SAVE THE DATE: The 2010 Annual Seminar is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010, at the Two Rivers Convention Center in Grand Junction.
September 18, 2009 Grand Junction, CO Dust in the Wind and Other Winds of Change 2009 Program and presentations: Opening by Colorado River District Board of Directors President Andrew Mueller Dust on Snow Panel: What's the Dirty Secret of Dirty Snow? Tom Painter, Snow Optics Lab, University of Utah, Moderator Jayne Belnap, U.S. Geological Service (presentation) Dan Crabtree, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation(presentation) Bill Reed, Colorado Basin River Forecast Center (presentation) Impacts of Climate Change on Water and Ecosystems in the Upper Colorado River Basin, by Jayne Belnap and others
State Water Funding Hits Drought. Can Climate Change Save It? Kathleen Curry, Colorado State Representative Good to the Last Drop: Operations on the Colorado River in the Lower Basin Terry Fulp, Lower Colorado River Deputy Director, Bureau of Reclamation(presentation)
Keynote Address: Anne Castle, Assistant U.S. Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science,Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.
The Colorado River Water Availability Study: Reports on Consumptive Use and Hydrology Findings Ben Harding, AMEC Earth & Environmental Inc. Erin Wilson, Leonard Rice Engineers(presentation)
If There's Enough Water, Is There a Transmountain Diversion? Eric Kuhn, General Manager, Colorado River District (presentation) Eric Hecox, Section Chief, Colorado Water Conservation Board's Intrastate Water Management and Development Section(presentation) Mark Pifher, Director, Aurora Water
By law, Colorado must allow about 70 percent of the river and its tributaries flow past the state border to satisfy the Colorado River Compact and meet downstate obligations in California, Nevada and Arizona. It is a goal of the Colorado River District to avoid a compact curtailment in Colorado. In other river basins, such as the Arkansas and the South Platte local water users feel the economic pain of compact administration every year. How Colorado should deal with the last increment of the Colorado River that can be developed was examined at the 2008 Water Seminar.
Future energy development and its demand on water supplies in Western Colorado was explored. Looming questions, especially for oil shale development, concern water supply and water quality especially given the fact that Colorado faces limits on how much water it can develop from the Colorado River system and energy needs compete with population growth, agriculture, recreation and the environment.
Focus was on the Seven States' shortages agreement forged earlier this year among Arizona, California, Nevada (the Lower Basin states) and Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico (the Upper Basin states).
COLORADO RIVER WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT
P.O. Box 1120 - Glenwood Springs, CO 81602 - 201 Centennial, Suite 200 - Glenwood Springs, CO 81601
(970) 945-8522 FAX (970) 945-8799
