Water News Roundup – February 24, 2010

Deseret News:

Canal safety bill passes House – Utah canals that pose potential safety hazards— like one in Logan that failed last summer, killing a mother and two children — would be subject to new safety requirements under a proposal that passed the House on Tuesday.

State division allows competing bids for use of Utah Lake land – Utah Crossing Inc. may not be alone in applying for use of land it wants to utilize to build a bridge across Utah Lake.

Salt Lake Tribune: House passes canal safety bill – The state would encourage canal companies to create management plans for risky stretches of canals but shield those plans from public scrutiny under a bill that passed the Utah House on Tuesday.

2010 Legislature: Representative McIff’s substituted stream access bill has passed the House.  The bill now moves to the Senate.

Technorati Tags: canal legislation,canal regulation,FFSL,stream access,Utah Lake,Utah Lake bridge

Water News Roundup – February 23, 2010

Ugh… back from a balmy 70 degree Napa to 24 degree Salt Lake…. BRRRRR!

Deseret News:

National plan aims to boost water levels in the West – A new Department of Interior initiative announced Monday aims to boost the water supply in the thirsty West through an infusion of dollars and strategies aimed at patching infrastructure and boosting conservation efforts.

N. Utah’s snowpack running below level – Water sources in Utah this year aren’t producing as much as in past years, but it has nothing to do with global warming, a Natural Resources Conservation Service researcher said.

Provo Daily Herald: House hears bills on stream access – One bill that tried to compromise stream bed access sank straight to the bottom on Monday, while another is treading water.

2010 Legislature: Via Jeffry Gittins, here are a couple of recent developments with water-related legislation.

Rainwater harvesting bill – SB32 was amended for the house with the following changes:

Harvested water can be stored and used on a “parcel,” which is now a defined term (the bill previously used the word “property”).

There is a limit of one underground storage container per parcel.

There is a limit of two covered storage containers per parcel.

The maximum size of covered storage containers was increased to 100 gallons (previously, it was 55 gallons).

Also, there is a new ‘Land Use Authority Notification of Canal Development’ Bill (HB298) that affects development within 100 feet of the centerline of canals.  It will require municipalities and counties to notify water agencies of proposed development.

Water News Roundup – Feb. 22, 2010 – Napa Edition

Coming to you from sunny Napa Valley…

Salt Lake Tribune:  Canal ‘secrets’ bill advances – Some Utah lawmakers still want to keep secret from the public any information about where canals might be weak enough to threaten human life or damage highways, utilities or certain buildings.

Deseret News: Utah’s water storage low, federal researcher says – Water sources in Utah this year aren’t producing as much as in past years, but it has nothing to do with global warming, a Natural Resources Conservation Service researcher said.

Ogden Standard Examiner: Officials work to clear up stormwater guidelines – City officials will add enforcement provisions to existing storm water guidelines in order to clear up potentially ambiguous issues affecting local developments. The city council recently voted 5-0 to direct staff to prepare a draft of new city guidelines with stiffer penalties for violations.

Water News Roundup – February 18, 2010

Salt Lake Tribune:

Farmland conservation bill stalls – A bill to save some Utah farmland from development appears to be dead.

Utah water-sharing bill advances – A compromise bill on how to share water during emergency shortages met no resistance in a House committee Wednesday — quite a different response from when Rep. Kerry Gibson, R-Ogden, sponsored a sharing bill last year.

Deseret News: ‘Priority’ water use is the target of HB231 – Water for consumption, sanitation and fire suppression during times of a governor-declared emergency would have “priority” over other uses under a measure approved Wednesday in a legislative committee.

The Spectrum: City stands pat on water bill – The Cedar City Council decided against drafting a resolution dealing with whether to support Senate Bill 20 during its special action meeting Wednesday night.

Scientific American: EPA to staunch flood of stormwater runoff polluting U.S. waterways– Across the country, stormwater runoff hammers thousands of rivers, streams and lakes. Communities are left to struggle with the consequences of too much pavement and too little oversight. Now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is gearing up to tighten federal stormwater rules that have been criticized by environmental groups and deemed ineffective by a national panel of researchers.

Technorati Tags: farmland conservation,priority water rights,runoff,stormwater regulation,urban growth,Utah Legislature 2010,Water Quality,Water Rights,water-sharing

The Golfing Index…

A bonus link for those of you in the water industry who enjoy a good round on the links.  Apparently it’s a mandatory activity so I am signing up for more lessons this spring.  Fun!!  Sadly the current golf index is an abysmal 0 on a scale of 0 to 10 for all local courses.

Water News Roundup – January 17, 2010

Deseret News: Two bills on stream access pass committee – Like that pesky carp that keeps returning to your fishing line, the controversial issue of accessing public streams on private property is presenting lawmakers with a boatload of debate.

Salt Lake Tribune: Two bills on stream access pass House panels – Two different Utah House committees passed separate stream access bills Friday.  The bills and the debate are the result of a 2008 Utah Supreme Court decision called the Conaster Ruling that gave anglers and river enthusiasts the right to access waterways on private property as long as they stayed in the riverbed and entered the river on public property.

The Spectrum: Local water district bill put on hold – Proposed by Sen. Dennis Stowell, R-Dist. 28, Senate Bill 20 focuses on creating a special local district to help develop and execute a groundwater management plan throughout the state.

Courtesy of Jeffrey Gittens at Utah Water Law: Water Rights Deed Addendum Bill – Representative Ben Ferry has introduced House Bill 314 (HB 314) entitled “Water Rights Addendums to Deeds.” The bill would require a water rights addendum (i.e., a “deed rider”) to be included with every deed that conveys land or water rights.

NPR: Warming planet can mean more snow – With snow blanketing much of the country, the topic of global warming has become the butt of jokes.  For scientists who study the climate, it’s all a bit much. They’re trying to dig out.  Most don’t see a contradiction between a warming world and lots of snow. That includes Kevin Trenberth, a prominent climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado.

Technorati Tags: Climate Change,groundwater management,precipitation,public access,snow,stream access,Utah Legislature 2010,Water Rights

Water News Roundup – February 16, 2010

Deseret News:

Murdock Canal Trail finally moving forward – It’s been 14 years since Utah County Commissioner Larry Ellertson first started working on the Murdock Canal Trail project.

Ecology study ordered for sports complex plan – Panned by local environmentalists, a plan to build a multimillion-dollar sports complex along the Jordan River must first pass muster with ecologists, Mayor Ralph Becker’s administration announced Thursday.

Environmentalists seek alternatives to proposed bridge over Utah Lake – Western Utah County residents may have two future options to travel east: over land or over water.  About 25 people from the Utah Lake Sailing Club, including representatives from the Sierra Club and the Utah Lake Commission, met in the Utah Lake State Park visitors center Thursday night to discuss alternatives to a proposed bridge over Utah Lake.

KSL:

Despite poor snowpack, water supply still in good shape – Many in Northern Utah woke up to a surprise snowstorm Thursday morning and to headlines about the incredible snowfalls on the East Coast.  It’s ironic, then, that snowpack numbers in Northern Utah are grim and almost certain to stay below normal the rest of the year.

KSL investigates spending by Kearns Improvement District – The Kearns Improvement District serves more than 13,000 customers — providing clean water and maintaining sewer systems.

Salt Lake Tribune:

Project to reduce mercury in lakes gets good review – Toxic mercury makes the wipers in Newcastle Reservoir too dangerous to eat.  And, while scientists might not know why the popular fishing spot is so polluted, they think they might have a means of dramatically reducing the danger levels.

Bear Lake Commission may be eliminated – A loss of funding could force the dissolution of the 40-year-old Bear Lake Regional Commission.  The cross-state commission is comprised of city and county officials from Bear Lake-area communities in Utah and Idaho. It runs on about $100,000 annually, with both states providing about half the funding.

Technorati Tags: Kearns Improvement District,Utah Lake,Utah Lake bridge,Murdock Canal,Provo Reservoir Enclosure Project,snowpack,precipitation forecast,Bear Lake,Bear Lake Commission,mercury,Newcastle Reservoir,water quality

Water Supply Outlook – 2010

On the snow forecasting front, here is a link to Brian McInerney’s Water Supply Outlook.  It’s a great, narrated PowerPoint presentation.  Brian presents his forecast every year for the National Weather Service.

Another popular snowpack assessment by Randy Julander, our esteemed Snow Survey Supervisor from the NRCS, can be found here:  Randy’s Presentation.

Technorati Tags: water supply,hydrology,snowpack,precipitation forecast

Water News Roundup – February 11, 2010

Deseret News: Ogden OKs 5 million gallon tank – The Ogden City Council recently approved the construction of a 5 million gallon water tank, which is part of a major water system upgrade.

Provo Daily Herald: Century-old wooden pipeline unearthed in Springville – Construction crews digging a trench for a new pipeline along 400 East in Springville found out this week that some of the trench’s previous occupants never vacated.

And two stories that illustrate how too much or too little of the white stuff can be a bad thing…

Salt Lake Tribune:  Enough already: Snow shatters records – Worst winter ever? The second blizzard in less than a week buried the most populous stretch of the East Coast under nearly a foot of snow Wednesday, breaking

records for the snowiest winter and demoralizing millions of people still trying to dig out from the previous storm.

Washington Post: With warm weather, forecast calls for hauling snow in for the Vancouver Olympics – While blizzard conditions forced even the plows off the road in Washington, dump trucks on the other side of the continent hauled heaping mounds of snow up winding mountain roads, while twin-engine, heavy-load helicopters dumped large buckets of it every three minutes during daylight hours Wednesday.

Technorati Tags: pipeline,Springville,weather,snowfall

Water News Roundup – February 10, 2010

Salt Lake Tribune: U geophysicist ready to try storing Co2 underground – No one knows whether injecting carbon dioxide underground will fix global climate change, but Brian McPherson is determined to discover if it’s technologically feasible at test sites in central Utah.  And if carbon sequestration is possible, another big question is whether it will make any difference in reversing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Water. UseitWisely – Arizona: Desert plants are great at multi-tasking – February is a great time to plant in the low desert as temperatures are still cool and roots can get established before the heat sets in. Whether planting an entire landscape or just replacing lost plants, hundreds of desert plants are available for just about any function in your landscape.

Technorati Tags: carbon sequestration,ground water monitoring,ground water,water-wise plants,xeriscape

Water News Roundup – February 9, 2010

Daily Herald:

Snowpack way below normal, reservoir levels ok – Don’t let the sun, the blue sky and the comparatively warm temperatures fool you. It’s just one of the many personalities of Utah winter.

Murdock Canal trail may be in jeopardy – On Tuesday, Highland may have cast aside years of work by many cities hoping to build a 21-mile regional trail.

Salt Lake Tribune: Runoff looks lean in N. Utah – Winter storms have dumped on southwestern Utah but skimped in the north, and it appears the spring runoff, for now, will do the same.

Now that it’s (almost) legal to catch rainwater in Utah, it’s time to learn how to do it…

Water. Use it Wisely – Arizona: Harvesting Rainwater for your landscape – Rainfall amounts may be minimal here in the low desert, but harvesting rainwater to channel to your landscape plants can be well worth the effort…

Water News Roundup – February 8, 2010

New York Times: California: Pumping limits lifted – A federal judge on Friday temporarily lifted pumping limits designed to protect endangered wild salmon in order to speed more irrigation water to California’s drought-parched fields.

Water News Roundup – February 4, 2010

Salt Lake Tribune: Green River power plan generates big questions – A fledgling company’s plan to build a 3,000 megawatt nuclear power plant near the Green River in eastern Utah is generating more questions than answers.

Deseret News: Utah groups challenge uranium mill’s plan to divert groundwater – Two Utah-based conservation groups have filed a challenge in Colorado Water Court to three applications for groundwater that flows into the Dolores River.

Utah Water News wants to let you know that February 12th is RIDE UTA FREE day in support of Governor Herbert and Mayor Becker’s ‘Clean Air Challenge‘!  If you happen to be out and about that day, take advantage of a free bus, Trax or Frontrunner ride.

Water News Roundup – February 3, 2010

The Spectrum: Snowpack could result in flooding – Last week’s storm may be over, but officials say the excess snow it left in Southern Utah’s higher elevations may result in future flooding.

Salt Lake Tribune: Gains from Grand Canyon flooding short-lived – Maintaining sandbars crucial to wildlife in the Grand Canyon would require more frequent high water flows from Glen Canyon Dam that coincide with natural flooding of Colorado River tributaries, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist said Tuesday.

Water News Roundup – February 2, 2010

eseret News: Great Salt Lake Bird Festival events announced – This year’s festival, held at the Legacy Events Center in Farmington, runs May 14-16 and will feature various birding tours with visitors coming from all over Utah to look for birds around northern Utah.

Salt Lake Tribune: Senate passes bill governing collection of rainwater – The Senate passed legislation Monday that would allow Utahns to legally set out a barrel to collect rainwater for use in their yards or gardens.  Current law prohibits the practice, because collecting the water could diminish the amount available to parties who hold rights to groundwater.

KUER: Today at 9 o’clock Diane Rehm will be talking about global water issues related to scarcity and security.  Here’s a description of her show.  We’ll add a link to the podcast (Windows Media Player) afterward. Have a great morning!

Environment: Global Water Security
Water is quickly replacing oil as our most valuable natural resource. Freshwater scarcity affects public health, national security and the global economy. A panel joins Diane to examine how control and distribution of water will affect future domestic and foreign policies.

GUESTS

Steven Solomon, journalist and author of the recently published “Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization” and “The Confidence Game.”