The effect of climate change on water supply in the Colorado Basin is so hard to predict that Marc Waage of Denver Water is working with his colleagues to revolutionize the way they plan for the future, using a model called the “Cone of Uncertainty.” The cone demonstrates the depth and width of our uncertainty, […]
Water
Posted inGoat
Water buffaloes in the mist
You can get a decent sampling of the folks attending the 51st Annual Convention of the Colorado Water Congress at a Hyatt in Denver just by looking at the coat rack. Navy sport coats and professorial tweeds predominate, but there is also a camouflage fishing vest, fringed duster, and a smudgy Carhardt jacket. The Grand Mesa Ballroom is […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2009: Non-navigable River Blues
Non-navigable River Blues
Muddied water-protection standards leave Western streams without oversight
Posted inGoat
California salmon slip under the wire
Updated January 27th “State and federal funding is available”– now that’s a phrase we haven’t heard much lately in California. The bond freeze has crippled programs across the state, and anyone who relies on government grants–from social services to conservation groups — is feeling the pain. But the Chinook salmon and steelhead population of Battle Creek, […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2009: Blood Quantum
Bass-o-matic
Regarding your story “Ultimate Solution?”, it has been observed that history repeats itself because people don’t learn (HCN 11/21/08). To some extent that may be true. What is certainly true is that history repeats itself because untruths repeated often enough take on the trappings of truth. This came to mind when I read the article. […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2009: Blood Quantum
Water wishes, part II
The observation by the mayor of Carlsbad, Calif., that stopping population growth is not enough to solve the city’s water problem was astute (HCN, 11/21/08). According to the U.S Geological Survey, California is below the national average in per capita use of freshwater of 1,280 gallons per day. This estimate includes all water use, which […]
Posted inGoat
Shell game
Shell Oil has filed a claim on about an eighth of the spring flow in Colorado’s Yampa River. The company hopes to divert the water to an as-yet-nonexistent reservoir near the town of Maybell in the northwest corner of the state. From the 45,000-acre foot lake, the water would flow to oil shale operations and be […]
Posted inGoat
That dam economy again?
There may be no direct connection, but it’s hard not to speculate that the dismal state of the economy (and the massive sums the government has spent to shore it back up again) played a role in the feds’ decision this week to kill a reservoir proposed for Washington state’s fertile Yakima Valley. In 2003, […]
Posted inGoat
California water conflicts heat up
In a letter published in the November 24th edition, Jessica Hall urged HCN to “take a deeper look at water issues in California.” Around the same time there were several significant developments in the world of California water. And while GOAT is not the proper forum for a “deep” analysis, we can make readers aware […]
Posted inNovember 21, 2008: Ultimate solution?
Desperate measures
With water shortages a constant, Westerners are looking at wacky (and not so wacky) ways to squeeze more water out of the sky and land.
Posted inNovember 21, 2008: Ultimate solution?
Ultimate solution?
Desalination may finally be coming of age in a thirsty West. Take it with a grain of salt.
Posted inNovember 21, 2008: Ultimate solution?
Big water
Regarding your story “Liquid Assets,” this summer at Mount Shasta I learned from locals that Shasta Dam releases, in August, were running at the equivalent of the spring flood stage. Why would we do that during a drought, in a period fraught with intense pressure to build more dams, canals and other forms of water […]
Posted inGoat
Dam deal advances Bush’s Klamath River agenda
This week the Bush Administration, Warren Buffett’s PacifiCorp and the state governments of Oregon and California announced an “Agreement in Principle” to remove four of the five dams on the Klamath River. If all goes according to their plan, removal of four dams would begin in 2020. A fifth dam – Keno in Oregon – […]
Posted inGoat
Water Banks, the ESA and the Public Trust Doctrine
Matt Jenkin’s article “Liquid assets” in the October 27th edition is a good introduction to Water Banking – a concept which westerners are likely to hear used increasingly if predictions of diminished water supplies resulting from climate change are accurate. But the article only scratches the surface of a subject which West-watchers will want to […]
Posted inOctober 27, 2008: Prophets and politics
Liquid assets
‘Water banks’ help cities weather drought
Posted inOctober 27, 2008: Prophets and politics
Watery shell game
Regarding “a river runs near it,” we really shouldn’t call this water development (hcn, 9/15/08). It really is just water reallocation. No new water is being developed. Every time we reallocate water in substantial quantities, we do so crudely. This is probably just a little less crude than in the past, but we really don’t […]
Posted inOctober 27, 2008: Prophets and politics
Out stealing water
Oh, really? Theft of the property of others is now called “water harvesting” (hcn, 10/13/08). So … Even if you are a government agency or municipality, by all means necessary, just take what doesn’t belong to you. It has become the way of solving situations, where someone has recently arrived on the scene, knowing full […]
Posted inGoat
Politics + water = mud
The League of Conservation voters has compiled a whole list of reasons not to vote for John McCain, some of which are nuanced and good. But they didn’t see fit to use any of them in their new anti-McCain ad that just started running in Colorado. Their attack is a lot more basic: McCain wants […]
Posted inOctober 13, 2008: Back to the future
A good idea – if you can get away with it
Rainwater harvesting saves water, breaks the law
Posted inSeptember 9, 2008: Reclaiming the low country
Leaky border
Efforts to stop the flow of pollution from Tijuana have bogged down in a mess