Colorado Supreme Court clamps down on water rights

By Bob Berwyn
summit daily news

According to Drew Peternell, of Colorado Trout Unlimited’s Western Water Project, the Supreme Court laid out a new test for public utilities. In the Pagosa Springs case, the court ruled that the city’s claim for water based on a 100-year planning horizon was not reasonable.

“They have to show that claim for water is based on realistic projections for population growth. They can’t just pull numbers out the air,” Peternell said.

http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20091113/NEWS/911129968/1078&ParentProfile=1055

New storage eyed as Colorado confronts more people & less water

By Allen Best
special to the Summit Daily

 

Representatives of environmental groups concede the need for additional storage but also call for restraint.

“There are projects that have significant adverse environmental impact that we could not support,” said Melinda Kassen, managing director of the Western Water Project for Trout Unlimited. “And there are projects that have substantially fewer environmental impacts that we can support,” she said, if mitigation measures are included.

http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20091019/NEWS/910189983/1078&ParentProfile=1055

Enough water?

By CHRIS WOODKA
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

And speaking of the environment, a statewide plan is only effective when each piece of river it touches can be accounted for, said Melinda Kassen of Trout Unlimited.

Kassen said the nine basin roundtables that feed into the IBCC have yet to complete the analysis of nonconsumptive water needs throughout the state. Even then, each project will have to be decided on a case-by-case basis, since recreation interests

- rafting vs. fishing, for example – are often at cross-purposes.

Some reaches are fine, some need protection and some need restoration, Kassen said.

“We need to make sure we use the money available for environmental protection to protect those areas we know will have problems,” Kassen said.

http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2009/09/20/news/local/doc4ab5bc15852b1824827984.txt

State plans for multiple water futures

By CHRIS WOODKA
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

Melinda Kassen of Trout Unlimited said the overall goal of meeting water needs is not as important to the environment as when and where the water is used.

“It’s about ecosystems,” she said. “What do we have to do to protect the important ecosystems of the state?”

http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2009/09/15/news/local/doc4aaf1b996005b080031227.txt

State Faces Future With More People, Less Water

The Watch

by Allen Best

“There are projects that have significant adverse environmental impact that we could not support,” said Melinda Kassen, managing director of the Western Water Project for Trout Unlimited. “And there are projects that have substantially fewer environmental impacts that we can support,” she said, if mitigation measures are included.

http://www.telluridewatch.com/pages/full_story/push?article-State+Faces+Future+With+More+People-+Less+Water%20&id=3559823-State+Faces+Future+With+More+People-+Less+Water&instance=secondary_stories_left_column

TU, ranchers partner on streamflows

Trout Unlimited’s Western Water Project is working with ranchers and farmers across the West to improve streamflows for trout habitat. Here’s a video interview with Montana rancher Walt Sales, who talks about his family’s conservation ethic and his experience collaborating with TU to enhance flows on the Gallatin River.  
»YouTube video of interview 

State still struggles with water puzzle

By CHRIS WOODKA
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

The panel also heard a presentation on the study of a nonconsumptive needs – the water left in streams or added to benefit fish, wildlife and recreation – and learned that not all of the state’s nine basin roundtables are treating the information in the same way.

“I’m a little distressed there’s no quantification of needs in some basins,” said Melinda Kassen of Trout Unlimited, representing environmental interests. “Are you suggesting it won’t be done in every basin?”

CWCB staffers explained the municipal needs were only the first to be addressed and the other needs will be considered as well, as required by the statute that formed the IBCC.

Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, said the CWCB report appeared to be heavily weighted toward traditional water projects that remove water from one area to use in another. She asked if the same amount of study would be devoted to land-use and conservation issues.

http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2009/07/21/news/local/doc4a6548bab661f003126792.txt

Colorado & Western Water Project Notes

We had a great WWP staff retreat in Wyoming, with: a guest presentation on how the media in the Rockies report on climate change and water; a field trip and slide shows of WY restore/reconnect projects; good discussions about strategic issues as well as upcoming grant applications and reports; a cancelled telemetry tagging opportunity due to high, muddy water conditions (which also meant “challenging” fishing that resulted in two rods broken); and inspiring camaraderie with hard working folks who love their jobs.

WWP staff on tour led by WY Water Project Manager Cory Toye

 

We attended and spoke at the Natural Resources Law Center’s Annual water law conference.

The Denver Post published an oped commentary by the WWP Director about why the Clean Water Restoration Act matters for Colorado: http://www.denverpost.com/guestcommentary/ci_12736157

We have been working several other conservation groups on an analysis of the gap between water supply and demand on Colorado’s Front Range. We hope to offer an alternative to a future, additional diversion of water from Colorado’s Western Slope.

The water judge referred Shell’s water rights application to a water referee to preside over preliminary, informal proceedings in the case. The first status conference before the referee will be held mid July.

TU’s Dry Gulch oral argument to the Colorado Supreme Court was held in June. We await a decision from the Court.

Scoping comments on the forthcoming environmental impact statement for Aaron Million’s proposed Flaming Gorge Pipeline project are due to the Army Corps of Engineers at the end of July.

We are performing an analysis of barriers to Colorado River cutthroat trout in the Yampa basin. An aerial survey of barriers was made last week, identifying nearly 400 potential barriers. The next phase of the effort is to narrow our focus to a more workable number of barriers and then perform ground-level surveys.

Colorado & Western Water Project Staff Notes

May 2009

We are working with several other conservation groups on an analysis of the gap between water supply and demand on Colorado’s Front Range. We hope to offer an alternative to a future, additional diversion of water from Colorado’s Western Slope.

The Colorado Water Project (CWP) continues to evaluate and or monitor the progress of several Environmental Impact Statements for various water development projects around the state such as the Windy Gap Firming, Denver Moffat Expansion, and Northern Integrated Supply Project.

The CWP staff continues to provide environmental perspective on several large cooperative endeavors including the Halligan Seaman Shared Vision Plan and the Colorado River Wild and Scenic Management Plan Alternative. The CWP staff has been working with state and local governments, water providers and other environmental groups to draft an Upper Colorado River Wild and Scenic Management Plan Alternative (MPA). Most recently, the east slope water users unilaterally developed a proposal for flow guides on the Colorado River between Kremmling and State Bridge, Colorado. CWP staff and west slope water users are in the process of evaluating the east slope water user’s proposal.

On May 7, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation operators made the first release in a new flow regime that is expected to help restore the Gunnison River canyon ecosystem and return it to a more natural state. Water releases from the Aspinall Unit will increase each day until reaching a peak flow of about 6,000 cfs in the Black Canyon on May 13, after which the releases will begin to drop until leveling off at approximately 1,900 cfs in the Black Canyon and Gunnison Gorge on May 21. Among other benefits, the higher flows will help flush out sediment deposits that have caused whirling disease and other problems for trout, clear out encroaching vegetation and woody debris, and help maintain the river channel.

Heavy spring snows delayed the start of the field season in Colorado. CWP staff had hoped to get out prior to the start of runoff to work with Colorado Division of Wildlife and Colorado Water Conservation Board staffs installing several pressure transducers in West Prong Slater Creek to monitor flows above and below diversion structures. This field work is now scheduled for mid-June. The results of this effort will be used to help establish the instream flow requirements of this Colorado River cutthroat trout stream. The results will also be used to evaluate the potential value of an instream flow donation and/or acquisition on this stream.

CWP staff plans to perform an analysis of barriers to Colorado River cutthroat trout in the Yampa basin. The analysis will provide a roadmap for future barrier removal work in the basin to reconnect cutthroat habitat.

Rulings drain protections for state waterways

Supreme Court decisions and the Bush years limited the Clean Water Act’s scope, but guidelines are changing.

By Mark Jaffe
The Denver Post

An analysis by Trout Unlimited, a sportsmen’s group, of 500 discharges found that a quarter of them were on nonperennial streams.

“Those plants could make an argument they are no longer under the Clean Water Act,” said Melinda Kassen, a Trout Unlimited attorney. “We have to be careful we don’t treat our streams and rivers as industrial sewers.”

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_12335006