Water News Roundup & Moratorium Edition

I am very sad to say this will be my last Water News in Utah update for a while.  I have been offered a job that likely won’t allow me to keep posting in a substantial way. I will leave the site up in the meantime however, since it has become a handy reference and news story archive. I hope you’ve enjoyed the water news round-up over the past year. I know I have, and I’ll be back if I can swing it. Thanks again for devoting time and energy to stay informed.

Salt Lake Tribune: Oil shale problems – In “Oil and water” (Forum, Aug. 14), Bill Johnson, Utah’s “community representative” for the U.S. Congressional Task Force on Strategic Unconventional Fuels, promotes oil shale development and says that there is enough water to uphold this industry because one study estimates that only about 1.7 barrels of water are needed to produce a barrel of shale oil.

Living history: Utah Lake carp provided food for the needy – Utah Lake was once a fabulous, rich fishery. George Washington Bean, a settler in Utah Valley, wrote that Ute tribes gathered at the lake “on account of the wonderful supply of fish moving up the stream from the Lake to their spawning grounds each spring.

KSL: Feds give $100,000 to help save June sucker in Utah Lake – The Federal Government has given the Central Utah Water Conservancy District $100,000 to rid Utah Lake of non-native fish.

St. George Spectrum: Water rate structure questioned – Water resources and the systems that make use of them shape the way a community develops and thrives, but Cedar City resident Doug Hall believes unless a new water rate structure is instituted by Cedar City Corporation, Festival City USA will no longer have cause for celebration.

The St. George Spectrum online edition requires a login.  I find it interesting that one of Cedar City’s water rate critics cites Washington County Water Conservancy District’s rate structure as a possible model for Cedar City.

Water News Roundup – June 24, 2010

KSL:

Restored songbird habitats proving fruitful along Provo River – Some Utah songbirds lost their freedom, briefly, Wednesday. Bird experts captured them on the fly in an effort to figure out if they’re thriving or declining.

Water quality officials visit one-of-a-kind wastewater facility – You can golf, hike, or even ride horses in Eagle Mountain, but taking a tour of the waste water facility is something you won’t find in any tourism brochures. However, it’s exactly what workers with Utah’s Division of Water Quality wanted to do Wednesday morning.

Salt Lake Tribune: Utah Lake’s June sucker making rapid recovery – The removal of a Provo River dam is paying dividends for the endangered June sucker.  Biologists say the fish are taking advantage of an extra mile of spawning grounds above the Fort Field diversion dam.

Water News Roundup – June 8, 2010

*** 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 – May 17, 2010

Happy Monday!  Loads of water news today.  When it rains it pours?

Provo Daily Herald:  Task force formed to discuss water access on private lands – There have been few issues in the past five years hotter than recreational access to water flowing over private property.

Provo Daily Herald – Opinion:  Facts support need for Utah Lake bridge – In the last few weeks there have been two news articles that state the bridge across Utah Lake is "a bad idea" and it is "not viable." People can have thoughts and beliefs, but not their own facts.

Salt Lake Tribune:

A new approach to the Great Salt Lake – Great Salt Lake Minerals Corp.’s expansion plan is moving forward so America’s farmers can continue to feed our country and help meet growing worldwide food needs.

Wyoming worried about Green River water grab – Wyoming has an unusual problem among the states in the Colorado River system: lots of water and, other than supporting some fine trout fishing, no way to put a significant amount of it to use.

Deseret News:  Comments sought on Gooseberry Narrows dam project – Envisioned 77 years ago as a way to supply water to northern Sanpete County residents, the proposed Gooseberry Narrows reservoir remains on the drawing board and a subject of bitter contention between two counties.

St. George Spectrum: Event highlights water education – A wet winter has water supplies looking good in Southern Utah, but water managers are reminding residents to do what they can to help those supplies last.

KCPW: Salt Lake County adopts stricter drinking water protections – Salt Lake County adopted a water source protection ordinance this week to beef up protections already in place and to comply with a new state law.

Water News Roundup – April 26, 2010

Daily Herald:

Pipeline to bring 400 jobs, $235 million to local economy – As a massive project to pipe the Murdock Canal gets underway, officials are lauding the work as a boon to the local economy.

CUP pipeline construction will start this fall – Engineers for a 5-foot water pipeline project are looking for input from the public on where the pipeline should go.

Santaquin gets $7 million for water treatment plant – Representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development stopped by to present Santaquin with a $7 million loan/grant for its forthcoming wastewater treatment plant.

Deseret News:  Bishop and Chaffetz join water fight in congress – A frontier proverb said that whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting over. Holding true to that, a big water fight broke out in Congress on Wednesday.

Salt Lake Tribune:

Official: Water deal is critical – A top Nevada water chief made a splash during a recent Las Vegas television interview, trash-talking Salt Lake City for being too bucolic, its residents for not being able to spell conservation and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert for not signing a contentious Snake Valley water-sharing agreement.

Back on the Green – Emmett Heath caught his first trout on the Green River below Flaming Gorge Reservoir before the dam was even completed.

Will we be ready when drought comes to stay? – In 1934, the driest year of the Dust Bowl, Big Cottonwood creek, which supplies almost 25 percent of Salt Lake Valley water, ran dry. In 1935, the year of Black Sunday, Utah Lake was empty.

Salt Lake Tribune – Editorial: Bridging Utah Lake – Leon Harward wants to build a 5.8 mile-long private toll bridge across Utah Lake. Because this project would alter the air and water quality in Utah County in multiple ways, the importance of an environmental assessment cannot be overstated. Yet this project will not be subject to a federal environmental impact statement.

Technorati Tags: Clean Water Act,Colorado River,CUP pipeline,drought,Green River,Murdock Canal,Pat Mulroy,provo reservoir enclosure project,Santaquin,Snake Valley,Utah Lake,Utah Lake bridge,water legislation,water treatment plant

Water News Roundup – April 21, 2010

Salt Lake Tribune:

Analyst: Utah Lake Bridge will lose money – Environmentalists have attacked the proposed Utah Lake Bridge as harmful to Utah Lake’s environment and a potential enabler of urban sprawl on the lake’s west shore.  Now, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups say studies show the bridge will not be cost-effective.

Colorado River water policy faces an age of shortage – Change comes hard to Western water policy. The Prior Appropriation Doctrine, interstate compacts, groundwater law, the “law of the river” — all of these seem set in stone in the minds of the region’s policymakers.

Utah water dubbed world’s best – It’s sweet and has a perfect PH balance — water from southern Utah’s Tushar mountain range.  The spring water was judged the world’s best for bottlers in a prestigious contest.

Opinion: Mulroy’s Addiction – The recent hot-headed ranting and raving about Utah and Salt Lake City by Pat Mulroy, director of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, reminds me of a deranged crack addict who can’t support her habit any more and whose whole world is about to collapse.

Technorati Tags: Beaver City,Colorado River,Las Vegas,Law of the River,Pat Mulroy,Utah Lake,Utah Lake bridge

Water News Roundup – April 7, 2010

Ogden Standard Examiner: Meteorologist: Moisture in April not unusual – Remember the snowstorms of last April? While it shocked some to see snowplows on the street Tuesday, the first days of last April were spent in much the same way.

Deseret News: Environmental group Utah Valley Earth Forum submits no-build proposal for Utah Lake bridge – An environmental group has a plan for Utah Lake, and it doesn’t include a bridge.  The Utah Valley Earth Forum recently submitted to state officials a no-build option to counter a developer’s proposal to construct a bridge across Utah Lake.

New York Times: Study says U.S. waterways are warming – Many streams and rivers in the United States are getting warmer, with the greatest increases in urbanized areas, according to research to be published in an upcoming edition of the journal Frontiers of the Ecology and the Environment.

An interesting opinion piece on water-related rhetoric in California…

L.A. Times – Opinion: Deceptive arguments are being made in California’s water wars – Who needs absinthe, vodka or even a six-pack of beer? Judging from the quality of our debate on natural resource policy, all it takes to addle the political mind in California is water.

Technorati Tags: California,California drought,precipitation,stream warming,thermal pollution,Utah Lake,Utah Lake bridge

Water News Roundup – April 6, 2010

KSL: Court, Moab group can sue to stop subdivision – The Utah Supreme Court says neighbors have the right to challenge an approved subdivision south of Moab on top of a freshwater underground aquifer.

Provo Daily Herald – Opinion: A bridge to somewhere – Dreams of preserving Utah Lake in its natural state are more than ever on a collision course with the Utah County that actually exists.

Salt Lake Tribune – Opinion: Countdown – It’s been nine months since the Logan & Northern Canal failed, contributing to a mudslide that inundated Canyon Road in Logan, killing a family of three.

Technorati Tags: aquifer,canal regulation,canal safety,groundwater management,Logan Canal,Utah Lake,Utah Lake bridge

Water News Roundup – April 5, 2010

Salt Lake Tribune:

Utah county leaders OK trail funds – The Murdock Canal Trail is planned for the strip left exposed once the canal — a drowning hazard in the past — is enclosed in pipe. It will include one path serving walkers and cyclists and a separate path for horses. It also will have rest areas with restrooms, picnic tables and parking lots, all for a cost of $17.3 million.

Travel perks will dry up in water districts – Your water bill still might pay for an occasional golf outing, but it no longer will go toward spousal perks that some Salt Lake County water districts once included on their travel tabs.

Salt Lake Tribune – Editorial: No Utah Lake Bridge – The proposed private toll bridge bisecting our public treasure, Utah Lake, is a bad idea that is being evaluated in an inadequate, flawed process. The bridge is neither needed nor wanted. It benefits a few developers at the expense of our health, our well-being and the lake’s viability.

Ogden Standard Examiner: Water worries ease a bit in Northern Utah – Utah’s water managers love it. After a dry fall followed by a so-so winter and now a dry spring, the snow is a welcome addition that has boosted Top of Utah’s snow pack to nudging 70 percent of normal.

Deseret News: Federal water projects impact residents – Living in a federal construction project along 400 East is fun for the kids but extra work for Jennifer Soter.

“It’s mostly muddy, and on warm days, it’s dusty,” the Springville homemaker said.

Soter’s block was among those torn up by construction crews in January to begin laying a 60-inch water pipe to carry pressurized Strawberry Reservoir water from Diamond Fork Canyon to Salt Lake County.

Technorati Tags: diamond fork pipeline,Murdock Trail,precipitation forecast,Springville,Utah Lake,Utah Lake bridge,water districts

Water News Roundup – April Fool’s edition (but no jokes… sorry)

Provo Daily Herald: Citizens groups propose bridgeless Utah Lake – Hunters, sailors, birders, recreation-lovers and environmentalists joined together on Wednesday to tell the state to leave Utah Lake bridge-free.

Salt Lake Tribune:

Brian Head resort for sale, but who will buy? – Taking advantage of a good snow year, the owners of Brian Head Resort have stepped up their efforts to sell the ski resort above Parowan in southwestern Utah.

Governor signs contentious stream bill – Gov. Gary Herbert signed a bitterly contested bill Wednesday that could restrict fishing and recreation access to some streams that cross private land, saying he believed it will foster negotiations in a clash over public water rights and private property.

KSL: Cache council to sponsor canal project – The Cache County Council will sponsor a multimillion dollar canal project aimed at restoring irrigation water to shareholders adversely affected by a canal breach in Logan last year.

New York Times: New efficiency standards for water heaters – The Obama administration on Thursday released new energy efficiency standards for water heaters and other appliances that it said would save consumers $10 billion over 30 years while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Technorati Tags: Brian Head,canal rehabilitation,canal safety,energy efficiency,snowpack,stream access,stream bill,Utah Lake,Utah Lake bridge,water efficiency,water/energy nexus

Water News Roundup – March 25, 2010

Deseret News: Group questions Utah Lake bridge decision process – The possibility of a bridge over Utah Lake troubles Jim Westwater, and not just because of possible environmental consequences.

Wall Street Journal: Strains after Bay Area cities outsource water services – Over the last decade, many Bay Area cities have outsourced management of their water or sewer systems to private companies. In some communities, unanticipated strains of that shift are surfacing.

IPS: Water crisis high on policy agenda, Clinton says – On a rainy morning here Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emphasized the centrality to U.S. foreign policy of addressing the world’s water challenges.

Technorati Tags: global water,Utah Lake,Utah Lake bridge,water privatization

Water News Roundup – March 18, 2010

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."

Technorati Tags: chub,endangered species,Enoch,flooding,June sucker,Provo River,Virgin river,carp,utah lake

Water News Roundup – March 8, 2010

Deseret News:

State seeks best uses of Utah Lake – State officials are looking for the best uses for Utah Lake — even if it means simply leaving it alone.

Federal funding to boost conservation efforts – Maintenance of fish hatcheries, waterfowl management and curbing disease in wildlife populations will receive a funding boost due to an allocation of nearly $10 million to Utah from the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Salt Lake Tribune:  My water bill pays for what? – The stewards of several Salt Lake County water systems are flowing your money into more than just water and pipes to quench your thirst, wash your clothes and sprinkle your lawn.

Salt Lake Tribune – Editorial:  Canal safety – A bill to require state inspections of irrigation canals is dead in the water. But another that would keep the public from learning about dangerous canals is cruising toward passage. It seems as if the Utah Legislature is more interested in coddling canal companies than protecting the people whose lives would be endangered by a canal break.

The Spectrum: Water conference underlines scarcity – In the Southwestern United States, water and its scarcity is a big deal. Just ask any of the more than 1,600 people at the Dixie Center this week attending the Rural Water Association of Utah’s annual conference.

Technorati Tags: canal legislation,canal regulation,canal safety,federal funding,RWUA,Utah Lake

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 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