Roundtable Implementation Plan (SWBIP), "which sets the framework for how water issues are going to be addressed throughout the state."
He mentioned that, currently, the SWBIP is being revised and should be coming out for public comment in January 2022.
As part of that plan, the WEP is applying for a matching grant from the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), Pfister noted…
He explained that the project objectives are to enhance the recreational experience for both anglers and river enthusiasts, improve pub- lic access to recreational features, improve fish habitat quality and pro- mote sediment movement through this section of the San Juan River.
"Everybody in the county is going to see some benefit from it, even if they don't get in the river," Commissioner Alvin Schaaf said.
During a work session held by the BoCC on Dec. 14, County Attorney/ Interim Administrator Todd Weaver indicated that the county does have sufficient funds in its CTF to commit $10,000 to the WEP out of the 2021 budget.
He noted the BoCC will likely vote on the matter at its next regular meeting scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 21at 398 Lewis St., in the commissioners' room.
Camille Stevens-Rumann, a forestry researcher at Colorado State University, graduate assistant Zoe Schapira, and field technician Zane Dickson-Hunt gather data in 2019 at the 2018 Spring Creek Fire burn scar, near La Veta, Colo. Here, aspen and scrub oak have sprouted but all pine trees and cones were destroyed in the fire. Photo by Mike Sweeney
From Water Education Colorado (Jason Plautz):
The megafire era gripping the West isn't just a threat to human development. Fires now burn so intensely that they literally reshape forests, shift tree species, and turn calm waterways into devastating mudflows.
A 2017 University of Colorado study analyzing 15 burn scars left from fires in Colorado and New Mexico found that as many as 80% of the plots did not contain new seedlings. In a 2020 follow-up study project under different climate change scenarios, the most severe scenario, where climate change continues unabated through 2050, showed as many as 95% of ponderosa pine and Douglas fir forests would not recover after a fire. In a "moderate" scenario where emissions decline after 2040, more than 80% of the forest would be replaced by scrubby grassland.
That, said study author Kyle Rodman, could have serious implications for waterways, due to the lack of established trees to stabilize soil and reduce the risk of flooding.
"Just because there aren't trees doesn't mean there's no vegetation. Grasses and shrubs can hold back the soil, but it won't be the same," says Rodman, now a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Wisconsin.
Nearly two decades later, the site of the 138,000-acre Hayman Fire, which burned in an area southwest of Denver in 2002, is still marred with patches of bare ground. That fire, according to a U.S. Forest Service (USFS) study, was so severe in areas that it consumed the canopy foliage as well as the seed bank for the forest's ponderosa pines and Douglas firs, limiting regeneration. Overall, the study predicted "gradual return to preferred conditions" in the Hayman Fire area, though some of the worst-hit patches may see permanent vegetation changes.
In lower elevations, some of the heartier species, like the ponderosa pine and Douglas fir, are having trouble regrowing because of the increased heat and months-long drought. A 2018 study found that even seedlings of those species that were given supplemental water in burned areas had lower survival rates than expected because of the harsh natural conditions.
"When you're planting a garden, those first few days are so critical. The plants need water to establish their roots and get healthy," Rodman says. "Trees work a much longer timescale. Those first few years should be cool and wet and we just don't have those conditions too often."
"When you're planting a garden, those first few days are so critical. The plants need water to establish their roots and get healthy," Rodman says. "Trees work a much longer timescale. Those first few years should be cool and wet and we just don't have those conditions too often."
Some tree species, like the high-elevation lodgepole pine, generally rely on fire because the heat helps them open and release seeds. But recent fires are burning so intensely that even lodgepole cones are consumed.
A 2020 study in BioScience found that burned forests are showing "major vegetation shifts" and recovering more slowly than expected. In some cases, heartier species might give way to drier shrub-dominated vegetation that can burn more easily. The study found that, generally, those post-fire "forested areas will have climate and fire regimes more suited to drier forest types and non-forest vegetation."
That means that hearty forests used to adapting to natural changes are now facing conditions "outside the realm of the disturbances that some forests can handle," says lead author Jonathan Coop, a professor of environment and sustainability at Western Colorado University.
"We have this paradigm that fire is a natural part of the forest and that forests will always recover," Coop adds. "These days, we shouldn't count on that."
That vegetation shift is especially worrisome for waterways. Normally, forest floors soak in rain and snowmelt, releasing it to waterways slowly throughout the spring and summer. Burn-scarred watersheds, however, have faster runoff and a lower water yield because of the loss of natural material and because of hydrocarbons from smoke permeating the soil. A USFS analysis found that more than 50% of wildfire-scarred land area in Colorado showed increased erosion potential, mudslide threats, and sediment in streams for at least 3-5 years after a fire.
Those effects can last even longer depending on natural conditions, says USFS research engineer Pete Robichaud. The wild seasonal swings from climate change are challenging forests by dumping more precipitation on less stable ground.
"The drought cycle is bigger and the wet cycle is more intense," Robichaud says. "The perfect storm is a high-severity fire followed by a high-intensity rainfall event."
Pinon and juniper forests that burned in the early 2000s show little sign of regeneration. Pony Fire, Happy Camp, Siskiyou County, California. Photo credit AWeekOrAWeekend.com.
The harsh natural conditions, as well as widespread damage from bark beetles, has complicated typical recovery efforts. Some scientists say the rapid changes in forest conditions and fire characteristics make it hard to know what the best recovery strategy is. In some forests, for example, aspen trees that regenerate from low-ground structures rather than relying on seeds to sprout may dominate. Especially in low-elevation areas, shrubbier species like the Gambel oak may regrow faster in forests once driven by conifers.
While replanting is a natural step in recovery (USFS hosts six national nurseries that act as seed banks, although it has restrictions on where certain species can be planted), there are even concerns that the natural conditions should prompt a re-examination of how best to revitalize forests. Ultimately, Coop says, we should expect that forests may not look the same as they did in a pre-megafire era.
"I think this points to the need for all stakeholders and the public to start to think outside the box as far as how we evaluate the forests and ecosystems we depend on," says Coop. "We might have to think about what ecosystems we are saving and under what circumstances we'll have to let things go and let some changes unfold."
Jason Plautz is a journalist based in Denver specializing in environmental policy. His writing has appeared in High Country News, Reveal, HuffPost, National Journal, and Undark, among other outlets.
No big deal; just a deer scoring a goal then celebrating… 😮 pic.twitter.com/AKhGIKSDF7
— Steve Stewart-Williams (@SteveStuWill) December 16, 2021
Wheat fields along the Colorado River at the Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation. Wheat, alfalfa and melons are among the most important crops here. By Maunus at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47854613
From The Arizona Republic (Debra Utacia Krol):
Tribes from across the Colorado River basin came to Las Vegas this week looking for a more significant role in managing water supplies amid an ongoing drought, while still fighting for rights to the water they need to sustain their communities.
Tribal leaders joined other water officials, experts and advocates at the annual gathering of the Colorado River Water Users Association. The tribes' growing clout was evident in the latest plan to stretch the river's flow in Arizona, Nevada and California, but leaders said they wanted to remain a vital voice on the 246,000 square-mile watershed.
This year's conference included flags of the members of the Ten Tribes Partnership, a consortium of communities on the Colorado River, alongside federal and state flags. Tribal officials spoke on panels throughout the three days of meeting, a change from the past, when tribes appeared mostly in Native-focused panels. Water officials recognized the need to include Indigenous leaders in future decisions.
"Absolutely, tribes will be at the table," said Terry Goddard, president of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District. Tribal governments are currently working with state, federal and other water agencies to develop the new Colorado River management guidelines that are set to take effect Jan. 1, 2026. In contrast, tribes were left out of talks when developing the 2007 interim guidelines to address shortages…
Camille Calimlim Touton, the recently confirmed Bureau of Reclamation commissioner, said on Wednesday that the recent infrastructure bill enacted by Congress will provide $2.5 billion to settle Indian water rights settlements to help the Department of the Interior fulfill its obligations to Indian tribes…
She singled out [The Gila River Indian Community] and The Colorado River Indian Tribes for stepping up to help reduce the risk of Lake Mead falling to more precarious levels.
"The drought has very real implications on people and the environment," Touton said, "including tribal communities who too often have seen their dreams denied and denied, who fear the loss of species of cultural significance."
Maria Dadgar, executive director of the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, offered a land acknowledgment — a statement that names the tribe or tribes whose ancestral lands the event or venue is located — believed to be the first-ever at the gathering.
"We can all agree whether we're Indigenous or not that water is essential for life, and therefore water is life," said Dadgar, a member of the Piscataway Tribe in southern Maryland. "We also believe that where there is a body of water, this is a sacred place."
The importance of a river's health
The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona recently met with Maori tribal leaders from New Zealand and discovered that the far-flung Indigenous peoples shared that sentiment with Arizona tribes, she said.
"The Maori tribes said that the health of the people correlates with the health of the river," Dadgar said. "When you understand that, you'll begin to see the viewpoint that tribes have when they approach their work around negotiations for the Colorado River."
But while Native nations hold the most senior of senior water rights, tribes historically have not been a part of the negotiations around the management of the Colorado River, she said. Dadgar said that should be considered history, because tribes are playing a critical role in the implementation of the Drought Contingency Plan…
Dadgar pointed to three different collaborations the Arizona-area tribes are engaging in to build water management capacity collectively as they grow into key stakeholders in the health of the Colorado River, which supplies water to some 40 million people in the Southwest.
A new agreement signed Wednesday at the conference affirmed the Colorado River Indian Tribes' and Gila River Indian Community's commitments to leave a combined 179,000 acre-feet of their water allocation in Lake Mead as part of a pledge by several states and water districts to conserve 500,000 acre-feet. The two tribes' contributions made Arizona's contribution to the effort possible…
The Colorado River Tribal Roundtable, an Inter Tribal Council initiative, signed an agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation in March that created a platform for the council's 21 tribal members to engage directly with the bureau on issues related to the management of the Colorado River.
Tribal rights predate states' rights
While some tribes like the Gila River Indian Community and the Colorado River Indian Tribes look forward to playing leading roles in river management, others still struggle simply to firm up their own water rights.
Shaun Chapoose, chairman of the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray, led a delegation of tribal officials to advocate for those rights. The Upper Basin tribe, located in northeastern Utah, has been battling for its water since its 4.2-million-acre reservation, the second-largest in the U.S., was established in 1861…
But he and other tribal officials at the conference said both Utah and the U.S. governments have interfered with their ability to claim their water rights and use the water for the benefit of the tribe's nearly 2,100 members for decades. Tribal officials cited several examples, including taking water from the tribe to help fill the Flaming Gorge Reservoir in the mid-20th century.
The tribe held a referendum in 2018 to codify its own water law only to have it rejected by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, said Emmett Duncan, assistant director of the tribe's administration…
Another tribe that has long sought to quantify its water is the Navajo Nation. The tribe with the largest land base in the U.S. has sought to claim its fair share of water for decades and is currently in litigation.
Stanley Pollack, a water law attorney who worked with the Navajo Nation before he retired in October, said the situation is dire in the nation.
"About 40% of Navajos have to haul their water," he said.
The widespread lack of access to public water supplies hit hard when COVID-19 hit. People were unable to wash their hands properly, which facilitated the spread of the virus. And even though the nation sits almost entirely within both the upper and lower basin, he said the special master in the landmark case Arizona v. California that affirmed the current river allocations did not award mainstem rights to the more than 300,000-member nation.
That led to numerous and ongoing efforts to acquire water rights and to build the infrastructure to bring water to the scattered communities within the 17.5-million-acre reservation.
On the other side of Arizona, the Colorado River Indian Tribes will fallow enough of its farm fields to contribute 50,000 acre-feet to keep Lake Mead levels high enough to forestall more shortages. But tribal citizens still want to continue farming, said Vice Chairman Dwight Lomayesva.
"We're doing our part to save the river," said Lomayesva, "not just because it's important but because the river is sacred to us."
From the 2018 Tribal Water Study, this graphic shows the location of the 29 federally-recognized tribes in the Colorado River Basin. Map credit: USBR
A group called the South Platte Regional Opportunities Working Group, or SPROWG, is proposing to store 175,000 acre-feet of water in a series of reservoirs on the South Platte River, from north of Denver to the Morgan County line. The project also includes a long pipeline to pump water from the river back to the metro area to be cleaned and re-used. Graphic credit: CWCB via Aspen Journalism
From The Sterling Journal-Advocate (Jeff Rice):
"I get pulled in both directions in my mind; I don't want water speculators coming in and buying up land," said board Vice President Gene Manuello. "But at the end of the day, it is a private property right. I don't see legislature stepping into that. I don't think we need this bill."
[…]
The bill comes with a long list of concerns and unintended consequences. Among those voiced most often by LSPWCD board members Tuesday was governmental interference in what has traditionally and legally been a private property transaction. A summary of the bill, prepared by attorneys associated with the Water Rights Association of the South Platte, says it would present an unreasonable restraint on the transfer of real property; require the director of the state's Natural Resources Department to determine the intent of people buying land with attached water rights; and asks purchasers to hope the value of the water rights doesn't increase.
LSPWCD Director Joe Frank served on the working group that reported back to the DNR in August and said a misunderstanding about water speculation may have driven the process.
"There's this view out there that investment speculation is driving up the price of water, but I don't think that the issue," Frank said. "It's basic supply and demand; we have an increasing population and a finite supply of water, and that's what's driving up the cost of water."
Manuello pointed out that the real solution, in his mind, is increased storage, a concept that has been unpopular until recently.
An elaborate fountain in Las Vegas. One of the biggest water meetings of the year takes place every December in Las Vegas, which has driven down water use down by paying people to remove thirsty turf and grass. Photo credit: Brent Gardner-Smith/Aspen Journalism
From Boise Public Radio (Alex Hager, Nate Hegyi, Lexi Peery):
A big conference about the shrinking Colorado River – the main source of water for millions of people in the Southwest – began this week in Las Vegas. Discussions among dozens of scientists and government officials focused on the West's historic drought.
The Colorado River Basin is in dire straits. Opening remarks at the Colorado River Water Users Association meeting focused on the severe and prolonged drought that's brought two of the nation's largest reservoirs to their lowest levels on record.
The first day of the three-day conference also heard calls for more collaboration and less infighting among Western states and tribes who rely on the river. But Christopher Tabbee, a councilman for the Ute Indian Tribe, said that currently isn't the case in his home state of Utah…
The Utes have treaty rights to a significant amount of Colorado River water. But Tabbee said Utah is ignoring those rights and using some of that water. A new report from the nonprofit environmental group Utah Rivers Council suggests the state is using about half of the tribes' allocated water…
Shawcroft also noted that the state has created a new agency devoted to the crisis, the Colorado River Authority, and would invite tribes to join advisory councils, which have not been formed yet. Critics have pointed out that the agency doesn't include any tribal members on its board.
From the 2018 Tribal Water Study, this graphic shows the location of the 29 federally-recognized tribes in the Colorado River Basin. Map credit: USBR
Across the Colorado River Basin – home to 30 federally recognized Native American tribes – tribal leaders are pushing for a more significant seat at the table in water negotiations. In October, as the White House hosted a summit of tribal nations, a group of 20 tribes within the basin wrote a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland asking for an "integral role" in the next round of river negotiations.
In the letter, tribal leaders said they were "cautiously optimistic" that they'll be recognized as separate sovereigns on the same footing as states in the basin. Those 30 tribes hold rights to about a quarter of the river's average annual flow, though many lack the infrastructure or funding to use their full allotments.
In Las Vegas on Tuesday, Becky Mitchell, director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, said her state is committed to involving tribes in future negotiations. Looming over this conference is the need to establish new guidelines for managing the river, as the current set of rules expires in 2026.
The Government Highline Canal, near Grand Junction, delivers water from the Colorado River, and is managed by the Grand Valley Water Users Association. Prompted by concerns about outside investors speculating on Grand Valley water, the state convened a work group to study the issue. CREDIT: BRENT GARDNER-SMITH/ASPEN JOURNALISM
From The Ag Journal (Candace Krebs) via The La Junta Tribune Democrat:
f there's an antidote to the threat of water speculation in Colorado, state legislators have a ways to go to come up with a means to do it that will satisfy most agriculturalists, based on a panel held during the Colorado Ag Water Summit.
For now, any proposed legislation that involves the risk of intrusive government intervention or the potential to devalue a multigenerational private property asset puts many in the farming and ranching community on edge.
In a mutually respectful but sometimes tense discussion, a wide-ranging panel described the sale of water rights as existing along a spectrum ranging from an unfettered marketplace modeled on Wall Street to something more akin to a public trust.
Discussed at some length was a 160-page report compiled by a 19-member working group that led to a few early proposals that made most panelists and audience members uneasy.
Joe Bernal, a Mesa County farmer and one of only two landowners on the working group, felt the dialogue had been constructive and informative but ended without a clear path forward and with more research and input needed.
As a farmer, he felt outnumbered, he said. And he was disappointed the group failed to reach a clear consensus on what water speculation actually is…
The final paragraph of the report urged legislators not to act on any of the concepts discussed due to the drawbacks identified and a lack of consensus among the group…
An early draft bill would grant the state water engineer the ability to investigate complaints of investment water speculation and fine purchasers up to $10,000 if they determine speculation is occurring, along with capping the percentage of ag water rights a single owner can hold in a district, requiring sworn affidavits of a purchaser's intent and potentially other fines and restrictions…
One area where most everyone agreed was on the concept of tying water rights to beneficial use as one of the state's proudest achievements.
Beneficial use implies water is a shared asset of the state that can't be purchased merely to hold or to hoard; it has to be deployed in a way that maximizes its value for all.
From there, however, opinions quickly splintered in different directions.
Click on a thumbnail graphic to view a gallery of Colorado snowpack data from the NRCS.
Colorado snowpack basin-filled map December 16, 2021 via the NRCS.
Statewide Basin High/Low graph December 16, 2021 via the NRCS.
Arkansas River Basin High/Low graph December 16, 2021 via the NRCS.
Upper Colorado River Basin High/Low graph December 16, 2021 via the NRCS.
Gunnison River Basin High/Low graph December 16, 2021 via the NRCS.
Laramie and North Platte Basin High/Low graph December 16, 2021 via the NRCS.
Upper Rio Grande River Basin High/Low graph December 16, 2021 via the NRCS.
San Miguel, Dolores, Animas, and San Juan Basin High/Low graph December 16, 2021 via the NRCS.
South Platte River Basin High/Low graph December 16, 2021 via the NRCS.
Yampa and White Basin High/Low graph December 16, 2021 via the NRCS.
From The Denver Post (Andy Stein):
After a long stretch of dry and uneventful weather, things sure have changed quickly. Snowpack across Colorado has increased significantly since the recent series of storms have blasted through.
Before Dec. 7, the statewide snowpack was sitting at about 54% of normal. The number has now risen to more than 70% of normal with several basins above that…
Here is how much change each watershed has seen from Dec. 7 to 14:
Yampa/White/Little Snake: 20 percentage points higher Laramie and North Platte: 14 percentage points higher South Platte: 7 percentage points higher Colorado Headwaters: 19 percentage points higher Gunnison: 36 percentage points higher Arkansas: 22 percentage points higher Upper Rio Grande: 30 percentage points higher San Juan/Delores/Animas: 50 percentage points higher
Overall, this meant that we gained about 20 percentage points of the snowpack that we should have by this time of the year. The most notable increases that you'll find are near Telluride, Silverton and Durango, where past storms have really dropped some moisture. The Gunnison and Upper Rio Grande watersheds have also seen a great increase in snowpack numbers.
With the statewide average still sitting well below normal, we still need some active weather and wet storms to move through to bring us back to normal but at least we are at a better point than where we were earlier this month.
While there are some stations reporting close to average conditions, there are plenty of stations that are still running very low. When looking at data from all of the substations within each watershed, you'll notice where local deficits are most notable.
Areas near Cuchara and Westcliffe are struggling in terms of snowpack, as well as areas near Pikes Peak and Bailey. Inversely, the Lower Gunnison and Uncompahgre are running at or above average.
Westwide SNOTEL basin-filled map December 17, 2021 via the NRCS.
From The Associated Press (Brittany Petersen and Felicia Fonseca):
Water leaders in Arizona, Nevada and California signed an agreement Wednesday to voluntarily reduce their take from the Colorado River to help stave off mandatory cuts in the upcoming years.
The signing took place at the Colorado River Water Users Association annual meeting in Las Vegas, amid urgency to negotiate new rules for managing the dwindling river — which serves 40 million people — beyond 2026, when current guidelines and an overlapping drought plan expire.
The newest agreement, known as the "500+ Plan," requires the states to cut 500,000 acre-feet in 2022 and 2023, or enough to serve 1 million to 1.5 million households annually, depending on water usage and conservation in the area.
It also requires financial investment from the states — $40 million from Arizona, and $20 million each from Nevada, California and the Central Arizona Project, which operates a canal system that delivers Colorado River water in Arizona. The federal government would match the funding, for a total of $200 million.
The money would fund water efficiency projects and programs to reduce usage throughout Arizona, Nevada and California, which are in the river's lower basin.
The Interior Department joined the states and other water users in making the announcement.
The stop-gap measure upstaged what water managers had hoped to be the focus of the Las Vegas gathering — the start of negotiations for the next plan. That will have to wait, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton told attendees over video conference.
Exactly how much water each state will contribute under the 500+ Plan is still being negotiated. The three states' share of Colorado River water is delivered through the country's largest reservoir, Lake Mead. The lake fell below 1,075 feet (327 meters) above sea level this year, triggering mandatory cuts for Arizona, Nevada and Mexico in 2022.
The states had volunteered to cut back on water before that threshold hit under a 2019 drought contingency plan.
Arizona relied heavily on compensated water contributions from the Colorado River Indian Tribes and the Gila River Indian Community to fulfill its obligations under the drought plan. It's expected to do the same for the 500+ Plan…
Looking down on the power plants from the top of Hoover Dam.
For California, which receives more than half the hydropower [from Hoover Dam], the new deal is particularly urgent, said Adel Hagekhalil, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
Lake Powell near Page, AZ on December 13, 2021. Inflow into the Colorado River's second largest reservoir was the second-lowest ever last year and current projections from the Bureau of Reclamation suggest this year could be similar. Water scarcity was a main topic of discussion at a gathering of water managers and experts in Las Vegas this week. CREDIT: HEATHER SACKETT/ASPEN JOURNALISM
From Aspen Journalism (Heather Sackett):
Sobering. Troubling. The new abnormal. Crazy bad. These were the words used to describe conditions on the Colorado River at the largest annual gathering of water managers and experts in Las Vegas this week.
"I just want to manage everyone's expectations," said Chuck Cullom, executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission and former Colorado River Programs Manager for the Central Arizona Project. "It is super grim."
Water scarcity — and a sense of urgency to address it — has underscored this year's Colorado River Water Users Association conference. In 2000, the storage system was nearly full, but over the past two decades, the river's two largest buckets, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, have fallen to just one-third of their capacity. In July, the Bureau of Reclamation began releases from three upper-basin reservoirs, including Blue Mesa in Gunnison County, to prop up levels at Lake Powell and preserve the ability to generate hydropower. In August, the federal government declared the first-ever tier-one shortage in the lower basin, which triggered mandatory cuts for Arizona farmers.
But scarcity, Cullom said, also drives innovation and collaboration. On Wednesday, lower-basin water managers signed a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, to spend up to $200 million to keep levels in Lake Mead from dropping to dangerously low levels. The agreement, known as the 500+ Plan, aims to add 500,000 acre-feet of water to the reservoir in both 2022 and 2023, which would raise the reservoir by about 16 feet.
The program will be funded by $40 million from the Arizona Department of Water Resources; $20 million each from the Central Arizona Project, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and Southern Nevada Water Authority; and $100 million in matching funds from the federal government.
The lower basin is taking action as a requirement of the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan, which set a threshold of 1,030-feet elevation in Lake Mead. It's currently at 1,065 feet.
"We have all seen just how quickly the conditions have continued to deteriorate," said Adel Hagekhalil, general manager of Metropolitan. "The lower-basin water users have recognized we don't have a lot of time to wait. This unites Arizona, Nevada and California."
The signing of the MOU came on the same day that the Bureau of Reclamation released its December 24-month study report, which predicts how much water will flow into Lake Powell, a critical data point for water planners. Last month, the bureau predicted the spring runoff would be about 82% of normal. But after a dry November in the upper basin, on Wednesday, the updated monthly estimate had fallen to just 64% of average. Water from Lake Powell feeds Lake Mead downstream. Modeling suggests Lake Powell could fall to below the minimum level needed to generate power by next fall.
Conditions are setting up to mirror a historically bad 2021, when a near-normal snowpack translated to only 31% of normal runoff. It was the second-worst inflow to Lake Powell ever. One of the culprits was a hot, dry previous summer and fall, underscoring the outsized impacts that continuing drought and rising temperatures from climate change are having on the flows of the Colorado River.
"The last 22 years has no 20th-century analogue," said Brad Udall, senior water and climate research scientist at Colorado State University. "If you call it anything, call it the new abnormal."
Upper Basin Colorado River Commissioner Pat Tyrrell, who represents Wyoming, said the 500+ Plan was a quick action to respond to the quickly deteriorating conditions.
"It is not painless, that part is self-evident," he said. "There is no effective approach to the imbalance that doesn't impact some water user somewhere."
It's still unclear where exactly the 500,000 acre-feet of water would come from. One possibility is paying irrigators to voluntarily leave water in the river.
The director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, Rebecca Mitchell, who also serves as Colorado River commissioner for the state, told state water managers at a breakfast Wednesday that she had not yet seen the details of the water-savings plan from the lower basin.
"We have not seen anything in writing," she said. "But anything to address and protect the reservoirs I'm obviously going to support."
Aspen Journalism covers water and rivers in collaboration with The Aspen Times.
Roman lead pipe — Photo via the Science Museum
From The Associated Press via The Colorado Springs Gazette:
The Environmental Protection Agency is taking steps to tighten rules for allowable levels of lead in drinking water, as the Biden administration looks to replace all of the nation's lead service lines using new funds from the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
The agency on Thursday announced the first investment of $2.9 billion under the law to replace aging lead pipes, which can leach particles of the heavy metal into drinking water, potentially causing severe developmental and neurological issues.
The administration is looking to replace all lead drinking water pipes over the coming years. Vice President Kamala Harris was set to make the formal announcement Thursday during a speech to the AFL-CIO…
The new EPA requirements, which is expected to be finalized by 2024, would require the replacement of remaining lead drinking water pipes "as quickly as is feasible" and could include new testing requirements for drinking water systems.
Congress approved $15 billion for lead service line replacement in the infrastructure bill — about a third less than some estimates for replacing them nationally — but the new rule could close the gap.
The announcement comes is being made in conjunction with other administration efforts to limit lead exposure, including more childhood surveillance testing for lead exposure by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to remove lead paint in public housing. The Treasury Department is also announcing that surplus COVID-19 relief funds can be used for lead service line replacement projects.
as Vegas Strip, Dec. 14, 2021. Credit: Allen Best
From Water Education Colorado (Allen Best):
Las Vegas: For every month that Lake Powell's drought-strapped hydropower system fails to produce enough electricity to sell to Colorado utilities and others across the West, millions of dollars are being lost.
That federal power revenue supports vital salinity reduction programs for farmers and efforts to recover endangered fish. But with no prospect of relief in sight — inflows into Powell this year were just 26% of average — utilities and states will see their costs rise to make up the shortfall, experts said Tuesday at the Colorado River Water Users Association conference in Las Vegas.
"We have to explore a lot of alternative funding strategies with the hydropower sector likely to diminish in time," said Don Barnett, executive director of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum, in a session called "No Spare Change."
Much more rain and, especially, snow in Colorado and other Upper Colorado River Basin states will be needed during the next two years to ensure continued production of electricity in Glen Canyon and other dams in the Colorado River system.
Since the creation of the dams on the Colorado and other rivers across the American Southwest, hydropower has provided a relatively inexpensive source of electricity to municipal and cooperative utilities in Colorado and other states. Portions of the revenue from hydroelectric sales go to support the salinity and endangered fish programs.
Already this year, shrinking river flows in the Colorado and several other rivers in the Southwest have reduced power sales 37% in the Colorado River Storage Project, which includes Lake Powell, Flaming Gorge Reservoir, Blue Mesa Reservoir and Navajo Reservoir.
Now there is a heightened focus on the reservoir levels at Lake Powell, where Glen Canyon Dam generates 75% to 80% of the electricity distributed by the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA).
"In case nobody was paying attention, there is a drought in the Upper Colorado River Basin," Tom Vigil, the Montrose, Colo.-based manager of the Colorado River Storage Project for WAPA, said. "Things have gotten a little bit worse lately and there's a cumulative effect."
Record-low inflow into Powell in the water year ending in September triggered a first-ever shortage declaration in August, meaning that Arizona, Nevada and California will have to cut their water use. WAPA in October projected a one-in-three chance that Glen Canyon Dam might be at minimum power pool in 2023, unable to produce power at all. That level is elevation 3,525 feet. Even now power production is falling because the low reservoir levels mean less pressure on the turbines. With less pressure, power production is reduced.
But WAPA must still deliver power to its customers. This is done by buying more expensive electricity on the open market. To cover those costs, WAPA raised its rates Dec. 1 to $3 per megawatt hour, a 14% increase.
WAPA will likely increase rates even more, but there's a limit to how much it can charge. At some point, customers will go elsewhere to buy their power. And that, of course, means less revenue from WAPA and the federal programs that depend upon WAPA revenues.
In the short term, WAPA has been delaying some maintenance and capital projects. Delay can work for only so long, however. Vigil said deferred maintenance to the transmission system — one of the major assets of the agency — can result in rising risk of disrupted power supplies. Payments to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the operator of the dams and the generator of the electricity distributed by WAPA, have also been postponed.
Shrinking federal power sales revenue has Barnett and others involved in the salinity program anxious. The program has about $15 million in delayed work.
Barnett made the case for the cost-effectiveness of salinity control in the Upper Basin states. The diminished salt in the Colorado River saved Clark County, home to Las Vegas, $45 million in just last year.
In a snapshot of the current state of affairs, Barnett explained that the federal program has a cost-share obligation with states of $10 million. The federal fund from hydropower sales has delivered only $8.5 million. That means a delay of $1.5 million of salinity control programs for next year. "We are pretty anxious about that."
Since the late 1980's, this waterfall formed from interactions among reservoir levels and sedimentation that redirected the San Juan River over a 20-foot high sandstone ledge. Until recently, little was known about its effect on two endangered fishes. Between 2015-2017, more than 1,000 razorback sucker and dozens of Colorado pikeminnow were detected downstream of the waterfall. Credit: Bureau of Reclamation
The endangered fish recovery programs in the upper Colorado River, San Juan and lower Colorado River offer a parallel story. Tom Chart is the recently retired former director of the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program.
The program has had successes, including the efforts to recover populations of four species in the upper Colorado River above Moab, Utah. The most recent milestone was the No. 17 down-listing of the humpback chub from endangered to threatened.
Chart said he foresaw the need to shift funding for the continuation of the fish program, currently at 50% federal and 50% states, to a larger role for state funding, as much as 70%.
Long-time Colorado journalist Allen Best publishes Big Pivots, an e-magazine that covers energy and other transitions in Colorado. He can be reached at allen@bigpivots.com and allen.best@comcast.net.
These turbines at Lake Powell's Glen Canyon Dam are at risk of becoming inoperable should levels at Powell fall below what's known as minimum power pool due to declining flows in the Colorado River. Photo courtesy U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Camille Calimlim Touton being sworn in as Reclamation's Commissioner by Secretary Deb Haaland.
Here's the release from the Bureau of Reclamation:
Maria Camille Calimlim Touton has been sworn in as Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner by Secretary Deb Haaland. Camille has served as the Bureau of Reclamation's Deputy Commissioner since January.
"As the Interior Department continues to lead the Biden-Harris administration's all-of-government approach to addressing the worsening drought crisis, Camille's steady leadership, collaborative spirit, and deep knowledge of America's natural resources will help ensure that we can meet the challenges of the moment," said Secretary Haaland. "Camille's water management experience will be crucial to helping the Department implement the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which contains historic investments to help mitigate drought conditions and protect water resources."
"I am honored to serve as Commissioner for the Bureau of Reclamation and help lead the Department's efforts to address the worsening drought crisis. As a Nevadan, I understand what this crisis means for people and the environment, and I look forward to working collaboratively with farmers, Tribes, local communities, and with Congress to face these challenges," Commissioner Touton said.
In her capacity overseeing the Bureau of Reclamation, Camille will help manage the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law's $8.3 billion investments in drought and water resiliency, including funding for water efficiency and recycling programs, rural water projects, WaterSMART grants, and dam safety to ensure that irrigators, Tribes, and adjoining communities receive adequate assistance and support.
Prior to joining the Biden-Harris administration, Camille served as Professional Staff for the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Camille's congressional experience also includes serving as Professional Staff for Interior's authorization committees: the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee. Camille also served as Interior's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science under the Obama administration. Camille holds a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering, a Bachelor of Arts in communication studies, and a Master of Public Policy.
Click on a thumbnail graphic to view a gallery of drought data from the U. S. Drought Monitor.
US Drought Monitor map December 14, 2021.
High Plains Drought Monitor map December 14, 2021.
West Drought Monitor map December 14, 2021.
Colorado Drought Monitor map December 14, 2021.
Click here to go to the U.S. Drought Monitor website. Here's an excerpt:
This Week's Drought Summary
This U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) week was marked by a much more active storm pattern across the West Coast and Northern Rockies with areas of heavy rain along the coast and valley locations. Further inland, the higher elevations of the Cascade Range, Klamath Mountains, Sierra Nevada Range, northern Great Basin, and the Northern Rockies have all received significant snowfall accumulations this week. The storm event, fueled by an atmospheric river, provided a much-needed boost to snow water equivalent (SWE) levels in the Far West. On December 14, the NRCS SNOTEL network was reporting normal-to-above-normal SWE in Oregon's Willamette (100% of median) and Southern Oregon Coastal (116%) basins as well as in the Lower Sacramento (113%), San Joaquin (106%), Tulare-Buena Vista Lakes (119%), Truckee (137%), Carson (120%), Walker (122%) and Mono-Owens Lakes (122%) basins of the Sierra Nevada Range. In the Lower Mississippi, Tennessee, and Ohio Valley, an outbreak of violent thunderstorms including dozens of tornadoes, erupted along a path spanning from northeastern Arkansas to northeastern Kentucky. The tornados moved very rapidly through the region on Friday night with devastating effect, especially in the southeastern Kentucky town of Mayfield. In Kentucky, latest reports announced at least 74 people lost their lives, and the death toll is expected to increase. In the Mid-Atlantic, unseasonably warm temperatures were observed over the weekend with daily high-temperature records broken in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and North Carolina where high temperatures ranged in the mid-60's to mid-70's. On the map, short-term precipitation shortfalls and anomalously warm temperatures led to the degradation of drought-related conditions in portions of the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, South, and in the Midwest, while some improvements were made in the High Plains and isolated areas out West. According to NOAA's National Center's for Environmental Information (NCEI), November 2021 was the 7th warmest on record for the contiguous U.S. as well as the 7th warmest January-November period on record. In terms of precipitation, November marked the 8th driest for the contiguous U.S., while year-to-date precipitation ranked in the middle third (61st wettest). At a regional level, the Rockies and Westward Region saw its warmest November (+5.8 deg F anomaly) on record as well as its warmest March-November period on record…
High Plains
On this week's map, eastern Wyoming, eastern Montana, central North Dakota, southern South Dakota, and northwestern Nebraska saw improvements based on short-term precipitation (30 to 90-day period). This included beneficial snowfall in southern portions of South Dakota where observed totals ranged from 6 to 18 inches with the highest totals in southwestern South Dakota. In these areas, soils have yet to freeze throughout the soil column and melting snows are infiltrating and helping to improve soil moisture levels. According to NOAA NOHRSC, snow coverage in the Upper Midwest Region (includes portions of Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, eastern Montana, and northwestern Wyoming) is currently at 52.5% with an average depth of 1.5 inches and a maximum depth of 28.8 inches. Despite some improvements on the map, it is noteworthy that average temperatures across the High Plains region have been well above normal since September. This includes numerous high-temperature records that were recently broken across the region during the first week of December when high temperatures soared into the 70's…
Colorado Drought Monitor one week change map ending December 14, 2021.
West
Out West, a weak-to-moderate atmospheric river made landfall in the Pacific Northwest on Saturday and moved southeastward bringing coastal and valley rains as well as heavy mountain snowfall accumulations across California and the Pacific Northwest. For the week, rainfall accumulations along the coastal areas from Washington to California ranged from 3 to 13+ inches with the highest accumulations observed in the coastal ranges of northwestern Oregon and along the Central Coast of California. In terms of snowfall during the multi-day storm event, total accumulations exceeded 6 feet in areas of the Central Sierra while areas in the southern Cascades received up to 3 feet. Further inland, areas of the Northern Rockies in Idaho and northwestern Wyoming, observed snowfall totals ranging from 12 to 20 inches. Despite the beneficial nature of this week's storm event, significant precipitation deficits (ranging from 4 to 20+ inches) still exist across California and the state's largest reservoirs are still at critically low levels, with Lake Shasta currently at 46% of the historical average (25% of capacity) and Lake Oroville at 62% of average (31% of capacity). In other areas of the West, basin-level SWE is well below normal, especially in New Mexico where median SWE ranged from 12% to 77% of normal as of Dec 14. On the map, some improvements were made in areas of Extreme Drought (D3) and Exceptional Drought (D4) in Montana, Oregon, and Utah as well as improvements in areas of Severe Drought (D2) and Moderate Drought (D1) in Idaho and Wyoming. According to NOAA NCEI, November 2021 was the 2nd warmest on record for the West and Southwest climate regions. Moreover, California and Wyoming both recorded their warmest average minimum temperatures on record for November while Nevada, Utah, and Colorado observed their 2nd warmest on record. In terms of precipitation, the Southwest Climate Region was notably dry having its 5th driest November on record…
South
In the South, conditions on the map continued to degrade across areas of Texas and Oklahoma where unseasonably warm and dry conditions prevailed this week. The dry conditions showed up on a variety of drought indicators including satellite-based soil moisture and evaporative demand tools. Additionally, numerous rivers and streams in the western half of the state showed flows dipping below the 20th percentile during the past 7-day period. Rainfall deficits (ranging from 3 to 6+ inches) during the past 60-day period were greatest in southeastern Oklahoma, eastern Texas, Louisiana, and southwestern Arkansas. For the week, average temperatures were above normal (2 to 10+ deg F) across Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi…
Looking Ahead
The NWS WPC 7-Day Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (QPF) calls for moderate-to-heavy liquid (liquid = rain + SWE) precipitation accumulations ranging from 2 to 5 inches in an area extending from Northern California to Washington state. Similar accumulations are forecasted In the Sierra Nevada Range, Cascade Range, and Olympic Mountains. In the Intermountain West, 1-to-2-inch (liquid) accumulations are expected across the Central and Northern Rockies. Elsewhere, 1-to-5-inch (liquid) accumulations are expected in far southeastern portions of the Southern Plains as well as in the Lower Mississippi, Tennessee, and Ohio River valleys. Along the Eastern Seaboard, light accumulations of generally <1 inch are expected in New England while most of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast will continue to be generally dry. The CPC 6-10-day Outlooks calls for a moderate-to-high probability of above-normal temperatures across the southern half of the conterminous United States excluding California and Nevada. Below-normal temperatures are expected across the remainder of the West including the Pacific Northwest and the Northern Rockies. In terms of precipitation, the wetter-than-normal pattern is expected to persist across the western U.S., while there is a low-to-moderate probability of below-normal precipitation across the Central and Northern Plains as well as across most of the South. In the eastern third, near-normal precipitation is expected.
US Drought Monitor one week change map ending December 14, 2021.
From the 2018 Tribal Water Study, this graphic shows the location of the 29 federally-recognized tribes in the Colorado River Basin. Map credit: USBR
Historically excluded from Colorado River negotiations, tribes are demanding to be included in policy discussions on how the water is managed.
Ahead of a conference of the Colorado River Water Users Association in Las Vegas, a group of conservationists and tribal leaders held a press conference on the overuse of water within the Colorado River Basin Monday.
"There's a wide range of people who are a part of this but what weight does each individual state have when they come to the table? What weight does each tribe have?" said Timothy Williams, Chairman of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe. "I don't see any tribe at that signing table, yet our water is being used."
The Fort Mojave Tribe, whose reservation lies partially within Nevada, is one of 10 federally recognized tribes with reserved water rights in the Colorado River Basin.
Yet, the tribe has been left out of the policymaking process for the river despite having a senior priority date that supersedes even that of the Southern Nevada Water Authority in Clark County, meaning they take precedence over most other water users whose rights have later dates.
In 1922, seven states in the Colorado River Basin — Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Nevada — signed the Colorado River Compact, an agreement on how to divide the river water equitably among states.
However, tribal members, who weren't considered U.S. citizens at the time, were excluded from negotiations. Tribal nations were again excluded from policymaking in 2007 when states renegotiated water divisions due to increasing drought conditions.
That agreement is set to expire in 2026, meaning states will need to agree on a new set of Colorado River rules. Tribes are now pushing to be included in those negotiations for the first time.
"Being left out of those groups and trying to squeeze in at different times has been something," Williams said, during the conference. "The table keeps moving and moving and moving."
Williams said tribes have now built the capacity to demand a spot at the negotiating table. Part of that capacity is the work of the Colorado River Basin Tribes Partnership, also known as the Ten Tribes Partnership, created in 1992 by federally recognized tribes to strengthen tribal influence in water policy.
"Hopfully when the 2026 guidelines come out you'll see tribes," Williams said.
Basin tribes hold water rights to about 3 million acre-feet of Colorado River water, which equates to about 25% of the river's current average annual flow. That percentage will only increase as climate change continues to reduce the amount of water available to states with newer water rights. That water allocation makes Basin tribes a powerful force in negotiations, said Williams.
The Fort Mojave Tribe alone has the right to divert more than 136,000 acre feet, including 3,787 acres in Nevada.
However protecting the tribes' water is about more than the raw acre feet they are entitled to, said Williams. It's also about protecting the health of the land, including Avi Kwa Ame, or Spirit Mountain, a culturally significant area that's part of the various tribes' spiritual ideology and is featured in Mojave creation beliefs.
"We have to answer to our membership, we have to answer to our elders, we have to answer to our environment and ask if we are truly protecting it the best way we can," Williams said.
Forrest Cuch, a Ute Indian Tribe Elder and former director of the Utah Division of Indian Affairs, said the Uinta River in Utah, once a major waterway to the Colorado River, has been reduced to a trickle over the years as a result of overuse.
"In the Uinta Basin we have farmers plowing up lands that are not fit for production," Cuch said. "They think it's okay to make the desert bloom like a rose. That doesn't sit well with Native people. We say the desert blooms on its own and if it were meant to be a lush green meadow it would be such and the desert is not such. "
"Exploitation, extraction and development at all costs" has damaged the Colorado River, said Cuch, calling for a shift in culture that would protect the river.
"This knowledge comes from our strong spiritual connection to the land which is nurtured by our ceremonies that keep us earthbound and earth connected," Cuch said. "In truth we have always been earth people that seem to find it necessary to stop the destruction of mother earth."
The call for inclusion from Colorado River Basin tribes on water policy comes after 20 tribes,including the Moapa Band of Paiutes in Southern Nevada, sent a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland last month asking the government to fulfill its "federal trust responsibility" and include tribes in river negotiations.
"Basin Tribes' involvement in these ongoing decisions… is a necessity with regard to, and in recognition of, the impacts to Basin Tribes of the continuing drought and looming basin-wide shortages," reads the letter.
Tribes argue they must be included in upcoming Colorado River policymaking negotiations to correct historical injustices.
In the letter to Haaland, tribes say federal and state governments must recognize and include support for tribal access to clean water, tribal water rights settlements, tribal sovereignty, and provide tools that will help Basin Tribes to fully utilize their water rights.
The Biden administration has pledged to work more closely with tribes during the upcoming negotiations, which are likely to happen over the next two years. During a trip to Nevada on Sunday Haaland said the federal government understands the importance of involving tribes in negotiations and discussions around water infrastructure and policymaking.
"We have had many, many tribal consultations on this issue and many others," Haaland said. "President Biden has made tribal consultation a priority in his administration. We are approaching these issues with an 'all of government' approach."
Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com. Follow Nevada Current on Facebook and Twitter.
Glen Canyon Dam as seen from an overlook on the south side, downstream of the dam in Page, Arizona. (Public domain.)
From The Associated Press (Brittany Peterson):
To help stave off another round of mandatory cutbacks, water leaders for Arizona, Nevada and California are preparing to sign an agreement that would voluntarily reduce Colorado River water to the lower basin states by 500,000 acre-feet — enough to supply about 750,000 households for a year — for both 2022 and 2023.
The agreement, known as the "500+ Plan", would require millions of dollars from each state over two years — $60 million from Arizona, $20 million from Nevada and $20 million from California with federal matching dollars — to fund payments for water use reduction and efficiency projects that result in supply savings throughout the lower basin.
The signing is expected to take place Wednesday at the Colorado River Water Users Association annual meeting in Las Vegas, amid urgency to negotiate new rules for managing the depleted river beyond 2026 when the 2007 interim guidelines expire.
North American Indian regional losses 1850 thru 1890.
Here's the release from the Colorado Water Conservation Board:
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
The 2021 Colorado River Water Users Association (CRWUA) Annual Conference kicked off on December 14 in Las Vegas, Nevada, gathering water leaders and stakeholders from across the Colorado River Basin. During the Upper Colorado River Commission meeting, Colorado Commissioner Rebecca Mitchell reaffirmed the state's commitment to create a framework for meaningful and effective engagement with the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes throughout the negotiation process for post-2026 reservoir operations of Lake Powell and Lake Mead (see Interim Guidelines background). Commissioner Mitchell announced that she will begin implementing the framework in Spring 2022.
Statement from Commissioner Mitchell on Tribal Engagement:
"In recognition of their status as fellow sovereigns, I believe that a critical element as we move into negotiations for post-2026 reservoir operations interim guidelines is meaningful engagement with the Tribal Nations in the Colorado River Basin, and that creating a framework for this engagement should be the first step as the negotiations begin."
Commissioner Mitchell Statement on Upper Basin Shortages and the Need for Fair, Sustainable Solutions:
"As our water users in the Upper Basin states have faced shortages every single year for more than 20 years and have used roughly three million acre-feet less than their compact apportionment every year, the Lower Basin states have benefitted from certainty and security in their water deliveries due to large releases from Lake Powell."
"It is incumbent on all who rely on the Colorado River to take a hard look at potential solutions and consider whether those solutions address the root causes of problems that we face in the Colorado River Basin. Colorado looks forward to working collaboratively with all Basin states, Tribal Nations, water users, and NGOs towards developing and implementing fair, effective, and sustainable future actions to manage the Colorado River in the coming months and years."
While facing significant shortages, the Upper Basin states are implementing the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan. This has included the release of over 150,000 acre-feet of water from Upper Basin reservoirs in an effort to protect Lake Powell. A Drought Response Operations Plan will be released for public comment in early 2022.
Upper Colorado River Basin states include Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Lower Colorado River Basin states include Arizona, California, and Nevada. Rebecca Mitchell serves as the Governor-appointed Commissioner representing Colorado on all Colorado River matters, as well as the Director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
From The Colorado Sun (Thy Vo and Michael Booth):
Legislators want to tackle water speculation after two companies buying up water rights in Grand Valley and the San Luis Valley sparked fears
Want to understand water speculation in Colorado?
Let's say you're in line at a pizza shop.
Hear us out.
There's a big sign at the pizza counter saying, "Limited quantities due to climate change. Buy only what you can eat."
But the guy in front of you buys five pizzas for $20 each. He starts reselling them by the slice for $5 a piece. The store owner says, "You can't do that here."
The pizza glutton walks away, saying, "Fine. I'll put them in the freezer and I'll eat it all later."
Do you believe him?
And if you don't believe him, what are you going to do about it?
That kind of speculation on water purely for profit is supposed to be illegal already in Colorado. But under current law, there's no way of telling what's in the water buyer's heart. The buyer can say they'll keep using the water for farming or for city drinking water or for a gold medal fly fishing stream.
The 2022 legislative session is shaping up to be a big battleground for this key question about the future of water rights in Colorado. Climate change is cutting into the amount of water available in Colorado's rivers. Front Range and resort communities continue their rapid, thirsty growth. And state officials may need to lock down reserve supplies across the region in case a seven-state compact demands we deliver big water downstream in the western lifeline that is the Colorado River. Who gets to broker the inevitable water sales is a moral, legal and economic question for our time…
Water users and lawmakers say they're especially worried about a new, potential threat: investors and out-of-state private equity buying up water rights to wait for an opportune time to sell, potentially taking away water from other users like farmers and ranchers and driving up values.
"Every water right on the Western Slope, particularly those closer to the border, will have an increased value," said state Sen. Kerry Donovan, a Vail Democrat. "And if those are being held by those in New York or Dallas investment firms, that's a very different scenario."
Donovan, state Sen. Don Coram, a Montrose Republican, and Democratic state Rep. Karen McCormick, a Longmont Democrat, have drafted legislation that would attempt to prohibit speculation for pure financial gain. But almost nobody, including the sponsors, is wholeheartedly behind the bill as written…
The Government Highline Canal, near Grand Junction, delivers water from the Colorado River, and is managed by the Grand Valley Water Users Association. Prompted by concerns about outside investors speculating on Grand Valley water, the state convened a work group to study the issue. CREDIT: BRENT GARDNER-SMITH/ASPEN JOURNALISM
Still, many have concerns that, even if proponents can find a way to effectively ban profiteering, the proposal could jeopardize ordinary transactions between farmers and other water rights holders that are currently legal.
"They may be casting the net to bring in tuna, but a law like this could bring in a lot of dolphins as well," said Joe Bernal, a fourth-generation farmer in Grand Valley and president of the board for the Grand Valley Water Users Association. "We have an anti-speculation [doctrine] that is sufficient in Colorado."
Pizza, fish nets … complex water rights battles tend to spawn multiple metaphors in search of simple explanations. Cyran offers another, when critiquing whether a new anti-speculation bill would give too much power and responsibility to the state water engineer in deciding what water buyers' true designs might be.
New anti-speculation duties could transform the water engineer's office from a traffic cop into a prosecutor, Cyran said.
"It puts him in a tough place of determining intent," Cyran said.
A looming threat, or the market at work?
Pressure is building after two decades of Western Slope drought to clarify Colorado water law for inevitable battles. The Colorado River, serving 40 million people in seven Western states and Mexico, is delivering 20% less water downstream than just two decades ago. River volume could drop that much again in the next two decades.
Through the Colorado River Compact, Upper Basin states — Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — must deliver 7.5 million acre-feet of water each year to the more populous Lower Basin states — Arizona, California and Nevada. Most of that comes from melting Colorado snowpack. Climate change and drought have already dropped water levels in Lake Mead to trigger points that mean 500,000 acre-foot cutbacks for Arizona's water use in 2022.
If Colorado's compact water deliveries to Lower Basin states fall below the average over a decade, state officials would need to cut use by farmers, cities and others to allow more to flow down the Colorado River and across the Utah border.
The Little Snake River as it passes under Wyoming Highway 70 near Dixon. Photo credit: Wikimedia
Most state leaders don't want to wait until there's a "compact call" that would force emergency cuts across the board. They have experimented with demand management, in effect renting farmers' water for three years out of 10, to find water without drying up agriculture permanently. But large-scale purchases of hundreds of thousands of acre-feet would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Front Range cities shopping for future water supplies are being quoted up to $50,000 an acre-foot, according to water developers.
Denver Basin Aquifer System graphic credit USGS.
Meanwhile, thirsty Front Range cities keep growing, with those like Parker and Castle Rock looking to replace depleted aquifer water with renewable river water.
Expanding demand and shrinking supply is a recipe for worry.
Farmers and ranchers worry investors will buy up their way of life — but they also worry the state could impede their ability to make money by selling their valuable water rights. Cities worry that prices are soaring, and that brokers will lock up dwindling supplies. State and nonprofit officials who support demand management worry that by the time they have to rent water in bulk, they'll have to negotiate with hedge funds.
Two private water-buying efforts — whose owners are adamant they are not speculators — prompted much of the recent talk about toughening laws against water profiteering.
The Government Highline Canal flows past Highline State Park in the Grand Valley. Water Asset Management, a New York City-based hedge fund, has been buying up parcels of land that are irrigated with water from the canal. CREDIT: BETHANY BLITZ/ASPEN JOURNALISM
In 2020, as the Colorado River Water Conservation District on the Western Slope was winning a mill levy election to fund local water projects, its leaders and supporters pointed fingers at a private equity firm called Water Asset Management. The New York-based firm, with the help of local advisors, had become the biggest single landowner in the Grand Valley Water Users Association, buying up farms and the accompanying water rights…
James Eklund, former director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board and now an adviser to WAM, says the investors have owned much of the Grand Valley land for five years, and are not flipping the property or water rights to others. The buyers seek profits in improving farm management and upgrading water systems for efficiency, Eklund said.
Bernal also served on a state-appointed working group that included water managers, lawyers and a former state Supreme Court justice and studied the speculation issue for nearly a year before deciding over the summer not to recommend any of the concepts they considered. With a lack of consensus on how to strengthen speculation laws — and a lack of agreement on how exactly to define the problem — Bernal thinks it's a mistake for lawmakers to pursue legislation to tackle a problem that he says has yet to arrive…
One provision of the draft speculation bill is aimed squarely at recent Grand Valley history: It directs each ditch company to set a percentage cap on how much of their collective water rights any one member can control.
Eklund, whose own family has deep farming roots on the Western Slope, finds the bill's vague language and layers of restrictions to be anti-capitalist, whether the drafters meant it to be or not…
The northern end of Colorado's San Luis Valley has a raw, lonely beauty that rivals almost any place in the North American West. Photo/Allen Best
Pumping SLV water to the Front Range stirs more fears
The other project most frequently invoked in warnings is Renewable Water Resources, a private effort by former Gov. Bill Owens and partners to gather San Luis Valley water rights and pipe the water to municipal buyers on the Front Range. The investors say they are spending $68 million just for the water rights, and they will create a $50 million community fund for the valley.
RWR has been talking with Douglas County about becoming the primary buyer of the water, and is now pitching the county to use millions of federal stimulus money to seal the deal. While they are buying up valley water to sell to the Front Range at a profit, project spokesman Sean Duffy said, RWR is most definitely not speculating.
With Front Range communities like Douglas County lining up to buy the water to serve Colorado residents, Duffy said, "this is a very specific project for a very specific need."
Yet the proposal, which could spend years in water court before any construction begins on the pipeline needed to move the water, has spurred near-universal public opposition in the San Luis Valley, with dozens of towns, water districts and civic leaders blasting any loss of water.
State Sen. Cleave Simpson, an Alamosa Republican who also works as the general manager for the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, said various investors and entrepreneurs have proposed exporting water from the San Luis Valley for decades…
Still, any new legislation to make speculation even less likely than under existing law must protect the interests of farmers and ranchers whose rights to water are the most consistently valuable thing they control, he added…
It's a delicate conversation for Bernal, who sits on the board of the Grand Valley Water Users Association and like others is now also renting land from Water Asset Management. The association, which hasn't taken a position on the draft legislation, largely supplies irrigation water to commercial farming operations.
He and other local farmers are always worried about new threats to local water or efforts to develop land currently used for agricultural production, Bernal said…
Would the bill actually block speculation?
Colorado already has [an] anti-speculation [doctrine] that require people to put their water rights to "beneficial use," such as irrigating a farm, providing tap water for a city, making ski area snow, or providing stream flow for recreation.
Water courts will require those filing for a new use of a water right to show they have a customer for the new beneficial use. Colorado statutes and case law require that, too. But the answer to the question of whether legal brokering also appears to be a "speculative" flip is not clear. How long does a water buyer have to use the right before selling it to another party? What's the consequence if they later change the use of the water that they expressed when buying the water right?
The draft bill backed by Donovan and Coram aims to target situations where a water right is purchased specifically with the intent to make a profit in a later sale or transaction.
Currently, if a person or company wants to buy a water right, they need to show they "can and will" put the right to beneficial use, said Kevin Rein, state engineer for the Colorado Division of Water Resources.
But it's going to be "very difficult" to prove this more nebulous type of financial speculation, Rein said — that at the time of the sale, the buyer intended to use the water right primarily to make a buck. Current water law doesn't provide a structure to consider those questions, let alone what the answers should be, he said.
The draft bill doesn't say how investment speculation would be identified. It does require the buyer, if the sale is challenged, to offer up evidence that they aren't engaging in financial speculation. The legislation would also task Rein's office, which is responsible for administering water law, with the authority to investigate suspect sales. The agency already looks at transactions to determine whether they violate current anti-speculation laws, but that's a simpler analysis that's more administrative than legal.
How the state water engineer would implement the bill could also be resolved through a rulemaking process rather than decided by lawmakers.
Simpson, the senator from Alamosa, also questions whether it's appropriate for Rein's office to be given that authority…
Either way, trying to ban investment speculation would be new territory for Colorado water law, said Rein, who also served on the working group that studied the issue over the summer. And he believes Colorado water courts have yet to examine the type of financial speculation the legislation wants to target…
There's also the question of how the state could actually enforce the law against speculators with deep pockets to fund lawyers and pay penalties, which the draft bill caps at $10,000. Under the proposal, if someone is fined for a speculative transaction, the state engineer could also impose a waiting period of up to two years on the sale or transfer of shares to the buyer.
Supporters of the draft, including Donovan, acknowledge the details of the bill will be complex, and contested.
Donovan said the proposal will need a lot of work to balance personal property rights and preventing profiteering off a dwindling public resource.
Community members from Utqiagvik, Alaska, look to open water from the edge of shorefast sea ice. Matthew Druckenmiller
Matthew Druckenmiller, University of Colorado Boulder; Rick Thoman, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Twila Moon, University of Colorado Boulder
The Arctic has long been portrayed as a distant end-of-the-Earth place, disconnected from everyday common experience. But as the planet rapidly warms, what happens in this icy region, where temperatures are rising twice as fast as the rest of the globe, increasingly affects lives around the world.
On Dec. 14, 2021, a team of 111 scientists from 12 countries released the 16th annual Arctic Report Card, a yearly update on the state of the Arctic system. We are Arctic scientists and the editors of this peer-reviewed assessment. In the report, we take a diverse look across the region's interconnected physical, ecological and human components.
Like an annual checkup with a physician, the report assesses the Arctic's vital signs – including surface air temperatures, sea surface temperatures, sea ice, snow cover, the Greenland ice sheet, greening of the tundra, and photosynthesis rates by ocean algae – while inquiring into other indicators of health and emerging factors that shed light on the trajectory of Arctic changes.
As the report describes, rapid and pronounced human-caused warming continues to drive most of the changes, and ultimately is paving the way for disruptions that affect ecosystems and communities far and wide.
A closer look at the 2021 Arctic Report Card.
Continued loss of ice
Arctic Sea ice – a central vital sign and one of the most iconic indicators of global climate change – is continuing to shrink under warming temperatures.
Including data from 2021, 15 of the lowest summer sea ice extents – the point when the ice is at its minimum reach for the year – have all occurred in the last 15 years, within a record dating back to 1979 when satellites began regularly monitoring the region.
The sea ice is also thinning at an alarming rate as the Arctic's oldest and thickest multi-year ice disappears. This loss of sea ice diminishes the Arctic's ability to cool the global climate. It can also alter lower latitude weather systems to an extent that makes previously rare and impactful weather events, like droughts, heat waves and extreme winter storms, more likely.
Similarly, the persistent melting of the Greenland ice sheet and other land-based ice is raising seas worldwide, exacerbating the severity and exposure to coastal flooding, disruptions to drinking and waste water systems, and coastal erosion for more communities around the planet.
NOAA Climate.gov/NSIDC
A warmer, wetter Arctic
This transition from ice to water and its effects are evident across the Arctic system.
The eight major Arctic rivers are discharging more freshwater into the Arctic Ocean, reflecting an Arctic-wide increase in water coming from land as a result of precipitation, permafrost thaw and ice melt. Remarkably, the summit of the Greenland ice sheet – over 10,000 feet above sea level – experienced its first-ever observed rainfall during summer 2021.
These developments point to a changed and more variable Arctic today. They also give credence to new modeling studies that show the potential for the Arctic to transition from a snow-dominated to rain-dominated system in summer and autumn by the time global temperatures rise to only 1.5 degrees Celisus (2.7 F) above pre-industrial times. The world has already warmed by 1.2 C (2.2 F).
Such a shift to more rain and less snow would further transform landscapes, fueling faster glacier retreat and permafrost loss. The thaw of permafrost not only affects ecosystems but also further adds to climate warming by allowing previously once-frozen plant and animal remains to decompose, releasing additional greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
This year's report highlights how retreating glaciers and deteriorating permafrost are also posing growing threats to human life through abrupt and localized flooding and landslides. It urges coordinated international efforts to identify these hazards. More rain in the Arctic will further multiply these threats.
NOAA Climate.gov/CS ERA5
Rising human impact
Observed changes and disruptions in the Arctic have bearing on everyday lives and actions worldwide, either directly or as stark reminders of a range of human-caused harm to climate and ecosystems.
An Arctic Report Card essay on beavers expanding northward into Arctic tundra to exploit newly favorable conditions is a case study for how species around the world are on the move as habitats respond to climate shifts, and the need for new forms of collaborative monitoring to assess the scale of the resulting ecological transformations.
An essay on marine garbage from shipping washing ashore on the Bering Sea coast, posing an immediate threat to food security in the region, reminds us that the threat of both micro- and macro-plastics in our oceans is a preeminent challenge of our time.
A report on shipping noise increasingly infiltrating the Arctic's underwater marine soundscape, to the detriment of marine mammals, is a call to conserve the integrity of natural soundscapes worldwide. For example, a recent unrelated study found that noise caused by human activities and biodiversity loss are deteriorating the spring songbird soundscapes in North America and Europe.
Donna Erickson cuts fish at camp near Unalakleet, Alaska. Jeff Erickson
Yet, an Arctic Report Card essay from members of the Indigenous Foods Knowledges Network highlights how, despite the continued climate threats to Arctic food systems, Alaska Indigenous communities weathered early pandemic disruptions to food security through their cultural values for sharing and "community-first" approaches.
Their cooperation and ability to adapt offer an important lesson for similarly struggling communities worldwide, while reminding everyone that the Arctic itself is a homeland; a place where large-scale disruptions are not new to its over 1 million Indigenous Peoples, and where solutions have long been found in practices of reciprocity.
An Arctic connected to the rest of the world
The Arctic Report Card compiles observations from across the circumpolar North, analyzing them within a polar projection of our planet. This puts the Arctic at the center, with all meridians extending outward to the rest of the world.
Some of the Arctic events of 2021 discussed in the Arctic Report Card. NOAA Climate.gov
In this view, the Arctic is tethered to societies worldwide through a myriad of exchanges – the natural circulation of air, ocean and contaminants, the migration of animals and invasive species, as well as human-driven transport of people, pollution, goods and natural resources. The warming of the Arctic is also allowing for greater marine access as sea ice loss permits ships to move deeper into Arctic waters and for longer periods of time.
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These realities illuminate the importance for increased international cooperation in conservation, hazard mitigation and scientific research.
The Arctic has already undergone unprecedented rapid environmental and social changes. A warmer and more accessible Arctic results in a world only tethered more tightly together.
Matthew Druckenmiller, Research Scientist, National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder; Rick Thoman, Alaska Climate Specialist, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Twila Moon, Deputy Lead Scientist, National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
A burnt sign on Larimer County Road 103 near Chambers Lake. The fire started in the area near Cameron Peak, which it is named after. The fire burned over 200,000 acres during its three-month run. Photo courtesy of Kate Stahla via the University of Northern Colorado
by Jacob Fischler, Colorado Newsline December 11, 2021
U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland pledged federal resources and cooperation with governors from 19 Western states to tackle wildfire resilience, drought management, oil and gas cleanup efforts and other issues made more difficult by climate change.
Speaking at the Western Governors Association meeting outside San Diego on Thursday, Haaland touted funding for Interior priorities in the newly enacted infrastructure law and highlighted the roles states would play in using it.
"We cannot be successful in putting these new resources to work without your support and leadership," she told the group. "We know it will be you and your teams who implement so many of the on-the-ground projects that will reshape our shared future."
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Longtime Western issues like drought and wildfire have been worsened by a changing climate, she said. Money in the administration-sponsored infrastructure law is meant to address those issues.
The law provides $1.5 billion for Interior wildfire resilience programs and $8.3 billion in water management projects to mitigate the effects of drought. It also appropriates $16 billion for legacy pollution cleanup and another roughly $16 billion for reclaiming abandoned mines and plugging uncapped oil and gas wells.
Spending on wildfire and water programs and upgrades to national parks infrastructure would expand job opportunities and boost the outdoor recreation economy, she said.
But that work must be paired with restorative efforts, including cleaning up abandoned mines and fossil fuel wells, she said.
"As we build toward the future, we have an obligation to address the failures of the past," she said. "These discarded remnants of extractive industries spew poison into the air and nearby waters and contribute to climate change."
The Western Governors Association, which includes governors from Alaska to Texas, convenes its members twice a year to discuss issues that are widely experienced in the West. Idaho Gov. Brad Little chaired the group this year, with Colorado's Jared Polis set to lead it in 2022. The governors of Arizona, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon are also members.
Haaland opened her remarks with a commitment to continue Interior's close relationship with Western governors. She cited work with states to conserve water and manage competing priorities in the Klamath and Colorado River basins during droughts this year as examples of the department's partnerships with states.
She pledged to visit the Western states in 2022 she did not travel to this year. Her 2021 schedule included stops in Colorado, New Mexico and Oregon.
In a brief question-and-answer session, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, asked about the possibility of governors having "a direct line" to the secretary. Haaland replied that she had an open door and that someone at the department of more than 65,000 workers would always be ready to help with whatever issues governors deal with at a given time.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat who is the immediate past chair of the governors group, added that she had direct conversations with Haaland throughout the water crisis in the Klamath River Basin this summer.
Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com. Follow Colorado Newsline on Facebook and Twitter.
Westwide SNOTEL basin-filled map December 13, 2021.
From Big Pivots (Allen Best):
In 2008, Science magazine published an essay called "Stationarity is Dead: Whither Water Management." In the essay, PCD Milly, a research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, and others, argued that climate change was upsetting all the apple carts of water management. Water management, they said, was set up for a 20th century climatic regime that had changed and would change further.
Thirteen years late, the evidence continues to accumulate in support of that thesis. The latest is a report, "A low-to-no snow future and its impacts on water resources in the western United States."
The authors, primarily from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and other University of California schools, overlap with the research team for the SAIL project in Gothic. The report has six authors from California, one from Nevada and one from Colorado, Denver Water's Laurna Kaatz.
The report published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment provides a bold warning about the strong potential for snowless winters becoming relatively commonplace by mid-century and beyond, especially in the coastal ranges and Sierra Nevada of the West Coast.
It got significant attention from the Washington Post last week under a headline of: "Snow may vanish for years at a time in Mountain West with climate warming."
That's not exactly news. I may be low on the journalistic totem pole, but I've been writing about this for at least a decade. And no one single headline can do justice to the variations of Western topography.
In a 2016 story I wrote:
"Contrary to what some have said, those who professionally study the changing climate and its rising temperatures do not foresee an end to snow. Or winter. Or skiing.
"At least not everywhere, nor in a set amount of time—the next 25 to 30 years—that matters to many North American mountain towns.
"They do see, however, continued increases in both day and nighttime temperatures that might threaten the livelihood of some ski areas, especially those at lower elevations, which could have a ripple effect on the industry."
This new report delivers relatively little new information but does prominently hoist a talking point around the concept of low- and no-snow years.
The report synthesized 18 models about future precipitation and temperatures. The modeling foresees relatively little dramatic change until about mid-century. Then, changes occur abruptly.
Only 8% to 14% of years were classified as low- to no-snow over the period of 1950 to 2000.
This compares to 78% to 94% between 2050 and 2099.
The report defines a phenomenon called episodic low- to no snow as being five consecutive years in which more than 50% of the basin area experiences low-to-no snow. This emerges in the late 2040s in California, but in the 2060s for most basins.
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Persistent low to no snow is defined as 10 consecutive years of greater than 5% of the basin area having low to no snow. That is predicted to occur in the late 2050s in California and as late as the end of the 2070s in the upper Colorado River Basin.
This is a broad-brush of a report. It distinguishes among the four major mountain ranges that have been studied, but provides relatively little differentiation other than to note a substantial distinction between the West Coast and the Rockies. And there is great uncertainty. "The large spread in projected changes at mid-century to end of century highlights the lack of consensus on this time to emerge of low- to no snow."
To be clear, though, the science all points in the same direction. Just how different that future will be for babies born in 2021 when they became octogenarians is revealed in this sentence: "Although not impossible, it is unlikely that a complete disappearance of snow in the Western United States will occur before the end of the 21st century, even under a high-emissions scenario."
The report bills itself as a "call to action" and warns of the "dire implications of a low- to no-snow future, given its central role in mountainous watershed behavior, ecosystem function, and ultimately, downstream water availability."
Most of us understand this so well that it seems trite to even mention it, but the water infrastructure of the 20th century was built around the idea that fallen snow —the majority of precipitation in most Western basins, including those of Colorado —builds up over winter and then somewhat leisurely melts, often far into summer. That absence of stationarity will have huge consequences of which we are only starting to reckon.
Many Indian reservations are located in or near contentious river basins where demand for water outstrips supply. Map courtesy of the Bureau of Reclamation.
From 3 Streams (Dr. Elizabeth Koebele and Max Robinson):
In August 2021, a first-of-its-kind water shortage was declared by federal officials on the Colorado River, a critical water source for the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The declaration triggered water delivery reductions to Arizona and Nevada, as well as to Mexico, under a temporary policy called the Drought Contingency Plan (DCP). Policymakers have already begun negotiating new guidelines to take the DCP's place in 2026, recognizing that climate change-induced water shortages will necessitate even stricter water management in the future. However, these policymakers have largely ignored another "critical uncertainty" that could undermine efforts to achieve water sustainability in the Colorado River Basin: Tribal water rights.
More than two decades of drought in the Colorado River Basin have left Lake Mead, the nation's largest reservoir, at just 34 percent of capacity. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation)
In August 2021, a first-of-its-kind water shortage was declared by federal officials on the Colorado River, a critical water source for the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The declaration triggered water delivery reductions to Arizona and Nevada, as well as to Mexico, under a temporary policy called the Drought Contingency Plan (DCP). Policymakers have already begun negotiating new guidelines to take the DCP's place in 2026, recognizing that climate change-induced water shortages will necessitate even stricter water management in the future. However, these policymakers have largely ignored another "critical uncertainty" that could undermine efforts to achieve water sustainability in the Colorado River Basin: Tribal water rights.
There are 30 federally-recognized Indian Tribes in the Colorado River Basin, twenty-two of whom hold rights to over 20% of the river's average annual flow. Because Tribal water rights are granted under a unique set of federal rules, they are typically more secure than water rights held by most other users, meaning they're more likely to be fulfilled in times of shortage in the over-allocated Colorado River system. Additionally, several Tribes hold priority rights to portions of the basin's groundwater, a water source on which users are becoming increasingly reliant as the basin becomes dryer. Taken together, Tribes in the western U.S. hold rights to around 10.5 million acre-feet of water annually, exceeding most of the western states' individual withdrawals.
Yet, many Tribes are unable to access and use their water rights due to issues associated with long-standing political disenfranchisement and socio-economic marginalization. For instance, twelve Tribes in the Colorado River Basin have disputed water rights claims that remain unresolved today. And, even when Tribes can gather the resources necessary to enter into expensive and uncertain litigation processes to "quantify" their water rights, they may receive only "paper water." This means that, despite holding enforceable water rights, a Tribe lacks the means to access and use part or all of their entitlement, contributing to high rates of water insecurity on reservations among other issues. Other water users directly benefit from these injustices, especially during times of shortage, by claiming "unused" Tribal water for their own needs.
Fortunately, many Tribes have begun to quantify their water rights via settlements, which allow them to negotiate with the federal government, states, water districts, and private water users to better control the outcome of their water rights. As settlements have become the go-to mechanism for quantification, federal settlement funding has steadily increased.
As of 2019, authorized settlement funding totaled approximately $5.2 billion; however, in 2016 it was reported that $1 billion in settlement funding had gone unfunded even though previously authorized. More recently, the newly passed HR 3684 $1.2 trillion "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" includes funding to "satisfy long-neglected water rights obligations to Native American tribes." The actual value of these planned funds is currently unknown, but previous trends indicate a seemingly promising future for rectifying disputes involving Tribal water rights through settlements.
Additionally, while Tribes have been historically excluded from most water policymaking processes, many are already positioning themselves as critical players in the future of the Colorado River Basin. For instance, although Tribes were not formally included in the process used to develop the DCP, they played a pivotal role in helping the states in the basin reach agreement on a plan. Specifically, Tribes agreed to lease water to states and conserve water by temporarily fallowing some of their agriculture in exchange for compensation to help prop up system reservoir levels. Now, Tribal coalitions, such as the Ten Tribes Partnership, are advocating for more formal inclusion of Tribal voices in a plethora of Colorado River decision-making venues. This could include actions like creating a seat for Tribes on the Upper Colorado River Commission and employing the types of sovereign-to-sovereign consultation processes used in other governance situations involving Tribes.
With more severe water shortages on the horizon, continuing to leave Tribal water issues unresolved not only perpetuates historical injustices, but also exacerbates uncertainty and increases the risk for policymakers, water managers, and other water users. The emerging Colorado River renegotiation process provides a critical opportunity to upend policies and practices that have excluded Tribal voices for far too long. Fortunately, the trend toward negotiated settlements for Tribal water rights and enhanced Tribal influence in recent policymaking provides guidance for how this could be achieved.
These slow, but important changes also emphasize that addressing long-ignored Tribal water rights issues is a win-win for all stakeholders in the Colorado River Basin: it can reduce water supply uncertainty, garner federal funding, open new pathways for communication and collaboration, catalyze the development of innovative and flexible water management strategies, and — most importantly — begin to rectify a history of injustice and disenfranchisement of Tribal communities in the western U.S.
North American Indian regional losses 1850 thru 1890.
Here's the release from Wild Earth Guardians (Jen Pelz):
New research released [December 13, 2021] argues that Utah, Colorado and New Mexico are overusing their rights to the Colorado River and have not reduced their use in the face of a declining water supply. The Report, A Future on Borrowed Time, shows that while Colorado River flows declined 20% over the last two decades, it is likely that water flows will decline more in the future.
If these water deficits continue, the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California, Nevada alongside Mexico have the right to force the Upper Basin states to cut their water use of Colorado River water. The report also demonstrates that Upper Basin water leaders proposing additional water diversions are jeopardizing the water supplies for both cities and farmers in their own states.
"There's some antiquated leadership in the Upper Basin from proponents of new water diversions who are jeopardizing the water rights of farmers and cities who have been using Colorado River water for decades" said Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council, which produced the report. "Water leaders need to either stop denying that the Colorado River has dropped 20%, or they need to be replaced with professionals who embrace science and want to protect existing water users, instead of endangering them by proposing new water diversions amidst a declining supply."
"The water crisis in the Colorado River Basin gets more dire everyday," said Jen Pelz, Wild Rivers Program Director at WildEarth Guardians. "This report makes plain that additional dams and diversions from the Colorado River are not only irresponsible, but put the entire basin and the communities that benefit from its water at risk of economic, environmental and cultural collapse. We need real and immediate commitments, especially from the Upper Basin states, to live within the river's means."
The report showcases the water deficits happening today among Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. These water deficits are based on the 21st Century average of water flows, which are 19% less than the 20th Century average on the Colorado River. Additional reductions in Colorado River water flows of 30% and 40% reductions in water volume demonstrate that serious water cuts may have to be made in the Upper Basin states, including all newly proposed water diversions.
"This report underscores what many officials are reluctant to say: The Upper Basin is already using more water than legally allowed" said Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great Basin Water Network. "Any new dam or diversion for non-tribal entities would be a conflagration of the law and detrimental to the public interest. It's time for the Upper Basin to follow the lead of the Lower Basin and begin doing the hard work to get the Colorado River System back in balance."
As Upper Basin states have sought to increase their water use in the face of a declining water supply, the Lower Basin states and Mexico are cutting 613,000 acre-feet of water from their Colorado River water deliveries starting on January 1, 2022. Arizona, Nevada and California have also announced their intention to cut an additional 500,000 acre-feet on top of these water cuts to adapt to shrinking water supplies.
"The State of Baja California in Mexico depends heavily on Colorado River water and these water cuts mean less water for drinking, hygiene and other essential human needs" said Margarita Diaz, executive director of Proyecto Fronterizo de Educación Ambiental, the Tijuana Waterkeeper. "We need to create a plan to ensure our people have the essential water they need to survive our climate change crisis."
Brad Udall: Here's the latest version of my 4-Panel plot thru Water Year (Oct-Sep) of 2021 of the Colorado River big reservoirs, natural flows, precipitation, and temperature. Data (PRISM) goes back or 1906 (or 1935 for reservoirs.) This updates previous work with @GreatLakesPeck.
"Upper Basin water leaders have refused to accept forty years of science demonstrating that climate change is shrinking the Colorado River" said John Weisheit, Conservation Director Living Rivers, Colorado River Waterkeeper. "It's time to stop pretending that shortages in the Upper Basin are not coming, they are here now."
"The lower basin (Arizona, California and Nevada) uses more than 1 million acre-feet/year more than it is supposed to use. The fish representative of the health of the Colorado River have already either disappeared (Colorado Pikeminnow) or are no longer reproducing in the wild and are maintained by hatcheries (Razorback Sucker)," says Center for Biological Diversity Co-founder Robin Silver. "And Arizona's answer: continue growing at a non-sustainable rate, inadequate conservation efforts, and return to groundwater pumping which is also not sustainable."
This research was part of a year-long research effort led by the Utah Rivers Council with input from water experts from across the American West. The report was funded in part by a grant from the Cultural Vision Fund.
To download the report, click here.
This map shows the Colorado River Basin and surrounding areas that use Colorado River Water, with four regions delineated, based on the degree to which flow is regulated and the channel physically manipulated. The dividing line for the upper and lower basin is Lee Ferry near Glen Canyon Dam. CREDIT: CENTER FOR COLORADO RIVER STUDIES
From the exectutive summary:
This report quantifies the water shortages in the Upper Colorado River Basin so the public and its decision makers have some clarity about our shared future. The results are shocking. Before we explore these results, a few words on our methodology along- side a basic understanding of what climate change is doing to the Colorado River System water supply are needed.
In regards to methodology, we have estimated how large the Up- per Basin's water shortage would be for different Colorado River flow scenarios but have not predicted the year in which these shortages will occur. Instead, we tie our quantification to reduced flow levels in the Colorado River which are happening as a func- tion of shrinking snowpacks from climate change.
These reduced flow levels are expected to continue as a function of climate change, meaning that any given shortage would occur when the Colorado River reaches a projected level. Through this exercise, we were able to determine how much water each Up- per Basin state would be allowed to use if climate change contin- ues to lower the flows of the Colorado River in the future.
To properly understand how the Basin got to this water deficit, it is simply essential that stakeholders understand the impacts of climate change on the Colorado River System.
We recognize the words 'climate change' polarize some decision makers, many of whom govern our water supply and water pol- icies. However, we ask audiences who do not believe in climate change or do not believe mankind has caused climate change to suspend their disbelief long enough to learn about the observed impacts in the Colorado River Basin. Even if one doesn't agree about the cause of the impacts, the impacts themselves are undeniable and must be addressed with intelligence.
The stakes of being wrong about what is happening to our water supply are very high, and having an open mind and hearing di- verse viewpoints is not only one of the responsibilities of elected and appointed officials, it's an inspiring exercise in learning how our shared interests unite us more than they divide us.
This image was taken during the peak outflow from the Gold King Mine spill at 10:57 a.m. Aug. 5, 2015. The waste-rock dump can be seen eroding on the right. Federal investigators placed blame for the blowout squarely on engineering errors made by the Environmental Protection Agency's-contracted company in a 132-page report released Thursday [October 22, 2015]
From The Durango Herald (Nicholas A. Johnson):
A $1.6 million settlement agreement with Sunnyside Gold Corp. was approved by the Colorado Natural Resources Trustees to resolve the company's liability for damaged natural resources at the Bonita Peak Mining District Superfund Site where the 2015 Gold King Mine blowout occurred.
Colorado Natural Resources Trustees include state Attorney General Phil Weiser, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources Jill Hunsaker Ryan and the Executive Director of Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Dan Gibbs.
The settlement will allow trustees to fund restoration projects in natural areas damaged by the spill and other releases of hazardous substances within the Superfund site.
Trustees will now begin to consult with regional stakeholders, including local governments and nonprofit groups, solicit proposals and allocate the money for environmental restoration and property acquisition projects.
"The settlement announced today is a step in the right direction to address the damage suffered in Southwest Colorado and the Four Corners region in the wake of the Gold King Mine disaster and other degradation of our natural resources," Weiser said in a news release. "The trustees look forward to partnering with the local community on how to invest the funds."
The work reflects the mandate of the trustees to take necessary actions to address when Colorado's natural resources are injured or destroyed.
In an email to The Durango Herald, Gina Meyers, director of reclamation operations for Sunnyside Gold Corp., said the settlement agreement was reached as a matter of practicality, with no admission of liability or wrongdoing.
The settlement agreement resolves the trustees' claims that Sunnyside caused or contributed to releases of acidic, metals-laden mine wastewater into the Upper Animas River watershed. Sunnyside operated the Sunnyside Mine from 1986 until 1991…
The settlement agreement will be filed with the U.S. District Court in Denver. Once filed with the court, the agreement will go through a 30-day public comment process.
After the close of the comment period, Sunnyside Gold Corp. and the trustees will present all comments received to the court. The court will ultimately decide whether to approve the settlement.
"The trustees look forward to infusing funds into the local economy through community endorsed reclamation projects that improve watersheds and address legacy mining impacts," Gibbs said in a news release.
Cement Creek aerial photo — Jonathan Thompson via Twitter
Tanya Trujillo, Assistant Interior Secretary for Water and Science (Source: U.S. Department of the Interior)
From the Water Education Foundation (Douglas Beeman):
Western Water Q&A: Tanya Trujillo brings two decades of experience on Colorado River issues as she takes on the challenges of a river basin stressed by climate change
For more than 20 years, Tanya Trujillo has been immersed in the many challenges of the Colorado River, the drought-stressed lifeline for 40 million people from Denver to Los Angeles and the source of irrigation water for more than 5 million acres of winter lettuce, supermarket melons and other crops.
Trujillo has experience working in both the Upper and Lower Basins of the Colorado River, basins that split the river's water evenly but are sometimes at odds with each other. She was a lawyer for the state of New Mexico, one of four states in the Upper Colorado River Basin, when key operating guidelines for sharing shortages on the river were negotiated in 2007. She later worked as executive director for the Colorado River Board of California, exposing her to the different perspectives and challenges facing California and the other states in the river's Lower Basin.
Now, she'll have a chance to draw upon those different perspectives as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science, where she oversees the U.S. Geological Survey and – more important for the Colorado River and federal water projects in California – the Bureau of Reclamation.
Lake Powell, a key reservoir on the Colorado River, has seen water levels drop precipitously as a result of two decades of drought. (Source: The Water Desk and Lighthawk Conservation Flying)
Trujillo has ample challenges ahead of her. For two decades, drought – fueled in no small part by climate change – has gripped the Colorado River Basin, starving the huge reservoirs of Lake Powell and Lake Mead of runoff. Drought plans in place since 2019 failed to stop the decline of these critical reservoirs. New operating guidelines for the river are now being discussed and the Basin's 30 tribes, which have substantial rights to the river's waters, want to make sure they get a seat at the negotiating table.
The Department of Interior faces still other water challenges: For example, in southeastern desert of California, the ecologically troubled Salton Sea has nearly upended past Colorado River negotiations involving drought contingency planning.
Trujillo talked with Western Water news about how her experience on the Colorado River will play into her new job, the impacts from the drought and how the river's history of innovation should help.
WESTERN WATER: You've worked on Colorado River issues for years, both in the Upper Basin (as a member of New Mexico's Interstate Stream Commission) and Lower Basin (as executive director of the Colorado River Board of California). How is that informing your work now on Colorado River Basin issues?
TRUJILLO: I'm very appreciative of having had several different positions that have allowed me to work on Colorado River issues from different perspectives. As the general counsel of the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, we were finalizing the 2007 Interim Guideline process [for the Colorado River] and I very much had an Upper Basin hat on at that time. That was also right in the middle of our work in New Mexico on negotiating the Indian water rights settlements with the Navajo Nation. Both the Guidelines and the Navajo settlement work really expanded the notion of flexibility in the Basin with respect to the existing statutes and the existing regulations.
I had a Lower Basin perspective when I was working for the state of California on Colorado River issues with the Colorado River Board of California although I was working with a lot of the same people and there were a lot of familiar legal and operational questions. But for the other half of the job, I was brand new to California and was having to learn the whole Lower Basin perspective from scratch.… It was great just to learn the perspective of the Lower Basin and because there are quite a few challenges just within the Lower Basin that are independent of what's going on in the Upper Basin.
WW:It's pretty clear the Colorado River Basin is in trouble – too little snowpack and runoff, too little water left in Lakes Powell and Mead. Are we headed toward a Compact call? Or are there still enough opportunities to protect Powell and Mead and meet obligations to the Lower Basin and Mexico without draining upstream reservoirs?
More than two decades of drought in the Colorado River Basin have left Lake Mead, the nation's largest reservoir, at just 34 percent of capacity. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation)
TRUJILLO: I think in some respects it's the wrong way to think about this question…. A better approach is to focus on the strategies the Upper Basin develop to continue to protect the water resources and communities and economies that rely on that water. There's a lot to build off of.
Going back to the '07 guidelines, we were thinking about building off of the existing regulations that described the operating criteria. We were thinking about how to protect those resources in the Upper Basin, even when there is a drought, even when there is less water that's naturally occurring in the system on a continual basis.
But that translates into concerns about how to protect the system in the context of the lower reservoir levels, including the impact on hydropower generation. Each of the Upper Basin states is carefully watching that not only from a power supply perspective, but because if there's less [hydropower] production, there's less funding coming in and the funding supports programs that are very important and beneficial to the Upper Basin, like the salinity control program and the [endangered] species recovery programs in the San Juan Basin and the Colorado Basin.
So I know those are concerns that the states have, to protect the elevations at Lake Powell. And another important concern that we specifically agree on is the need to be very careful with respect to the infrastructure and the structural integrity of the [Glen Canyon] dam itself. We may have to operate the facilities at levels that we haven't experienced before. So we have no operational experience with how the turbines are going to function – and not only the turbines but also how the structures are going to function if we have to use the jet tubes if the turbines are not available.
WW: So there's concern about how the structures function in terms of getting water from one side of the dam to the other? Or in terms of the physical structure itself?
TRUJILLO: I'm a lawyer and not going to be opining on the actual engineering situation. But we have lots of people who are working in the Upper Basin and Denver Technical Center who are dam safety engineers and they have not had experience in working at this facility under those low water levels. And so that's where there's uncertainty. We don't know how the structures will function under those conditions and that means that people are concerned about that uncertainty because that's such a critical piece of the infrastructure. [That is] additional motivation among the Upper Basin states for trying to think proactively about how to make sure that the supply and the flows that extend down to Glen Canyon Dam can be maintained.
WW: Given how drought and climate change have left far less water in the Colorado River than the 1922 Compact assumes, is it time to rethink that Compact? Or do you think the Compact and the rest of the Law of the River has the flexibility to accommodate the current realities? And how?
TRUJILLO: I might take the liberty of quarreling a bit with the context of the question because I think the focus should be a forward-looking focus as opposed to rethinking the situation that existed 100 years ago. Even just looking at the past 20 years, we've been able to be very innovative and very focused on continued efforts to improve the [weather] prediction capabilities and continued efforts to make sure we have additional flexibility, additional tools, and additional conservation options that can help us work at a multi-faceted level. There are multiple layers of innovations and flexibilities that we have been able to successfully pull together, and my expectation and hope is that will be the same kind of approach that we will continue to work through.
WW: In July, you toured portions of western Colorado to discuss drought and water challenges across the Upper Colorado River Basin. What did you hear? What did you tell them?
TRUJILLO: That was a great trip. The basis of that trip was a listening session that was co-hosted with the governor of Colorado and our Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland. It was an opportunity to hear updates and perspectives from a wide variety of water users in Colorado…. I personally was able to visit quite a few communities in the West Slope, starting in Grand Junction, and see some of the innovative agreements that are coming together in that area with respect to some upgraded hydropower facilities. So it's great to have the aging infrastructure issues being addressed in that area.
Tanya Trujillo, assistant secretary of the Interior, speaks speaks during a stop while on a tour of Colorado this summer with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (second from left). (Source: U.S. Department of the Interior)
There is obviously a lot of strong, productive agricultural communities that are clearly watching with respect to any drought developments. I was also able to visit the Colorado River District board meeting and heard a discussion about the different perspectives relating to support for additional infrastructure and funding different infrastructure projects. There was a USGS proposal that was being approved by the River District, and they were able to really showcase the tremendous contribution that USGS is able to provide to some of their cooperative investigations. I also met with representatives from Northern Water and the Arkansas Valley Conduit Project, so it was a great opportunity to get an overview of the many important projects that are underway in Colorado.
WW: Did they tell you anything that surprised you?
TRUJILLO: No, I don't think so. I have a pretty good base of background with some of the challenges that exist in that area. Maybe one way to sum up that that week of visits is that the broad variety of examples there in Colorado can be replicated in other states as well. It was great to just see a diversity of projects that are that are in place there. I would go back there in a second. It was the first trip for me in my tenure as assistant secretary and it was very informative.
WW: As you know, the Salton Sea has been a festering environmental problem for years, and it threatened to upend California's participation in the 2019 Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan when Imperial Irrigation District insisted that the sea's ills needed to be addressed as part of the DCP. What can — or should — Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation do to help find a sustainable solution for the Salton Sea?
TRUJILLO: The Salton Sea has had a long history over the past century and is a dynamic and changing terminal lake. For decades there has been a recognition that the changing conditions at the Salton Sea needed to be addressed. The Bureau of Reclamation, other entities within the Department of the Interior and other federal agencies have been involved in the Salton Sea for many decades.
The receding Salton Sea exposes large swaths of playa that generate harmful dust emissions. (Source: Department of Water Resources)
There are various types of federal lands surrounding the Salton Sea, the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge provides a sanctuary and breeding ground for migrating birds, and Reclamation plays an important role as a partner with respect to ongoing habitat and air quality projects in support of the state of California's Salton Sea Management Program and the Dust Suppression Action Plan. Reclamation also works in partnership with Imperial Irrigation District to implement the Salton Sea Air Quality dust control plan. Since 2016, for example, Reclamation has provided approximately $14 million for Salton Sea projects, technical assistance and program management. Reclamation and its federal partners participate in a number of state-led committees and processes, providing technical expertise on activities related to the long-term restoration of the sea.
Photo credit: Ken Neubecker
From American Rivers (Ken Neubecker):
The multitude of studies and reports about the impacts of climate change on western water and the Colorado River Basin increasingly come to parallel, if not precisely the same, conclusions: the future will be warmer and drier, with less water. The studies also show that the process of warming and aridification is happening faster than anticipated.
In 2008, Science Magazine published a short article claiming that the concept of "stationarity" in water management was dead. Stationarity—a fundamental concept in water resource management and planning— is the "idea that natural systems fluctuate within an unchanging envelope of variability". The envelope of variability, however, is definitely changing.
But this is a difficult principal to let go of. It loosens the moorings of decades of water supply thinking.
While many water managers and policy professionals agree that stationarity is no longer valid, I wonder how well they understand its full implications. Many still assess temperatures and precipitation today as compared to "normal". That "normal" is based on the concept of stationarity.
A 2019 report by the Colorado River Research Group, Thinking About Risk in the Colorado River, emphasized the loss of stationarity and the growing likelihood of what are called "Black Swan" events. These are events that fall outside the scope of normal expectations and planning efforts, thereby inflicting an unexpected shock to the system. While the current southwestern drought, possibly a megadrought, could be called a Black Swan, it's more likely to become the norm than to disappear.
With the advent of increasing warming and aridification due to greenhouse gas emissions, any past certainty of droughts eventually breaking is now in question. We are in a time that climate scientists Brad Udall has labeled "The New Abnormal".
The Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University recently released a new white paper, Alternative Management Paradigms for the future of the Colorado and Green Rivers (White Paper #6). This study takes a look at the future of water supplies in the Colorado Basin, using science as opposed to aspirational politics. We covered the report in more detail in a series of blogs titled, "Colorado River Futures", which includes an overview, a "changed river" edition, and a "climate and the river" edition.
The study begins with the statement, "Our ability to sustainably manage the Colorado River is clearly in doubt".
While we have responded to recent crises by developing new planning and management techniques, the report warns that "A gradual and incremental approach to adaptation… is unlikely to meet the challenges of the future."
Simply put, we need to change how we think about the Colorado River and water supply in the southwest. The paradigms of the past no longer suffice.
Crystal River. Photo credit: Ken Neubecker
The paper states "The Colorado River can be sustainably managed only if consumptive uses are matched to available supply. This will require Upper Basin limitations and substantially larger Lower Basin reductions than are currently envisaged." The paper suggests that by capping Upper Basin use to 4 MAF or less and reducing Lower Basin use by 1.4 to 3 MAF critical storage levels in Lakes Powell and Mead might be maintained.
Across the basin, individual states are thinking about how they can address their climate and water supply challenges. Renegotiations of the 2007 Interim Guidelines are in their nascent stage. This round of discussions will be different from 2007 as the rights of the 29 Native American tribes, along with those of the environment, will be at the table. The tribes hold as much as 20% of the Basin's water rights, 2.9 MAF. That's more than Arizona's compact allotment and a right that has never been included in basin wide agreements. This more inclusive and collaborative approach to negotiations is essential to address the serious challenges that are facing all of us.
Water conservation and evolving technologies will become increasingly important. But we need more than that. We also need to shift our perspectives, our ways of seeing and imagining water and rivers in the Colorado Basin.
I suggest that we think about water and rivers as Native Americans do, as sacred. Water IS life.
Whether or not we use water is not the question here, but our attitudes and how we use it are. Water should be used with respect, with reverence, with gratitude and within limits. You only take what you need, and never so much as to impair the integrity of the rivers and watersheds that supply us with that water.
We already have an idea of water as sacred codified in Colorado and Western water law in the concept of the Duty of Water.
The Water Rights Handbook for Colorado Conservation Professionals defines the Duty of Water as "The amount of water that through careful management and use, without wastage, is reasonably required to be applied to a tract of land for a length of time that is adequate to produce the maximum amount of crops that are ordinarily grown there." If you don't need the water, you have no right to it.
As irrigation technology and infrastructure improve, less water is required for transport and other "non-consumptive" uses. Less water is needed at the point of diversion and can be left in the river.
Seeing water as sacred also means that we must not regard it strictly as a commodity.
Water is a "natural resource" for our use and benefit, but water has worth far beyond base economics. This worth includes its spiritual, cultural and environmental value. While markets and economics do play a role in water supply management, seeing water solely as a tradeable commodity diminishes its true value.
We need to see and think of rivers and their watersheds as a whole and integrated system, rather than parceling them into separate disconnected "resource" and jurisdictional bins.
To do so, it is critical that we rely on the most up to date science. Science reveals the situation we are in, in all its complexity, uncertainty and without judgement. And we need to pair that modern science with the traditional knowledge that has guided water management for centuries. It is up to us to do the right thing, being clear-eyed and honest. If we hope to adapt and gain true resilience we need to change how we perceive, plan and use water.
From The Pagosa Springs Sun (Clayton Chaney):
River report
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Piedra River near Arboles was flowing at a rate of 48.1 cfs as of 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 8.
Based on 59 years of water records at this site, the average flow rate for that date is 101 cfs.
The highest recorded rate for this date was 645 cfs in 2008, while the lowest recorded rate was 26 cfs in 1964.
According to the USGS, the San Juan River was flowing at a rate of 49.4 cfs in Pagosa Springs as of 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 8.
Based on 86 years of water re- cords at this site, the lowest recorded flow rate for this date is 15 cfs, recorded in 1964.
The highest recorded rate for this date was in 2008 at 459 cfs. The average flow rate for this date is 76 cfs.
Colorado Drought Monitor map December 7, 2021.
Drought report
The National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) was last updated on [December 7, 2021]
The NIDIS website indicates 100 percent of Archuleta County is abnormally dry.
The website also notes that 100 percent of the county is in a moderate drought. This is up from the previous report of 70.86 percent from previous report.
The NIDIS website also notes that 47.66 percent of the county is in a severe drought stage, consistent with the previous report.
Additionally, the NIDIS website notes that 10.33 of the county remains in an extreme drought, consistent with the previous report.
For more information and maps, visit: http://www.drought.gov/states/Colorado/county/Archuleta.
Stevens Arch viewed from Coyote Gulch photo via Joe Ruffert
It's Colorado River Water Users Association week in Las Vegas. I'm heading down the road to the conference today and posting may be intermittent this week.
Lake Powell is seen in a November 2019 aerial photo from the nonprofit EcoFlight. Keeping enough water in the reservoir to support downstream users in Arizona, Nevada and California is complicated by climate change, as well as projections that the upper basin states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico will use as much as 40% more water than current demand. A recent white paper from a lineup of river experts calls those use projections into question. CREDIT: ECOFLIGHT
From Aspen Journalism (Heather Sackett):
As the climate change-fueled Colorado River crisis worsens, hundreds of water leaders from each of the seven basin states will gather in Las Vegas next week for the annual Colorado River Water Users Association Conference.
The backdrop to many of policymakers' discussions is sure to be one of the most important legal documents governing how the river's waters are shared: the 1922 Colorado River Compact, which divvied up flows between the upper basin and lower basin. But this agreement is a relic of the 20th century. Those flows — totaling 15 million acre-feet, with 7.5 million for each basin — no longer exist, if they ever existed in the first place. The river was overallocated to begin with, and hotter and drier conditions mean flows will continue to dwindle.
These realities have some experts talking about how best to continue dividing the waters within the confines of the century-old agreement while tweaking it to adapt to 21st century conditions. Many water managers agree that renegotiating the compact is not realistic because it would require the agreement of too many competing interests as well as congressional approval. But it also may not be necessary.
"I think we can come to agreement around an appropriate response to these reduced supplies without going through the brain damage of renegotiating the compact," said Anne Castle, a senior fellow at the University of Colorado's Getches-Wilkinson Center, who will be moderating a panel at CRWUA.
Eric Kuhn is one of the thinkers proposing that basin states adopt something called a nonstationary set of compact guidelines. Kuhn is an author and former director of the Glenwood-Springs-based Colorado River Water Conservation District. He says that instead of allocating 7.5 million acre-feet annually each to the upper basin (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico) and lower basin (California, Nevada and Arizona), the river should simply be split down the middle: Each basin gets half of the river's flows, however much that may be.
"A set of guidelines that are based on a stationary set of rules for a nonstationary river is not going to lead to success," Kuhn said. "We have to consider adopting a more flexible system that is tied to how much water there is in the upper basin."
Kuhn laid out the concept at a presentation at the Colorado Mesa University Upper Colorado River Basin Forum last month. He also pointed out that requiring the upper basin, where most of the river's flows originate as snowpack, to contribute the same fixed amount each year despite declining flows means that the upper basin is unfairly bearing the brunt of climate change. Under the compact, the upper basin is required to deliver the lower basin's 7.5-million-acre-foot share or risk mandatory cutbacks.
"In the upper basin for a decade, we have been talking about the upper basin squeeze," Kuhn said. "It's when the flow goes down, but you have fixed commitments. That was somewhat theoretical until a few years ago."
So far, it's unclear whether Kuhn's idea is one that is being seriously considered by water managers. But it has been gaining traction among academic circles, especially in the past few years as river flows have declined at unprecedented speed. This year's upper-basin flows into the river's second-largest reservoir, Lake Powell, ranked second worst, at 31% of average, despite a near-normal snowpack.
Brad Udall: Here's the latest version of my 4-Panel plot thru Water Year (Oct-Sep) of 2021 of the Colorado River big reservoirs, natural flows, precipitation, and temperature. Data (PRISM) goes back or 1906 (or 1935 for reservoirs.) This updates previous work with @GreatLakesPeck.
Climate scientist Brad Udall has found that flows at Lee Ferry — the dividing line between the upper and lower basins and where upper-basin deliveries are measured — have been about 20% less over the past 22 years than in the 20th century. A river system that once produced 15 million acre-feet has now dwindled to just 12.4 million.
Tying the upper basin's delivery obligations to the variable river hydrology instead of a fixed number would be a way of solving the "significant math problem" where usage exceeds supplies, according to Castle. The concept could be adaptable to changing conditions year over year, she said.
"It could be in effect while supplies continue at the level we have been experiencing and wouldn't continue if supplies go up in the future," she said. "So there could be a return to previous delivery levels if there's sufficient inflow in the river to support that. I don't think it has to be thought of as a permanent change, but a mechanism that is triggered by some measurement of low levels of supplies."
This map shows the Colorado River Basin and surrounding areas that use Colorado River Water, with four regions delineated, based on the degree to which flow is regulated and the channel physically manipulated. The dividing line for the upper and lower basin is Lee Ferry near Glen Canyon Dam. CREDIT: CENTER FOR COLORADO RIVER STUDIES Quenching Thirst in the Colorado River Basin cover. Click the image to read the report.
Law of the river should bend, not break
Karen Kwon and Jennifer Gimbel of the Water Center at Colorado State University last month released a paper called "Quenching Thirst in the Colorado River Basin." The paper is devoted to understanding the historic issues that have shaped water use in the basin so that "the historical doctrines can bend to the needs of the present and future without eroding a foundation upon which we all stand."
"There is a valid reason for asking that question of why something that was written in 1922 … why don't we just redo it?" Kwon said. "But entire economies and societies have been built off the understandings and infrastructure that exists."
Kwon, who is also moderating a panel discussion at CRWUA, hopes the paper will provide historic background and context for future negotiations and discussions about interim operating guidelines for reservoirs Powell and Mead. Achieving flexibility and parity between basins while staying within the framework of the compact should be the goal, she said.
Lake Powell's Glen Canyon Dam. ALIK GRIFFIN VIA FLICKR
Who gives?
But getting both the upper and lower basins to agree to flexible allocations based on annual river flows means they each must give up something — a tricky and as-yet-unlikely prospect. The framers of the compact reserved 7.5 million acre-feet for the upper basin because it wasn't developing as quickly as the lower basin. If states relied solely on the system of prior appropriation where older water rights get first use of the river, thirsty and fast-growing California could have used up the water decades ago, leaving none for the slow-growing upper basin.
The upper basin currently uses about 4.4 million acre-feet per year. The lower basin uses close to its full 7.5 million acre-feet.
"One of the reasons we need to stay within that framework is because that is what protects us in the upper basin," Gimbel said. "The only way to protect us getting our fair share of the river was to allow us to develop over time."
But upper-basin water managers are also reluctant to admit that their states probably won't grow to use their full amount and jealously guard their apportionment. A February white paper by the Center for Colorado River Studies says these unrealistic future water-use projections by the upper basin make it hard to plan for a water-short future. Still, despite shortages, recently completed Basin Implementation Plans for each of Colorado's river basins lay out a wish list for millions of dollars' worth of future water-development projects.
"Bringing new water development into the equation makes the problem worse for everybody, and I don't see how that can be part of an equitable solution," Castle said.
Upper-basin water managers argue that their states have been taking shortages for years: When flows are low, they are forced to use less and can't just draw down an upstream reservoir as can the lower basin with Lake Mead.
Lower-basin water managers may not want to allow a more flexible delivery obligation for the upper basin because it would probably mean that in dry years they would get less than the full 7.5 million acre-feet promised under the current interpretation of the compact.
A fountain outside of Ceasars Place in 2019, the morning of a regional water conference that's held every year in Las Vegas. This year's gathering of hundreds of water managers and experts is Dec. 14-16. CREDIT: BRENT GARDNER-SMITH/ASPEN JOURNALISM
Complicated politics
The politics are really complicated, said Kathryn Sorenson, director of research at the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University and former director of Phoenix Water Services. People tend to get very excited about new technologies that could increase supplies — for example, desalination plants on the California coast — but balk at further cuts to water use.
"It's easier to put those ideas forward than to put forward ideas about using less," Sorenson said. "So that gives you some idea of what a lower-basin perspective might be."
Both the upper basin and the lower basin have valid points, Kwon said. Sticking to what was promised to them under the compact, which has governed river operations for a century, makes sense. But navigating a water-short future will require moving beyond who is right and who is wrong. Anything else is just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, Kwon said.
"All of those statements are accurate, but we need to rise above it," Kwon said. "I hope that we can find a way to have a discussion that protects people's interests without just outright staking positions, but recognizes and honors interests so we can move the boat instead of just moving the deck chairs."
Aspen Journalism covers water and rivers in collaboration with The Aspen Times. This story ran in the Dec. 11 edition of The Aspen Times.
Members of the Colorado River Commission, in Santa Fe in 1922, after signing the Colorado River Compact. From left, W. S. Norviel (Arizona), Delph E. Carpenter (Colorado), Herbert Hoover (Secretary of Commerce and Chairman of Commission), R. E. Caldwell (Utah), Clarence C. Stetson (Executive Secretary of Commission), Stephen B. Davis, Jr. (New Mexico), Frank C. Emerson (Wyoming), W. F. McClure (California), and James G. Scrugham (Nevada) CREDIT: COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY WATER RESOURCES ARCHIVE via Aspen Journalism
Hydrocarbon processing in the Wattenberg Field east of Fort Lupton, Colo., on July 2, 2020. Photo/Allen Best
From KUNC (Rae Solomon):
…emerging advances in renewable technologies could help extend the operating life of aging oil wells and help address Colorado's orphan well problem.
Selena Derichsweiler is chief executive officer of Transitional Energy, a local renewable energy startup. She and her business partner, Ben Burke, both worked for years in the oil and gas industry. Now, they are more interested in another thing the wells are bringing to the surface: geothermal energy…
"The temperature is the most valuable to me — wherever it's hottest and has the most flow rate," Derichsweiler said. "That temperature, that's the thermal resort."
Reconsidering a waste stream
According to Maria Richards, geothermal lab coordinator at Southern Methodist University, every oil and gas well doubles by default as a geothermal well.
"They are already mining the geothermal heat with every single one of their wells," Richards said. "With every barrel of oil or cubic foot of gas that they bring up, they are mining the geothermal resources."
But the oil and gas industry has never treated that heat as an asset to be tapped. If anything, Richards says they see the heat — in the form of hot water — as a nuisance that has an operating cost attached to it.
"They have to pay to get rid of that water," Richards explained.
In part, that's because oil and gas reservoirs are a lot cooler — 150 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit — than traditional geothermal sources, which are typically closer to 600 degrees Fahrenheit, so the geothermal potential hasn't been obvious.
But recent advances in heat exchange technology now make it possible to generate geothermal energy at much milder temperatures — like those in the oil fields of northeast Colorado. The energy industry is only now catching up.
"It's a mixture of needing the technology to grow and the oil and gas industry had to realize that they have a resource," Richards said.
According to a recent report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, geothermal is an under-utilized energy source. The amount of energy produced from it in the U.S. lags far behind other sources.
Members of the Colorado River Commission, in Santa Fe in 1922, after signing the Colorado River Compact. From left, W. S. Norviel (Arizona), Delph E. Carpenter (Colorado), Herbert Hoover (Secretary of Commerce and Chairman of Commission), R. E. Caldwell (Utah), Clarence C. Stetson (Executive Secretary of Commission), Stephen B. Davis, Jr. (New Mexico), Frank C. Emerson (Wyoming), W. F. McClure (California), and James G. Scrugham (Nevada) CREDIT: COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY WATER RESOURCES ARCHIVE via Aspen Journalism
Here's the release from Colorado State University (Corinne Neustadter):
Colorado State University Libraries' Water Resources Archive and Friedman Feminist Press Collection recently opened research assistance grants to applications for 2022.
Water scholars wanted
The Water Resources Archive is accepting applications for the Water Scholar Award to researchers who are studying topics related to western water. Grants of up to $1,500 will be awarded to researchers whose work would benefit from extensive use of the archive's primary sources and other materials.
The archive contains a range of documents that shed light on the histories of irrigation, civil engineering, water management and interstate compacts with a central focus on Colorado.
Projects that focus on interstate water compacts – particularly the Colorado River Compact – are of special interest for 2022.
Grants can be used to offset travel expenses to visit the archive and costs associated with publishing scholarly products. Specific references to the collection's holdings and their relation to the applicant's area of research must be included.
Applications are due to CSU Libraries Water Resources Archivist Patty Rettig by Jan. 31, 2022.
Click here for more information on the Water Scholar Award and how to apply.
Explore the Friedman Feminist Press Collection
The Friedman Feminist Press Collection offers research grants of up to $1,750 for gender or women-focused projects that draw upon its extensive resources, which make up the largest collection of feminist press-published books and other materials in the Rocky Mountain West.
Named for CSU alumna June Friedman, the unique collection features a host of second-wave feminist literature and publishing materials that shed light into the development of the feminist movement.
Applications should include specific references to the collection's sources and second-wave feminism topics. The grant is intended to support research visits and publishing scholarly products.
The first grant was awarded to postdoctoral researcher and CSU alumna Kianna Middleton in 2020, who recently presented her research on Black feminist writers.
Applications are due to CSU Libraries Coordinator for Digital and Archive Services Mark Shelstad by Jan. 21, 2022.
Click here for more information on the Friedman Feminist Press Collection grant and how to apply.
Cumulative precipitation (brown line) and average temperature (red line) for all 20-month, January–August periods since 1895. The current drought coincided with record-low precipitation and near-record high temperatures. NOAA Climate.gov, adapted from original by the NOAA Drought Task Force. Photo of low water levels in Lake Powell on August 13, 2017, by Flickr user Edwin van Buuringen, used under a Creative Commons license.
From Inside Climate News (Bob Berwyn):
Even as one of Denver's longest snow droughts on record—232 days—was forecast to end on Friday, nerves in the Mile High City were frayed after a summer of climate extremes, and a heat wave that has stretched into late autumn.
Just a few days before the forecast snow, an intense wildfire had flared up deep in a Rocky Mountain canyon along I-70, Colorado's main east-west interstate, and in the afternoon, a sudden dust storm blasted the region and chilled the air by 20 degrees Fahrenheit in a matter of minutes, temporarily breaking the month-long heat wave the West was mired in. The regional heat wave and drought also fueled an early December wildfire in Denton, Montana, that destroyed dozens of homes and businesses.
Research shows that global warming increases some persistent climate patterns that can intensify extremes like droughts and intense rain storms. In the Rockies and other parts of the West, recent extremes intensifed by global warming have included winter bomb cyclones, unusally large avalanches, lightning storms and wildfires, as well as floods.
In November, temperatures were between 6 degrees and 9 degrees Fahrenheit above average across a huge swath of the West, from the northern Plains through the Rockies and into the desert Southwest, according to the November 2021 federal monthly climate report. Across the Lower 48 states, it was the seventh warmest and eighth driest November in the 127-year record.
The continuation of the long-term warming and drying in the West has renewed concerns about regional water and power security. But the trends have been projected for years in recent major reports like the Fourth National Climate Assessment and major climate science reviews by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, both showing that global warming is making the Southwest more vulnerable to climate threats…
In Colorado, October and November seem to be particularly susceptible to the autumn warming trend, said Assistant State Climatologist Becky Bollinger. Taken together, recent climate extremes show how thirsty the overheated atmosphere is, and how overlapping trends of heating and drying intensify each other, she said. Without snow cover to reflect sunlight, the ground absorbs more heat, warming the air and making it more thirsty.
That can lead to dangerous "flash droughts" that aren't related to a lack of precipitation, she said.
"When the air is really dry, combined with warm temperatures, sunshine and wind, it makes the atmosphere thirsty, where it really wants to take moisture from the surface," she said. "We're seeing those evaporative-demand conditions more often in the summer, and we saw them last October, and they contributed to the huge and devastating fires we saw in Colorado."
[…]
Autumn Extremes Threaten Trees
As atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increase, long autumn heat waves can end with an extreme temperature drop, as the climate engine grinds from neutral straight into third gear, from summer to mid-winter conditions. That can harm trees that are still trying to drink and breathe, as well temperature- and snow-sensitive animals that waited too long to migrate, or donned winter camouflage too early.
The Colorado State Forest Service documented the threat of autumn extremes to trees along the Front Range of Colorado after a sudden 70-degree Fahrenheit temperature drop in October 2019. In subsequent aerial monitoring, state scientists found widespread damage in multiple species, and they tracked a similar event in April 2020, when temperatures dropped from the 70s to single digits in 24 hours.
State entomologist Dan West, who tracks forest changes, said the October 2019 extreme temperature shift mainly affected the Front Range, running north to south along the base of the Rocky Mountains. Urban trees, including deciduous species, were also hit by the freeze. He said many of the conifer species show signs of bouncing back, but he warned that some forests may be in for multiple shocks, with more extreme conditions ahead.
The South Platte River Basin is shaded in yellow. Source: Tom Cech, One World One Water Center, Metropolitan State University of Denver.
From The Colorado Sun (Michael Booth):
Big Colorado water diversion projects itching to get going on long-sought dam and pipeline dreams are rushing to get first in line for thirsty Douglas County's $68.2 million in federal stimulus money.
Drinking water dams and pipelines have joined smaller-scale local water treatment and sewage projects, for totaling $247 million of the $280 million in overall stimulus requests in Douglas County so far, a county spokeswoman said. The other categories making up the remainder of the $280 million in proposals include broadband, economic recovery and mental health delivery.
Some of the biggest requests for Douglas County's share of American Rescue Plan Act spending come from drinking water developers looking to jumpstart projects that can take decades to complete.
An $828 million, two-reservoir, 125-miles-of-pipeline project led by Parker's water department wants $20 to 30 million of Douglas County's stimulus to jumpstart the engineering and environmental work. The project would pull junior water rights off the South Platte River near Sterling in high runoff years, fill the new reservoirs, and pipe drinking water down to high-growth cities such as Parker, Castle Rock and others…
A second big request on Douglas County's plate is a $20 million bid from Renewable Water Resources, which has raised near-unanimous opposition to its proposal to buy up San Luis Valley groundwater, pipe it over the Front Range, and sell it to drinking water providers in Douglas County and other growing communities…
Douglas County held the first of a planned series of live and streamed town halls discussing the American Rescue Plan requests [December 9, 2021], with staff providing information on each of the $280 million in proposals so far. More town halls are planned for early 2022, county spokeswoman Wendy Manitta Holmes said. County commissioners have months of deliberations to go before they allocate the $68.2 million.
The ambitious, multi-county water projects could be in for disappointment. County officials are not sure yet what restrictions the U.S. Treasury could put on stimulus spending, Holmes said. County staff has asked the Treasury department to provide more guidance on, for example, whether DougCo's share of the stimulus could be spent in other counties for sprawling projects like the water diversions.
Other, simpler water projects making up the bulk of the $247 million in category requests include water treatment, reservoir and pipeline capacity, and sewage disposal, from Highlands Ranch to Sedalia. Seeking citizen input on the biggest priorities is exactly the reason for the extended town halls, Holmes said…
Parker's proposal, a joint project with the Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District and Castle Rock's water department, notes that population growth in Parker alone will balloon the city from 60,000 residents to 160,000 in coming years. The South Platte diversions would fill two new reservoirs to be built in farm and ranch country straddling Interstate 76, one called Iliff and the other, in a Phase 2, called Fremont Butte…
As for competition from the San Luis Valley pipeline, Redd said, "We're not real fans of the project." There are too many political hurdles to the proposal, and the valley is already suffering from water depletion, Redd said.
From Colorado Public Radio (Miguel Otárola):
The winter weather we all have waited for is nowhere to be found.
It's not just the case in Colorado, where more than 230 record high temperatures were broken in the first three days of December, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. News outlets have reported the hottest-recorded December temperatures in Wyoming, Montana, Washington and North Dakota.
Although temperatures in the Front Range have finally fallen to normal levels, a decent early winter snowfall remains but a memory.
State and regional weather and climate experts agree that though it likely will be a warmer winter than normal, it's still unclear how much snow will end up falling in Colorado. National Weather Service forecasters say most of the state has an "equal chance" of having below or above-average snowfall this season. The lower third of the state is projected to have less snow than average.
"It's all over the backdrop of climate change," said Greg Hanson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder. "We've been trending warmer for years now."
A potentially warmer, drier Colorado winter is also tied to La Niña, which is occurring for the second year in a row. This climate pattern starts by churning up colder water in the Pacific Ocean. That pushes the jetstream north and brings wetter weather to the Pacific Northwest and drier, warmer conditions to Colorado and other western states.
"The storm systems that do come through, they're pretty starved of moisture by the time they get here," Hanson said. "Any precipitation we get is light and quick hits. And that's what we've seen so far."
The water treatment process
From The Montrose Daily Press (Cassie Knuth):
Project 7 Water Authority has been invited to apply for a $39 million water infrastructure loan for the Ridgway water treatment plant project. Projects were chosen for their efforts to help modernize water infrastructure for 25 million people while creating up to 49,000 jobs across the country.
If selected, funds would be pulled from Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loans fund, providing assistance to the Project 7 initiative slated to provide a second water treatment source to the region. The water resiliency project, estimated to cost between $50 – $70 million, will establish a raw water line that offers more long-term affordable costs and energy-efficient infrastructure.
Project 7 pursued the loan, applying for eligibility in early planning stages. The loan is considered a common funding instrument for water projects, said Miles Graham, spokesman for the water treatment cooperative.
"I think, more than anything, it speaks to what a good candidate this project is for outside federal funding opportunities," said Graham. "When you look at the project on its merits, it's really well qualified to bring in low interest loans and grants. So this was one of the first ones [loans] to make sure that we had the ability to take on the needed debt to fund the project."
As helpful as the loan would be for the water project, Graham emphasized the cooperative's goal of minimizing as much of the long-term debt that Project 7 takes on as possible.
Seeking grant opportunities and low interest loans such as the WIFIA program would supplement any gaps in funding, as well as mitigate water treatment rate increases that will be applied as a result of the project. Ultimately, it's the grant opportunities that will keep water rates low, Graham said…
The WIFIA program would provide Project 7, if selected, with financing tools to address challenges around public health and environmental concerns within the community.
In addition to the WIFIA loan, the water cooperative is pursuing several grant opportunities with entities such as FEMA, the Department of Local Affairs and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Project 7 was previously awarded $25,000 through the Bureau of Reclamation grant.
Brad Udall: Here's the latest version of my 4-Panel plot thru Water Year (Oct-Sep) of 2021 of the Colorado River big reservoirs, natural flows, precipitation, and temperature. Data (PRISM) goes back or 1906 (or 1935 for reservoirs.) This updates previous work with @GreatLakesPeck.
From KUNC (Alex Hager):
The river that supplies water to about 40 million people is getting worryingly dry. Since the federal government officially declared a water shortage this summer, the Colorado River has been thrust into national headlines, and so have the scientists and decision makers who track and shape its future.
Next week, hundreds of them will gather under one roof for the first time since the shortage was declared. The Colorado River Water Users Association has met annually for 76 years now, but this year's iteration in Las Vegas will be under a new magnifying glass.
"This used to be more regional," said John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. "Maybe occasionally a national story. But we saw people discussing the Colorado River as a case study in Glasgow. So there certainly is a lot more attention being paid to it."
Entsminger was alluding to a United Nations climate conference held in Scotland earlier this year. Beyond the increased media attention — Entsminger said he's done "dozens and dozens of interviews" with news outlets from all over the world — conditions in the river basin are deteriorating more quickly than water managers had hoped, providing an inescapably urgent backdrop to discussions…
Las Vegas circa 1915
The meeting in Las Vegas brings together a wide array of groups who stake a claim to portions of the river's water — which feeds homes, businesses and farms from Wyoming to Mexico, including seven states and 30 federally-recognized native tribes.
Those groups are under increasing pressure to negotiate agreements that will allow the region to move forward while drawing from a shrinking water supply.
This summer's shortage declaration was triggered by dropping levels in Lake Mead, but comes as the result of more than two decades of drought. Scientists say unprecedented heat, driven by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, is causing a chain of effects that includes less snow, shorter winters, drier soil and parched rivers and streams.
At the same time, those who manage the region's water are having to allocate that smaller supply in the face of growing demand. Cities from Denver to Phoenix to San Diego, including many with steadily growing populations, depend on water from the river. Agriculture uses about 80% of the river's water, and has increasingly come into the crosshairs of public scrutiny.
Balancing the interests of different stakeholders is tricky, Entsminger said, but cited a number of occasions since the turn of the millennium in which tense negotiations have eventually found collaborative conclusions.
"Every one of those agreements was always on the brink of collapse because of adversarial animosity," he said, "Right up until we all figured out that the only path to success was to work together."
A panel of officials from the lower basin states at the Colorado River Water Users Association in Las Vegas, on Dec. 13, 2018. From left, Thomas Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources; Ted Cooke, General Manager, Central Arizona Project; Peter Nelson, chairman, Colorado River Board of California; and John Entsminger, General Manager, Southern Nevada Water Authority.
Looming over this conference will be the yet-undecided guidelines for managing the river after 2026, when the current rules expire. Those current rules, the 2007 Colorado River Interim Guidelines, were the first of their kind to address a future of water shortages in the basin.
While the exact terms of the 2026 guidelines are still being hashed out, the gravity of the diminishing supply is forcing some existential questions about water use. As states prepare their own strategies for negotiating with the rest of the basin, they're balancing internal needs.
"All of the different interests across Colorado," said Becky Mitchell, director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, "whether that's tribal interests, whether that's environmental interests, whether that's agricultural interests, recreational interests, rural economy issues. Things like that are all coming into play right now."
Mitchell said her agency's priority is to emphasize the effects of drought on states in the upper basin, arguing that they are more at the whims of drought and climate change. Low snowpack and other hydrological factors can leave rivers and streams dry, straining water managers' ability to meet their required allocations.
Lower basin states, meanwhile, depend on water released from reservoirs. The upper basin is required to deliver a certain amount of water to Lake Mead each year, functionally assuring a steadier supply for those who draw from it.
"We're feeling it every day," Mitchell said. "But really making sure that people understand what is happening and what has been happening for the last 20 years in the upper basin, that's going to be one of our priorities."
Mitchell agreed that collaboration will be forged out of necessity.
"We have no choice but to get there," Mitchell said. "It may be an ugly road. It may be bumpy. There may be some issues along the way, but that is the only option at this point."
In the lower basin, some states are discussing a plan to leave more water in Lake Mead in 2022 and 2023. The deal involves water management agencies from Nevada, Arizona and California as well as the Department of the Interior, and would put 500,000 acre-feet of water in the reservoir each year. An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to fill one acre of land to a height of one foot. One acre-foot generally provides enough water for one to two households for a year.
The so-called "500+" plan would see all of those users drawing less from the Colorado River's supply and is seen as a contingency effort to stop Lake Mead from dropping further to critically low levels…
"I do think there's some substantive agreements that will come out of CRWUA," [John Entsminger] said, "but it's also a chance for the river community as a whole to come together, assess where we are at this point and figure out a plan for moving forward."
Follow the goings on at CRWUA on their Twitter feed: @CRWUA_water.
Western U.S. Drought Monitor map December 7, 2021.
From El Paso Matters (Danielle Prokop):
Unseasonably warm temperatures and low chances of significant winter precipitation have deepened concerns among regional water experts and farmers that extended drought conditions will compound stress on the Rio Grande, a key source of water for wildlife, agriculture and the city of El Paso.
Climate change has already decreased snowfall levels in the mountains and raised temperatures in the region…
Alex Mayer, director at the Center for Environmental Resource Management at the University of Texas at El Paso, said he's watching for drought impacts to the Rio Grande, the sole regional source of surface water for irrigation and a significant portion of El Paso's drinking water.
"We're most concerned with the headwaters of the Rio Grande, where the snowpack is," Mayer said. "The vast majority of the river water that does reach us comes from that snowmelt in the southern Colorado, northern New Mexico headwaters."
[…]
Mayer said the season could still see storms, but the chances are low for the near future. Predictions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expect hotter and dry conditions for at least the next month, raising alarms for the snowpack's chances.
Westwide SNOTEL basin-filled map December 9, 2021.
Low snowpack
Karl Wetlaufer, a hydrologist with the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service, monitors and measures snowpack in Colorado to forecast the spring and summer runoff downstream.Wetlaufer said Rio Grande headwaters in Southern Colorado have seen 55% of the normal amount of rain and snow in October and November, and the snowpacks are only 30% of their normal size.
Wetlaufer said it's early in the season as the peak snowpack usually develops through April. But even large snowpacks may not be enough to move the Rio Grande out of its water deficit. The hot and dry summers suck the moisture out of the soils, and absorbing snow melt before it makes it into a river channel compounds the drought conditions further,Wetlaufer said.
He used a simple analogy: If there is 100% of snowpack there is nearly 100% more water in the river, but the dry soil can absorb 20% or more. That means the river would only be 80% higher.
With two dry and hot years in a row, that translates to less snowmelt for the Rio Grande.
"We are going into winter with pretty considerable drought conditions," Wetlaufer said. "We're definitely anticipating streamflow to be much, much lower than usual relative to whatever snowpack we do see in the mountains."
Federal forecast predictions show Colorado and New Mexico will most likely see warmer, drier conditions through February due to the La Niña weather pattern. La Niña describes a cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean that shapes weather around the world.
John Fleck, a professor in the Water Resources Program at the University of New Mexico, said La Niña shifts the odds against a wet winter in the West.
"It's like we're playing with a loaded dice, and it's more likely to come up dry this winter," Fleck said.
Rio Grande and Pecos River basins. Map credit: By Kmusser – Own work, Elevation data from SRTM, drainage basin from GTOPO [1], U.S. stream from the National Atlas [2], all other features from Vector Map., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11218868
Click on a thumbnail graphic to view a gallery of drought data from the US Drought Monitor.
US Drought Monitor map December 7, 2021.
High Plains Drought Monitor map December 7, 2021.
Western U.S. Drought Monitor map December 7, 2021.
Colorado Drought Monitor map December 7, 2021.
Click here to go to the US Drought Monitor website. Here's an excerpt:
This Week's Drought Summary
This U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) week saw continued deterioration in conditions across areas of the Mid-Atlantic (Virginia, North Carolina) and the Southeast (South Carolina, Georgia) in response to below-normal precipitation (past 30- to 90-day period), declining soil moisture and streamflow levels. Likewise, drought-affected areas expanded and intensified on the map in areas of the South including Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas as well as in the Southern Plains of Oklahoma, where overall warm and dry conditions have prevailed during the past 30- to 120-day period. Across areas of the Northern Plains, Upper Midwest, and the Northeast, light-to-heavy snowfall accumulations were observed during the past week. The heaviest accumulations (8-18 inches) were centered on northern portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, while lake-effect snowfall (2 to 8 inches) impacted areas downwind of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario in New York, according to snowfall analysis from the National Weather Service (NWS) National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC). Out West, some areas including the North Cascades, Sierra Nevada, and the Northern and Central Rockies, received much-needed snowfall this past week. However, basin-level snowpack conditions remained below normal across the entire western United States. In Hawaii, a Kona Low delivered very heavy rainfall accumulations (highest totals exceeding 16+ inches) leading to widespread flooding, power outages, and damage to infrastructure in areas across the Hawaiian Island this week. Impacts from the multi-day event led Hawaii Governor Ige to declare a state of emergency on December 6. With the meteorological autumn (September-November) coming to a close, the Lower 48 experienced its third warmest fall on record with the largest mean temperature departures from average observed across areas of the Northern and Central Plains, according to NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). In terms of fall precipitation, the driest conditions were observed across parts of the Southwest, Texas, Montana, Wisconsin, and the Carolinas…
High Plains
On this week's map, areas of the region—including the eastern plains of Colorado—saw widespread degradation in response to anomalously warm temperatures, short-term precipitation deficits, declining soil moisture levels, and elevated evaporative demand across the region. Moreover, impact reports from eastern Colorado are yielding concerns by producers about winter wheat stands as well as declining pasture and range conditions. According to the latest USDA Colorado Crop Progress report, the percentage of topsoil rated short to very short was 84%, while pasture and range conditions were rated 40% very poor to poor. For the week, most of the region was unseasonably warm and dry with average temperatures ranging from 2 to 12 degrees above normal with the greatest departures observed in eastern portions of Colorado and Wyoming, Kansas, and Nebraska. In eastern Colorado, average maximum temperatures for the week ranged from 60 to 70 degrees.
Colorado Drought Monitor one week change map ending December 7, 2021.
West
In the West, the big story continues to be the poor snowpack conditions across the region and growing concern about water supplies after back-to-back dry winter seasons in California as well as in other basins including the Colorado River Basin. In California, the Department of Water Resources announced (December 1) that the State Water Project's initial water allocation for 2022 will be at 0% in an unprecedented step to address the state's water supply in anticipation of another dry winter season. Other impacts of concern across the region include the delayed opening of ski areas across the region which is impacting local economies in mountain communities across the West. However, some positive signs have emerged over the past week and looking ahead in the short-term with a change to a more active weather pattern for the region with heavy mountain snowfall expected in the Cascades, Sierra Nevada, Great Basin, and the Rockies. On the map this week, recent precipitation in the Pacific Northwest led to improvements in drought-affected areas of Washington as well as in northeastern Oregon, and west-central Idaho. Conversely, an area of Extreme Drought (D3) expanded in southwestern Montana due to poor snowpack conditions in the higher elevations…
South
For the week, the region was mainly dry with average temperatures that were well above normal (6 to 15 deg F). Some light precipitation (1 to 2 inches) was observed in areas of central Louisiana, Mississippi, and western Tennessee. On the map, conditions degraded across much of the region including Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas where areas of Moderate Drought (D1) and Severe Drought (D2) expanded in response to persistent warm and dry conditions. In the western portions of Oklahoma and Texas, the NASA Crop-CASMA application is showing significant negative soil moisture anomalies this month. In the Rolling Plains of Texas, some drought-related impacts have been reported, including reports of winter wheat crops continuing to struggle due to the lack of moisture…
Looking Ahead
The NWS WPC 7-Day Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (QPF) calls for moderate-to-heavy precipitation accumulations ranging from 2 to 7 inches (liquid) in much of the Far West including the coastal ranges of California and Oregon as well as coastal areas of western Washington. Similar accumulations are forecasted in the Sierra Nevada Range and Cascades of Oregon and Washington. In the Great Basin and Intermountain West, accumulations of 1-to-3-inches (liquid) are expected across the Rockies with the heaviest accumulations forecasted for the mountain ranges of southwestern Utah and western Colorado. In the Central Plains and Upper Midwest, liquid accumulations of generally < 1 inch are expected. In the Eastern Tier, light-to-moderate accumulations of 1 to 2 inches are expected in northern portions of Alabama and Georgia and eastern Tennessee. In the Northeast, light precipitation accumulations of < 1 inch are expected, while much of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast are forecasted to have generally dry conditions. The CPC 6-10-day Outlooks calls for a moderate-to-high probability of above-normal temperatures across most of the conterminous United States except for areas of the Great Basin and Far West where below normal to near-normal temperatures are expected. In terms of precipitation, there is a moderate-to-high probability of above-normal precipitation across most of the western U.S. as well as portions of the Midwest and eastern portions of the Southern Plains. The Eastern Tier of the U.S. is expected to be drier-than-normal.
US Drought Monitor one week change map ending December 7, 2021.
Courtesy of Getty Images via NOAA
From NOAA:
For November, the contiguous U.S. average temperature was 45.2°F, 3.5°F above the 20th-century average, ranking seventh warmest in the November record. During meteorological autumn (September-November), the average temperature for the Lower 48 was 56.7°F, 3.1°F above average, ranking third warmest in the historical record. For the year to date, the contiguous U.S. temperature was 55.9°F, 2.1°F above the 20th-century average. This ranked seventh warmest in the January-November record.
The November precipitation total for the contiguous U.S. was 1.28 inches, 0.95 inch below average, ranking eighth driest in the 127-year period of record. The autumn precipitation total across the Lower 48 was 6.81 inches, 0.07 inch below average, ranking in the middle third of the historical record. The year-to-date precipitation total across the contiguous U.S. was 28.06 inches, 0.47 inch above the long-term average, also ranking in the middle third of the January-November record.
Above-average tropical activity across the Atlantic Basin occurred for the sixth year in a row. By the official end of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season (November 30), 21 named storms formed. It was the third most-active Atlantic hurricane season on record. Category 4 Hurricane Ida was the strongest landfalling and most destructive hurricane of the season with cost estimates currently at $64.5 billion and associated fatalities at 95.
This monthly summary from NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information is part of the suite of climate services NOAA provides to government, business, academia, and the public to support informed decision-making.
November Temperature
November temperatures were above average from the West Coast to the Great Lakes and into New England as well as across portions of the Deep South. California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico each had their second-warmest November on record with three additional states in the West and High Plains ranking among their warmest five Novembers. Temperatures were near to below average across much of the eastern third of the contiguous U.S.
The Alaska average November temperature was 4.1°F, 7.6°F below the long-term mean, tying for eighth-coldest November in the 97-year period of record for the state. Temperatures were record cold across southwestern Alaska with monthly average temperatures 15°F to 20°F below average. Long-term climate sites in Iliamna, King Salmon and Cold Bay each reported their coldest November on record.
Precipitation
Precipitation was above average across portions of the Northwest, northern Plains, Florida and south Texas while below-average precipitation dominated much of the contiguous United States. Alabama and North Carolina both ranked fifth driest for the month while 11 additional states ranked among their driest 10 Novembers.
In Alaska, statewide precipitation ranked in the driest third of the historical record. Precipitation was below average across much of the state with the driest conditions present across the western and southwestern portions of the state. This resulted in
below-average snowpack across much of the region. Snowfall was above average across parts of south-central Alaska and the Panhandle due to a larger percentage of the precipitation falling as snow as compared to average.
According to the November 30U.S. Drought Monitor report, approximately 53.4 percent of the contiguous U.S. was in drought, up 5.6 percent from the beginning of November. Drought conditions expanded or intensified across portions of the Carolinas and Virginia, the southern Plains, along the front range of the Rockies and across portions of Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Drought severity and/or extent lessened across parts of the West and Upper Mississippi River Valley.
2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season Summary
Twenty-one named storms formed in the Atlantic during 2021, which ranks as the third most-active season on record (average is 14). In all, there were 7 hurricanes and 4 major hurricanes in 2021 (average is 7 and 3, respectively). The record of 30 named storms occurred last year during 2020. Twenty-seven named storms formed in 2005.
Eight named-storm-continental U.S. landfalls occurred during 2021 (Claudette, Danny, Elsa, Fred, Henri, Ida, Mindy and Nicholas) with Ida being the most destructive. Damage associated with Ida was reported from the Louisiana coast to the Northeast.
Category 4 Ida was among the most-intense hurricanes on record to make landfall in Louisiana (Katrina in 2005 was more intense), with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph and minimum central pressure of 930 mb.
2021 was the sixth consecutive above-normal Atlantic hurricane season and the seventh consecutive year with a named storm forming prior to the official start of the season on June 1.
Autumn (September-November) Temperature
Autumn temperatures were above average across most of the contiguous U.S. Montana, Wyoming and Colorado ranked second warmest for this three-month period with 14 additional states ranking among their five warmest autumns.
The Alaska statewide average temperature for autumn was 23.8°F, 2.2°F below average, ranking in the coldest third of the historical record. Temperatures were below average across much of the West Coast, western Interior, south-central and southeastern portions of the state. Record cold temperatures occurred across portions of
Bristol Bay, Northwest Gulf and the Aleutians. Pockets of above-average temperatures were observed across parts of the North Slope and Northeast Interior regions.
Precipitation
Precipitation was above average across parts of the West, northern Plains, Ohio Valley, Northeast and Southeast. Washington state ranked sixth wettest for this three-month period. Precipitation was below average across portions of the Southwest, northern Rockies, central to southern Rockies, southern Plains, Lower Mississippi River Valley, western Great Lakes and the Carolinas and Virginia.
Autumn statewide precipitation ranked in the driest third of the historical record in Alaska.
Year-to-date (January-November) Temperature
Year-to-date temperatures were above average across the western U.S., central and northern Plains, Great Lakes and East Coast with Maine ranking second warmest and 11 additional states across the Northeast, Great Lakes, northern Plains and West ranking among their five warmest such periods. Temperatures were near average across portions of the southern Plains, central Gulf Coast and Tennessee Valley with pockets of below-average temperatures embedded across the South.
Year-to-date statewide temperatures ranked near average in Alaska with above-average temperatures observed across northeastern portions of the state. Below-average temperatures were present across portions of the southwestern and southeastern Alaska mainland.
Precipitation
January-November precipitation was above average from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes and into portions of the Northeast. Mississippi ranked eighth wettest on record. Precipitation was below average across much of the West, northern Plains and portions of New England and the Carolinas. Montana ranked fourth driest on record for this January-November period.
January-November precipitation in Alaska was above average across much of the West Coast, North Slope, Central Interior, Northeastern Interior and Panhandle regions. Drier-than-average conditions were present across Cook Inlet.
Westwide SNOTEL basin-filled map December 7, 2021 via the NRCS.
From CBS Denver (Alan Gionet):
Water supply experts are looking longer and things look troubling in some ways.
"All of our water supply planning factors in climate change," said Greeley Water and Sewer's Director of Water Resources, Adam Jokerst. "It's such a driver of the water supply that we're going to get in any given year into the future."
That means planning to deal with the variability as much as anything…
Colorado's warming climate, two degrees over the past 30 years, means more variability.
"The predictability. The year-to-year kind of traditional patterns that I think we saw for a lot of the 20th century are changing and every year is a little less predictable," said [Todd] Hartman…
"We plan 50 years into the future. So climate change has become a big part of our thought process and our planning process," said Hartman. "It's true that we're probably going to experience longer and more intensive droughts. So we need to be more prepared for that. One key to prepare for that is to build storage."
Part of that plan is the expansion of Gross Reservoir, which has been opposed by some in the area of southern Boulder County, concerned among other things about years of construction. Water systems all along the Front Range know there is increasing population to deal with along with changing climate and potentially fewer opportunities to gather and hold water they will need.
"Spring runoff is coming sooner. So we have to be prepared to capture that water sooner," said Hartman.
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