Ridenbaugh Press/Water Rights

The council of the city of Yerington, Nevada, said it likely will lease water to Nevada Copper, a mining company opening operations south of town.

The amount involved could be about 3,000 acre-feet of water per year, developed form underground sources. The city currently owns the water rights. The copper company would not buy all at once, however; rather, it would likely lease in limited amounts at a time, according to its need.

The South Florida Water Management District has approved the investment of an additional $5 million for the development of alternative water supplies to better protect water resources for the public and the environment across South Florida. Together with water conservation measures, developing alternative water supplies will help ensure a more reliable and sustainable supply of water.

In September, the District Governing Board invested more than $22 million in 24 projects to help local communities build alternative water supply projects. This includes $3.8 million in matching funds from the state.

On November 13, the board authorized using an additional $5 million to pay for 15 more projects. When completed, these 39 projects will collectively provide nearly 27 million gallons of additional water per day. That’s the average daily water use of nearly 151,000 South Florida residents.

Alternative water supplies include treatment of saltwater and brackish water, capture and storage of surface water during wet weather, and use of reclaimed water and stormwater from reservoirs or aquifer storage and recovery systems. Once constructed, projects that produce usable water from these sources will provide a community with millions of gallons of additional water supply.

As part of the District’s selection process, alternative water supply project proposals were evaluated for meeting funding criteria, such as minimizing impact on existing water resources, reducing local competition for water and producing a high quantity of alternative water supply relative to project cost. In addition, the projects were required to be ready for construction upon grant award and be consistent with existing regional water supply plans.

The District administers funds through the Alternative Water Supply Funding Program. Cities, utilities, homeowners associations, community development districts and other water users and suppliers can be awarded up to 40 percent of a project’s construction costs, based on total funding available and project type. Project sponsors finance the balance, although economically disadvantaged communities may be eligible for full funding.

Florida’s growing population has focused attention on future availability of sufficient water supplies. Since 2005, the state legislature has approved annual funding for diversifying water resources, specifically the development of alternative water supplies. The District and the State of Florida have invested approximately $163 million since 1996 to fund more than 400 alternative water supply projects. These projects collectively are adding more than 300 million gallons per day of “new” water to the regional supply.

For more information about alternative water supply and related funding programs from the South Florida Water Management District, visit www.sfwmd.gov. Contact: Randy Smith South Florida Water Management District Office: (561) 682-6197 or Cellular: (561) 389-3386

Water users in Michigan will get some instruction and assistance through workshops scheduled for locations around the state, to be held in December and in January.

Locations will include Howard City, Clinton Township in Macomb County and West Olive, all places where groundwater withdrawals are relatively high.

A web site already has gone live, also to explain the new regime.
The outreach effort comes in the wake of new groundwater management rules. 2006 legislation does allow for was withdrawals is there is no “adverse resource impact,” but no metrics were indicated for determining that impact.

Capital News Service: Michigan State University School of Journalism http://blog.mlive.com/cns/2008/11/sessions_will_shed_light_on_wa.html

The state of Georgia, refusing to pack it in after adverse ruling in its Lake Lanier water withdrawal case, said in November it would ask for a U.S. Supreme Court review of the case.

The court was considered less than likely to grant review.

Lake Lanier for many years has been a flashpoint in legal disputes between Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Georgia recently made moves toward increasing its withdrawal from the lake, nearly doubling the amount pulled. The other two states contested that action, and they prevailed in the U.S. court of appeals (although a district court had agreed with the Georgia position).

On November 20, Governor Sonny Perdue responded to a brief filed by the federal government with the U.S. Supreme Court on a Georgia request for the Court to review one issue of the ongoing tri-state water negotiations:

“I am encouraged that the federal government strongly agreed with Georgia that the D.C. Circuit ruling was wrong when it set aside the settlement agreement that would have resolved a large part of the tri-state water wars. I find it extremely puzzling that the federal government would file a brief arguing the court ruling was wrong but yet does not want to fix the obvious mistakes. There is no question that this case is clearly important enough for the Supreme Court’s review.

All three states agree that this case is very important, and I believe review by the Supreme Court would result in Georgia’s position being upheld and a major piece of the water negotiations resolved.”
Contact: Office of Communications 404-651-7774

The Washington Department of Ecology will award more than $1 million to Washington State University and the city of Pullman for a project that will help improve water resources in the area.

The city and WSU will use the grant money to help develop a project to reclaim and reuse treated water. Reclaiming or re-using water means using engineered treatment systems to speed up nature’s restoration of water quality. Wastewater can be cleansed and re-used in many non-drinking uses in landscapes, public parks, and to irrigate golf courses.
The Ecology grant comprises only a portion of the total estimated costs of the project, which is about $16 million.

Reclaimed water may also be used in agricultural and industrial uses, for toilet flushing, dust control, construction activities, and to create wetlands and ponds.

The WSU project involves three strategies:
>Increasing the amount of water in Airport Creek.
>Improving vegetation and habitat along the South Fork Palouse River by planting bushes and trees along the banks near the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant.
>Improving the wetlands that border the newly expanded WSU golf course. Examples of how this is done may include improving the way the water moves in and out of the wetland or planting native plants.

The project will use a portion of the treated effluent from the city’s wastewater treatment plant that would otherwise enter the South Fork Palouse River. The diverted water will undergo further treatment before it is used to water the golf course and green areas on campus.
The city and WSU applied for Ecology funding for the project last year through the Palouse Watershed Planning Unit. The planning unit is composed of people representing a variety of local water interests who work with local and state government to improve the watershed’s water quality and supply. More than 40 watersheds statewide have planning units.

Ecology and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife worked closely with the city and WSU to make sure that the environment would benefit as much as possible from the project. As a result, the project not only takes some pressure off the community water supply but also helps improve the environment.

Department of Ecology News Release – November 18 Media Contacts: Jani Gilbert, communications, 509-329-3495; cell 990-9177; email, jagi461@ecy.wa.gov; Cathy Cochrane, communications, 509-329-3433; cell, 509-290-0685; e-mail, ccoc461@ecy.wa.gov For more information: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/shorelan.html

A group of Green River (Utah) area activists are opposing a licensure of proposed water rights for one or possibly two nuclear power plants being considered for development in southeast Utah.

The nuclear proposal was developed by state Representative Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, the CEO of Transition Power Development. A 2007 statement on the firm’s website said that “Transition Power Development was founded on a single vision – to pave the way for new nuclear generation in Utah.” That was followed up earlier this year when Transition officials told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission it planned within a couple of years to deliver an “early site permit application” for two nuclear plants.

However, Tilton lost his legislative seat this year, and the project has developed opposition.

The Deseret News (Salt Lake City [UT], November 19) reported that “Groups that use the Green River for personal and commercial recreation, educational activities and scientific research have filed a formal protest . . . Deputy state engineer Boyd Clayton said Monday that the next step will be to decide if two separate sets of protesters have legal standing to intervene and then to hold a public hearing, which he said could be months away. Clayton said Green River resident Bill Adams is a Green River water-rights holder, which by statute permits him to file a protest. Adams has aligned himself with the advocacy group Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah (HEAL).”

The Bureau of Reclamation on November 17 celebrated the completion of the first irrigation season in more than two decades that did not result in any drying of the Middle Rio Grande.

The success was attributed to a combination of factors including, careful river monitoring and management, excellent cooperation between Reclamation, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and other partners, a good supply of water to supplement natural river flows and a little timely help from Mother Nature.

“This successful season just demonstrates the tremendous amount of cooperation between water managers and water users,” said Reclamation Albuquerque Area Manager John Poland.

The coordination included water management conference calls several times a week amongst numerous entities including, Reclamation, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, and the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority.

According to Reclamation records, the last time it went through a full summer without drying any reach of the Middle Rio Grande was 1986.
This year, more than 32,000 acre-feet of water was released from upstream reservoirs to supplement the natural flows of the Rio Grande.

That water had been leased by Reclamation from willing San Juan-Chama contractors including the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority. Reclamation was also able to coordinate with the Bureau of Land Management and the Water Utility Authority to ensure that water was moved over weekends to allow for increased rafting flows on the Rio Chama south of El Vado Reservoir.

This was the first time that Reclamation and the Corps of Engineers were required to operate under the restrictions of a “Wet Year” under the 2003 Biological Opinion. This was due to good snowpack in northern New Mexico early last spring. This required continuous flows on the river to Isleta Diversion Dam all year and a target flow of 100 cubic feet per second over San Acacia Diversion Dam through November 15. Because the river ran continuously, there was no need for rescue of the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow from pools as the river dried as in previous years.

Although Reclamation officials are pleased with the success of this irrigation year, they warn that the situation along the Middle Rio Grande is still unpredictable. Reclamation water managers currently believe they have leased enough water to meet the requirements of the 2003 Biological Opinion through at least 2009. However, Reclamation and the Corps of Engineers have initiated the process to seek a new Biological Opinion with the support of their partners in the Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Collaborative Program before the beginning of the 2010 irrigation season. They are currently modeling various hydrologic scenarios to explore options that will allow the silvery minnow to continue to thrive while using less supplemental water.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Upper Colorado Region Contact: Mary Perea-Carlson (505) 462-3576

On Monday, November 17, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid confirmed that the lack of time and pressures to complete an economic stimulus package will prevent Congress from introducing a bi-partisan bill that included important protections for rivers including new Wild and Scenic River and Wilderness designations.

A silver lining in this disappointing news is that there is strong interest from Congressional leadership in passing the bill early next year, in the 111th Congress, when time is not such a significant factor as it will be during this lame duck session.

The package would have been the second largest Wild and Scenic package in history, safeguarding 852.8 miles of rivers in Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Wyoming, and Massachusetts. The biggest Wild and Scenic package ever passed was an Oregon bill in 1988, which included 1,429.05 miles of rivers.

There are 166 Wild and Scenic rivers in our country. The Missouri River explored by Lewis and Clark, the Delaware River that cradled the American Revolution, and the Tuolumne River loved by John Muir are all protected by this visionary law. The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System is one of our country’s most important natural resource programs and protecting Wild and Scenic rivers enjoys strong bi-partisan support.

American Rivers Contact: David Moryc, American Rivers, 202-347-7550; Amy Kober, American Rivers, 206-213-0330 x23 www.americanrivers.org/gowild

A cultural note: Issues of water supply around the globe are becoming sufficiently well known as to form as major plot line for an action-adventure motion picture – a James Bond flick, no less.

The just-opening movie Quantum of Solace, the latest in the long run of Bond movies, has as a central premise a villain seeking to control the earth’s water supply.

The provisions of the Great Lakes Water Compact, recently ratified by both officials and voters, are beginning to kick into gear: The city of Waukesha, Wisconsin, said on November 12 that it will try to obtain to obtain water from Lake Michigan and then recycle, treated from wastewater conditions. The effort probably would be allowable under terms of the compact.

The return trip probably would be undertaken by way of Underwood Creek in Wauwatosa.

A significant part of the city’s current water source turns out to have been contaminated by radium.

The compact is effective on December 8.