Tag Archives: flooding

Water News Roundup – August 2, 2010

2 Aug

Will be at all day training sessions August 3-4.  No water news these days, but back on Thursday.  Thanks for checking in!

Deseret News: State forestry division plans open houses to craft Great Salt Lake Management Plan – With the wind rustling in the cattails and birds bobbing on the water of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, members of the new Great Salt Lake Advisory Council convened their second meeting — a get-acquainted session on topics related to the unique body of water.

Those meetings are:

Aug. 10, Weber County.

Aug. 17, Salt Lake and Davis counties.

Aug. 24, Tooele County.

Aug. 31, Box Elder County.

More information can be found at www.ffsl.utah.gov/sovlands/gsl.php.

Flash floods set off mudslides and close access to roads in Utah, Duchesne counties – Flash flooding triggered mudslides and closed off access to U.S. 89 near Bird’s Eye Sunday evening but forecasters predict the weather will clear up by Monday.

KSL: Storm floods parts of Utah County – A quick-moving rain storm caused major problems in Utah County Saturday evening.

Salt Lake Tribune: Storms cause flooding in S. Utah – Residents spent Saturday filling sandbags and clearing thick red mud from Kanab streets and basements, caused by floodwaters from torrential rains that swept into town.

Provo Daily Herald: New water restrictions for Pleasant Grove – Residents are using much more water this summer than last year and it is causing a concern about the city’s secondary water supply.

AWRA Blog: Western Governor’s Association DC Workshop: Drought, Climate and Water– The Western Governors’ Association and the Western States Water Council will sponsor a two-day workshop in DC, 14-15 September 2010, on: Drought, Climate and Water: Using Today’s Information and Designing Tomorrow’s Services.

Water News Roundup – June 15, 2010

15 Jun

KSL: Warm temperatures lead to flooding in Utah and Summit counties – An irrigation canal in Utah County got a lot more water than it could handle Monday. It’s now a swift-moving river, and residents in Lehi are bracing themselves for round two of the flooding.

Deseret News:

Aftermath of the S.L. oil spill: Did power line cause the break? – At ground zero of the weekend’s oil spill into Red Butte Creek, a welding crew is furiously at work, high-voltage power lines swinging overhead.

Water break causes geyser-like explosion in Fairpark – Salt Lake City public utilities officials said the cast-iron pipe, installed in 1929, gave way, and the pressure pushed the water to the top, creating “a nice plume of water,” public utilities maintenance supervisor Bret Shelley said.

Click here for Brian McInerney’s recent Flooding Update

Water News Roundup – June 14, 2010

14 Jun

Back from vacation and very well rested.  Moab was awesome and St. George even more beautiful than I remember.  So, what’s with all the boil orders of late?  There are so many short articles on boil orders that I’ve left them out of the roundup…  Here’s the rest.  Enjoy!

KSL:

LDS Church protests Snake Valley plan – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has joined hundreds to file a protest with the state of Nevada over a proposal to pump and pipe groundwater from the Snake Valley and surrounding areas to Las Vegas.

Morgan County officials watching Weber River closely – It certainly is a sight to see: an 18-wheeler crossing a small bridge with rushing water high enough to touch the bottom of the bridge.  Morgan County workers, though, say it’s not a problem.

2 dams on ‘Level 1 alert’ due to extremely full reservoirs – Utah’s reservoirs are suddenly bulging with water, and this week officials declared what’s called a Level One Alert for two dams on the Utah-Wyoming border.

Provo Daily Herald: Official: Oil spill hasn’t reach the Great Salt Lake yet – Emergency workers believe they have stopped a 21,000-gallon oil leak from reaching the environmentally sensitive Great Salt Lake, one of the West’s most important inland water bodies for migratory birds that use it as a place to rest, eat and breed.

Deseret News:

Mussel causes restrictions at Sand Hollow Reservoir – In an emergency action taken Thursday, the state wildlife board extended its lasso of boater-related restrictions over Sand Hollow Reservoir in order to control the infestation of invasive mussels.

Mormon church among protesters of Las Vegas water plan – Opponents of a controversial pipeline that would tap water from a shared Nevada/Utah aquifer and convey it to Las Vegas say more than 2,300 protests have been filed against the plan, including objections mounted by the Mormon church.

Rep. Jim Matheson and Mayor Ralph Becker testify in D.C. to expand watershed protection – While clean drinking water became a priority this week for Oakley and Lindon residents as they boiled water contaminated by floods, it’s always on the mind of Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah

Salt Lake Tribune:

Lake Powell Pipeline to water Las Vegas? – Second Congressional District challenger Claudia Wright this week raised the specter of a Las Vegas water grab via Utah’s own proposed Lake Powell pipeline, a puzzling possibility that she said residents of Utah’s Dixie have warned her about.

Lake is the only source of sulfate of potash – Lately there has been a lot of discussion about Great Salt Lake Minerals’ plans to expand our solar evaporation ponds in order to produce more sulfate of potash (SOP), an all-natural crop nutrient. But there is confusion about what SOP is, as well as what the expansion would provide.

Oil shale and the future“The task is great. So is the need. And there is no time to lose.” – Exxon’s 1980 “White Paper”

Those stirring words concluded a 10-page document released in the early summer 30 years ago outlining Exxon’s grand plan to help solve the nation’s energy crisis of the 1970s.

SLC residents angry, sad over oil-fouled yards and waterways – [Resident’s] backyard serenity was destroyed this weekend when an underground Chevron pipeline ruptured just south of Red Butte Gardens, near the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, and leaked an estimated 21,000 gallons of oil into Red Butte Creek, that flowed to Liberty Park pond and the Jordan River.

Containment the goal of initial oil spill cleanup – Chevron is expected to unveil a cleanup plan this morning, after a day in which the company focused on containing an oil leak that fouled Red Butte Creek and Liberty Park pond, in hopes of keeping the toxic spill from reaching the Great Salt Lake.

KCPW: Becker says city investigation of oil spill underway – Now, the hope is that oil won’t reach the Great Salt Lake.  What’s being done to prevent that from happening, and who will hold Chevron’s feet to the fire to make sure the cleanup is fully completed and paid for?  KCPW’s Jeff Robinson spoke with Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker.

Water News Roundup – June 8, 2010

8 Jun

*** I’m headed for hot Moab for a bit of vacation tomorrow.  Water News will be back on Monday!**

Salt Lake Tribune:

Time to water, but just a little – OK, go ahead and water the lawn this week — but only once.  So advises the Utah Division of Water Resources, which posts a weekly lawn-watering guide at slowtheflow.org that is updated every Thursday.

Utah Lake Festival marks 6th year – Reed Price readily admits that Utah Lake doesn’t get the same respect as Utah’s other lakes.

High waters still threaten across Salt Lake County – From the backyard of his home on Canyonview Road, Jim Wilcox looked out over a rushing torrent of chocolate brown water that used to be little more, he said, than a “babbling brook.”

KSL: Officials confirm presence of Quagga mussels – Wildlife officials have confirmed the presence of quagga mussels in Sand Hollow Reservoir.

HCN:

One tough sucker – The razorback sucker evolved in a wild Colorado River. Now, humans are its biggest problem — and its only hope. (Article has a great video vignette on razorback sucker recovery efforts from biologist Abraham Karam’s point of view.)

Photo by Abraham Karam

A boring diagram – Las Vegas’ primary water supply — has been drawing down like a leaky tub over the past decade, thanks to prolonged drought in the Colorado River Basin.

Water News Roundup – March 18, 2010

18 Mar

The Spectrum:

Fish release rejuvenates species – The effort to re-establish populations of endangered fish species in the Virgin River continues, as wildlife officials released 2,500 Virgin River Chub into the water near Hurricane, on Tuesday.

Enoch discusses area water rights – The Enoch City Council met with Sen. Dennis Stowell, R-Dist. 28, and Rep. Evan Vickers, R-Dist. 72, Wednesday night to ask questions pertaining to legislation that could affect Enoch.

KSL: Saving rare fish may require moving mouth of river – Saving Utah’s endangered June sucker may require moving a river.  Federal officials this week announced they’re in the early stages of planning a project to shift the mouth of the Provo River as it flows into Utah Lake.

Here’s a related story that is fascinating.  Watch the video to see thousands of carp being pulled out of Utah Lake… awesome!  Plus, Reed Harris from the Division of Wildlife talks about the June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program.

Millions of unwanted carp removed from Utah Lake – For the past couple of years, a project has been underway to remove millions of unwanted carp from Utah Lake. The carp destroy the habitat for the June sucker, a rare and endangered fish.

Wall Street Journal: Midwest braces for floods – A massive snowpack in the Upper Midwest and along parts of the East Coast have set the stage for potential record floods in the coming weeks, possibly pushing back the planting season in the Farm Belt and prompting intense preparations to reinforce levees and draw down reservoirs.

Best Use of Colorful Vernacular goes to David Berg, "The river is going to look like a snake that swallowed a pig."

Water News Roundup – St. Patty’s Edition

17 Mar

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

KSL:

Heavy snow has S. Utah preparing for potential floods – Temperatures Tuesday pushed above 60 degrees for the first time this year in Cedar City, renewing attention on the possibility of flooding.

NV users seek quick resolution to water ruling – State water officials and others are hoping for a quick resolution to a Nevada Supreme Court ruling that many believe throws the validity of thousands of water rights into question.

The Spectrum: Fissures study to be presented at water district – Reports from the Utah Geological Survey are topping the agenda at Thursday’s Central Iron County Water Conservancy District meeting.

Wall Street Journal: U.S. Opens Spigot for California Farmers – Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a sharp increase in federal water supplies for California’s agricultural Central Valley, further easing drought concerns in a state where El Niño rains have raised the mountain snowpack after three severely dry years.

Water News Roundup – March 10, 2010

10 Mar

Lots of water news today with much of the press highlighting the Jordan River Basin Plan.  Here’s a recap of the Jordan River coverage, followed by other miscellaneous items.

Deseret NewsJordan River Basin Plan out for comment – A comprehensive review of the Salt Lake Valley’s water resources identifies the need to make more efficient use of wastewater and to develop additional supplies.  Dennis Strong comments on this one.

Ogden Standard Examiner: Bear River to slake thirst, one of several steps to meet 2027’s larger population – New water supplies, including the Bear River, will be needed to quench the thirst of fast-growing suburbs around Salt Lake City in the coming decades, according to a state report released Tuesday.

KSL: New water supplies needed for Utah demand – A state report says new water supplies will be needed to quench the thirst of fast-growing suburbs around Salt Lake City in the coming decades.

ABC4 News: New water supplies needed for Utah demand – A state report says new water supplies will be needed to quench the thirst of fast-growing suburbs around Salt Lake City in the coming decades.

In other news…

Deseret News: Plans in place to enclose 100-year old Provo canal – A $150 million project to enclose all 21 miles of the Provo Reservoir Canal, also known as the Murdock Canal, in north Utah County will begin in October. (I was interested to read that CUWCD will now be receiving “8,000 square feet” of water and “50 cubic square feet” of conveyance capacity in exchange for their funding assistance… whoops!)

Salt Lake Tribune: Big pipeline to replace Provo canal – A canal association plans to enclose an open ditch leaving Provo Canyon with a 21-mile pipeline to Salt Lake County.

Ogden Standard Examiner:

Canal construction and preventive maintenance in Weber Basin – Water users in Weber and Davis counties should not notice a change in their water supplies this week.  But behind the scenes, the way they are getting some of their water is much different from the usual.

Farmington to build bigger reservoir – City leaders are shifting their focus in an effort to upgrade the city’s water system.  With growth on the west side fueling the need for more water capacity, officials had originally budgeted funds to drill a test well in the 2009-10 fiscal year, but those plans have been changed.

The Spectrum: Worrisome water – Whenever there’s heavy rainfall like there was Tuesday, Gail and Lester Black usually do two things: work around the predictable flooding of their ranch and curse the city of Hurricane.

Water News Roundup – February 3, 2010

3 Feb

The SpectrumSnowpack 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 TribuneGains 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.