By MICHELLE WILL/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
Most people in the United States get their drinking water from groundwater, according to the EPA. Read more
How mining nearly killed 'the richest hill on earth'
by Daniel Terdiman CNET News
"Ground water, surface water, and soils are contaminated with arsenic and other heavy metals, including copper, zinc, cadmium, and lead. Silver Bow Creek and the Clark Fork River contain metals from the cities of Butte to Milltown. The tailings, dispersed along the creek and river, severely limit aquatic life forms and have caused fish kills in the river. Potential health threats include direct contact with and ingestion of contaminated soil, surface water, ground water, or inhaling contaminated air." Read more
Bailey-Conifer water pipeline delayed
The Flume (Park County Republican and Fairplay Flume) Mandatory permit slows timeline Conifer Water LLC's plans to build a drinking water and wastewater delivery system between Bailey and Conifer have been delayed. Read More
Colorado River cutthroat story of isolation, unique genetics
By DAVE BUCHANAN/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel Monday, July 13, 2009
These simply aren’t trout but rather Colorado River cutthroat trout, one of the state’s three existing native trout and special even beyond that.
“You figure this trout has been isolated up here for thousands of years and there’s no question it’s adapted to some unique environmental conditions, including higher water temperatures that would kill other trout,” said Corey Fisher, 30 minutes later as he quickly pulled a barbless fly from the jaw of a brightly colored 5-inch trout. “If these fish were lost, we’d lose genetics that took eons to develop.”
Which is one reason Fisher, energy field coordinator for the conservation group Trout Unlimited, and Hunt, with that group’s Sportsmen Conservation Project, talked two writers into clambering down a sage-covered cliffside into a jungle of riparian growth fed by Trapper and Northwater creeks that come together to form the East Middle Fork of Parachute Creek.
http://www.gjsentinel.com/rec/content/sports/stories/2009/07/13/070809_out_trout_www.html
Catching a Wave, Powering an Electrical Grid?
Electrical engineer Annette von Jouanne is pioneering an ingenious way to generate clean, renewable electricity from the sea By Elizabeth Rusch / Smithsonian magazine, July 2009
Von Jouanne recently towed her best-performing buoy—her 11th prototype—out through Yaquina Bay and one and a half miles offshore. The buoy, which resembles a giant yellow flying saucer with a black tube sticking through the middle, was anchored in 140 feet of water. For five days it rose and fell with swells and generated around 10 kilowatts of power. In the next two to three years, Columbia Power Technologies, a renewable energy company that has supported von Jouanne's research, plans to install a buoy generating between 100 and 500 kilowatts of electricity in the test berth off the coast of Oregon. Read more
South Platte River sees rapid recovery
Healing itself from wildfire damage, it is going with the flow again.
By Karl Licis
Special to The Denver Post
In a year of abundant rainfall on the heels of a decent winter snowpack, river flows up and down the South Platte have been above the long-term average. Below brimful Cheesman Reservoir, the volume approached 800 cubic feet per second the past few weeks, but has been gradually receding. The higher flows are expected to benefit the river and its fishery, and some of their effects may already be evident. Read more
Minturn resort may lose water bid
Melanie Wong - Vail Dailymwong@vaildaily.com
MINTURN, Colorado — It appears highly likely the developer of the proposed Ginn project in Minturn will have to find a plan B to provide water for the project. The city of Aurora was expected to vote late Monday night to buy 1,337 acre-feet of water from the Columbine Ditch near Leadville. Read more
Ritter revisits Colorado forest plan
By Jeremy P. MeyerThe Denver Post
"It's good, and we congratulate and thank him for doing that," said David Petersen, Trout Unlimited's director of a sportsmen's conservation project in Colorado. "We would like to see them take this extra time and continue to work to improve the state rule." Read more.
Why is the water so brown?
By Tonya BinaSky-Hi Daily News Grand County, Colorado
Contacted Wednesday, Orvis Shorefox development representative Steve Bromberg declined to comment, saying information was still being gathered about the incident. Read more
Ritter: Natural gas ‘vital part’ of new-energy economy
Denver Business Journal - by Cathy Proctor
“That’s why I encouraged Congresswoman DeGette to consider authorizing a comprehensive study of this issue instead of going directly to a new and potentially intrusive regulatory program. She agreed, at that time, to go instead to something that would be more in the way of a study instead of an amendment that would prescribe every state having to put in place these rules,” Ritter said, adding, “I thank the congresswoman for having done that.” Read more
