Water

Feedback: Summer 2024

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Feedback: Summer 2024 Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 07/16/2024 - 00:00

Fan of the Coloradan

I have wanted to tell you how great the last edition of the Coloradan is. I am an alumni of the class of 1964. I am very impressed with your editing and wanted you to know that and to tell several of the authors their articles were excellent. Lisa Marshall did a good job with her article, “Secrets from the Grave,” interesting. All the articles about the problems with the supply of water to the West were very informative. The short bios of those graduating were good. Elijah did a great job, and you can tell him if you like.

Bill Wilson (A&S’64)
Grand Junction, Colorado

Can’t Argue with Larry Zimmer!

The Coloradan is my favorite of all the magazines and newspapers that pile up around my recliner, and the last to be condemned to the recycle bin on trash day. I have great regard for it journalistically (said the retired journalist) and love the way it conjures up my CU recollections. Most of all I love the size. It’s so little and cute, which totally belies the quality within.

In the Spring 2024 edition, I was amazed and thrilled to see that Larry Zimmer, the late announcer for the Colorado Buffaloes, named the Sept. 24, 1994, “Miracle in Michigan” as his favorite football play out of the 486 CU football games he called over 42 years.

As one of the few CU alums screaming quite unpopularly amid a sea of maize ’n’ blue Wolverine fans in Michigan Stadium that day, I witnessed that miraculous Hail Mary pass from Kordell Stewart to Michael Westbrook. I can never forget how the capacity crowd of more than 100,000 fans sat stock still, stunned, for at least 15 minutes after the game was over. Nobody moved, as if to will the scoreboard back to 26-21 Michigan, where it was six seconds prior to that touchdown.

Thanks for the memories, Coloradan staff.

Jennifer L. Holmes (Edu’67)
Goodison, Michigan

Coloradan vs. Coloradoan

Not at peace with “Coloradans!” I’m a native, born and raised and for 72 years. It’s always been “Coloradoans,” and for me it shall stay “Coloradoans.” I’m trying to cope with all the unrecognizable landscape that surrounds me; and since I can’t halt progress, I shall at least hang onto my Coloradoan roots.

Jennie Schrock

[Editor’s Note: The distinction between Coloradoan and Coloradan is one of our most common questions. We addressed the distinction in our Spring 2019 issue. You can read the digital version here: Origins: Coloradan or Coloradoan?]

Rabbit Holes

Great content on what is one of my favorite rabbit holes to go down, Western water.

David Martus (Rec’88; MBA’97)
Boulder, Colorado

Cloud Seeding

I read with interest the article about cloud seeding in the latest issue of the Coloradan.

I wonder whether Professor Friedrich and the SNOWIE group have looked at the legal implications of their work. Grounds for an article or letter from a prof at the Law School?

Steven Bookshester (A&S’72)
Annapolis, Maryland

A Historical Event

I enjoyed reading about Professor Katja Friedrich and her cloud seeding work. Was 1946 really the year that cloud seeding was discovered? A historical event in San Diego in 1916 comes to mind.

There was a drought, so the City of San Diego hired Charles Hatfield, a former sewing machine salesman, to make rain. Mr. Hatfield built a tower, put a secret blend of chemicals on top and lit the concoction on fire. Fumes rose up into the clouds.

Unfortunately, Mr. Hatfield was too successful. Was it an El Nino year? There was a major flood that killed 22 people in the small city. Mr. Hatfield wisely did not stay around to collect his $10,000 fee.

Irene Eggers (MusEdu’60)
Wheat Ridge, Colorado

Water in the West

I enjoyed reading your article about the challenges of providing water to communities in the Mountain West. As the president of the board of directors for the San Lorenzo Valley Water District in Boulder Creek, California, I have a keen appreciation for the complexities of water supply and distribution. Here on the California coast we have many of the same issues you have in Colorado regarding water rights that in some cases go back to frontier times. Our water resource situation is very different, however. We are able to source our water from stream flow and wells in the local Santa Cruz Mountains, instead of relying upon distant rivers, large reservoirs and melting snow runoff from the Sierra Nevada.

A few challenges we face — winter mudslides and washouts that damage collection points, pipelines and treatment facilities, damage from a major forest fire in 2020 that burned 7 miles of plastic raw-water collection piping in steep terrain, and aging distribution infrastructure. Parts of our system still rely upon old Redwood tanks for water storage, but not for much longer.

Jeff Hill (MBA’72)
Scotts Valley, California

Solar Eclipse, CU Style

Grateful to the clouds for parting a bit for us to experience totality here in Austin. Incredible to see the street lights come on, animals quieted, and experience the moment with our neighbors. CU: Thanks for the glasses! #Eclipse2024 #SolarEclipse #ATX #ForeverBuffs

Elizabeth Eger (Comm, Engl’06; PhDComm’18)
Austin, Texas

Bennet’s Brick Oven

I’m responding to Earl Noe’s (Jour’66) comments in the Spring copy of the Coloradan regarding Bennet’s Brick Oven. I definitely remember eating at this pizza restaurant many times during my four years at CU.

I was a freshman in the fall of 1966 and spent many a time on the Hill eating at the various eateries that were available back then. Bennet’s was located diagonally across 13th St. from The Sink and a few doors up. I originally stumbled onto it and really enjoyed the thin crust pizza that they served. I have many fond memories of the variety of eats there were on the Hill and Bennet’s was one of my favorites. I remember the gentlemanly owner who ran the place. Always had a smile on his face when I came in.

Jim Trotsky (Bus’70)
Englewood, Colorado

Los Seis de Boulder

Thank you for sharing the beautiful sculpture by Jasmine Bates honoring Los Seis in the Spring Coloradan. I am a Class of ’84 Journalism grad and had never heard the tragic story. Maybe the cold case will heat up now.

Tracy Lehr (Jour’84)
Oxnard, California

A Cosmic Surprise

John and I would like to thank you for the genuine eclipse glasses. What a surprise! John graduated in 1959, and I was there two years and loved it. I am 85 and John is 87. We have lived in Dallas for 61 years of our 65 years of marriage. We met at CU and forever hold it in our hearts. Thank you for the reminder.

John Kochan (ElEngr’59) & Pat Wheelis Kochan (Art ex’61)
Dallas, Texas

Correction: In the sports section of the Spring issue, we incorrectly stated that the women’s soccer team made it to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 13 years. It was the first time since 2020. We regret the error.

Submit feedback to the editor

Photos courtesy University of Colorado and Elizabeth Eger

Off

Traditional

White

A Solutions-Based Approach for Western Water

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

A Solutions-Based Approach for Western Water Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 00:00

Philip DiStefano

Glance at a photo of campus from the late 1800s, when only Old Main stood, and it may take a moment to orient yourself. Soon you’ll spot familiar landmarks: the Flatirons rising to the west, Boulder Creek flowing to the north.

Far before the university’s earliest days, the natural landscape — and water, specifically — has played an important role across Colorado and the West.

More than wayfinding aids or scenic features, our rivers, reservoirs and rainclouds have defined the direction and pace of economic development, supported the agricultural needs of the nation and provided fertile ground for collaboration and conflict.

Today, water — or the absence of it — continues to be a defining factor for communities across the West. And now, CU Boulder faculty, staff and students are lending their expertise to help communities make smart, data-informed decisions about this precious and often imperiled natural resource.

In CU’s environmental journalism program, students and alumni are exploring how declining water supplies and climate change will impact our lives and livelihoods in the years to come.

Across engineering and the sciences, researchers are examining how water quality is impacted by oil and gas or mining operations, wildfires and other natural and human activities.

For 20 years, the Western Water Assessment team within CU Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) has partnered with researchers from multiple disciplines in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah to conduct innovative water research and make the findings more accessible to decision-makers across the region. The work directly aids communities seeking greater resilience in the face of climate change.

And for the last several years, instructors from CIRES also have taught a free online course through Coursera that allows students worldwide to examine scientific, legal and cultural issues around water using the Colorado River Basin as a case study. More than 3,000 people are currently enrolled.

Those are just a few examples of how members of the CU Boulder community are helping to address the West’s toughest questions related to water needs, bringing creativity, courage and commitment to bear as we seek to positively impact humanity.

In the face of climate change, these matters become more consequential. And it becomes even more essential that we bring diverse voices and perspectives into the conversation that have been neglected or ignored.

Too often, discussions on water in the West can leave us feeling concerned, distrustful or apprehensive.

But when I consider how CU Boulder’s faculty, students and staff are becoming part of the solutions, I find myself once again with reason to hope — and that’s a river that will never run dry.

Submit feedback to the editor

Photos by Matthew Rossi/CIRES (right); Jeroen Geeraert/CIRES (top)

Far before the university’s earliest days, the natural landscape—and water, specifically—has played an important role across Colorado and the West.

Off

Traditional

Spring 2024

White

Ensuring a Reliable Water Supply for the City of Boulder

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Ensuring a Reliable Water Supply for the City of Boulder Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 00:00

Kim Hutton

As I drive up Boulder Canyon with my daughter to ski at Eldora Mountain, I relish pointing out features of Boulder’s water supply system that I’ve had a role in managing for the past 19 years. The hydroelectric plant on the left, the pipeline up on the hillside, the reservoir at the top of the canyon — and Boulder Creek at the heart of it all. Fascinating, right?! She listens to me good-naturedly every time, and I hope one day she comes to appreciate the intricacies that go into providing that clean glass of water she sips every morning.

The Boulder community enjoys a high-quality and reliable drinking water supply due to 150 years of visionary planning. However, as the climate shifts, the challenge of providing clean and reliable water becomes increasingly complex.

Boulder’s drinking water originates from alpine lakes, reservoirs and the Boulder Creek headwaters west of the city of Boulder, as well as from the upper Colorado River. Each year, approximately two-thirds of Boulder’s water supply comes from Boulder Creek and one-third from the Colorado River. Water from these sources flows via pipes to one of Boulder’s two water treatment plants before it is sent to customers for drinking water or irrigation use.

While Boulder’s multiple water sources offer flexibility and resilience in the face of climate change and extreme weather events, the city of Boulder is actively pursuing additional ways to secure its water supply.

One way is through protecting our sources to ensure safe and high-quality water. As most of Boulder’s water supply comes from outside the city, Boulder partners with many organizations and community members to improve forest health and reduce pollution to creeks and reservoirs.

Other ways include investing in Boulder’s water infrastructure (some components are over a century old), promoting water-saving measures — including using water-saving fixtures, fixing irrigation system leaks and landscaping with low-water-use vegetation — and strategic planning. Boulder’s Drought Plan, for instance, helps the city respond to water shortages and preserve water for high-priority uses such as human health and safety, maintaining creek flows and trees.

Water management in the western United States is an intriguing puzzle. While I thrive on the challenge, I’m most gratified by the mission of serving a community that prioritizes sustainable use of this precious resource. Through collaboration, innovation and engagement with passionate community members, Boulder is addressing climate challenges to safeguard its water supply for future generations.

Kim Hutton (Chem, EnvSt’98) is the water resources manager for the City of Boulder.

Submit feedback to the editor

Photo courtesy the City of Boulder

Kim Hutton, water resources manager for the City of Boulder, reflects on what it takes to provide water for Boulder.

Off

Traditional

Spring 2024

White

Water Purification Through a Straw

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Water Purification Through a Straw Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 00:00

Allison Nitch

To help alleviate health issues caused by pathogens in water, a team of CU Boulder mechanical engineering students collaborated on a senior capstone project last spring to create PureSip, a prototype for a water purification system.

Housed inside a bottle lid, PureSip uses ultraviolet LED technology to purify water through a straw as the user drinks — killing 99.9% of germs and eliminating the need for single-use plastic bottles.

To support product adaptability, the bottle lid can be used with common reusable water bottle brands such as Nalgene and Hydro Flask.

The purification process begins when the spout of the bottle lid is flipped open and can continue purifying for a total of 40 minutes before the batteries need to be recharged. With the assumption a user drinks at a certain pace, the team calculated that amount of time to equal 30 liters of water. On average, this would equate to 60 disposable plastic water bottles.

The PureSip team members — Jack Figueirinhas (MechEngr’23), Jack Isenhart (MechEngr’23), Mackenzie Lamoureux (MechEngr’23), Ella McQuaid (MechEngr’23), Marie Resman (MechEngr’23) and Carlos Yosten (MechEngr’23) — made a point of using lithium-ion polymer batteries because they’re rechargeable, have a long battery life and are more compact than other battery options.

The PureSip team pitched their idea at the 2023 New Venture Challenge, a cross-campus program and competition that gives aspiring entrepreneurs a chance to win money to fund a startup. The product received third place in the climate-focused section.

Lamoureux, PureSip’s product manager, said last spring, “We hope that our product can help reduce plastic pollution, and more particularly help eliminate the need for single-use plastic bottles.”

Submit feedback to the editor

Photo courtesy College of Engineering and Applied Science

The student prototype, PureSip, protects digestive health and the environment.

Traditional

Spring 2024

White

Can Cloud Seeding Stem the Water Crisis?

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Can Cloud Seeding Stem the Water Crisis? Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 00:00

Christie Sounart

Katja Friedrich is a professor and associate chair in CU Boulder’s Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences department. She is known for her work in cloud seeding, a process used to generate precipitation from existing clouds. In 2017, she helped conduct the National Science Foundation-funded project SNOWIE (Seeded and Natural Orographic Wintertime Clouds: the Idaho Experiment), which was the first experiment to accurately measure the amount of snowfall caused by cloud seeding.

How do you best describe cloud seeding?

Cloud seeding has been around for almost 100 years as a way to get more rain or precipitation out of a cloud. It was first discovered in a lab at MIT in 1946 that something similar to ice’s crystalline structure, like silver iodide, could be put in supercooled liquid to freeze the drops and create ice. People then applied this method to real clouds to generate precipitation. When we seed wintertime orographic clouds, we target clouds that contain supercooled liquid water, which are tiny water droplets that are too light to fall to the ground. After we seed these clouds with silver iodide, the droplets start to freeze into ice particles. These ice particles continue to grow and collect other droplets and ice particles and eventually form snow that is heavy enough to fall to the ground.

Does it work?

A problem with cloud seeding has always been showing how much more precipitation it can generate. We know it works because it works in the lab. However, we need to get the seeding material to the area that contains high amounts of supercooled liquid. It’s difficult to know where those areas are in a cloud, because we don’t have good measurements of supercooled liquid, and it’s difficult to fly in those areas because of aircraft icing. When we seed clouds, we often have to rely on numerical models which have a certain level of uncertainty. Also, once we seeded the clouds, we don’t really know how much precipitation a cloud would have produced without seeding.

The other problem is that nature can be pretty efficient in producing precipitation, but not always. That’s why with our SNOWIE experiment in 2017 we wanted to gather enough information to run more accurate numerical models. Our idea was that because the models are now accurate enough to reproduce what’s going on in the cloud during cloud seeding, we could then run simulations with and without cloud seeding and see the precipitation produced for both. In SNOWIE, we were also able to show with our seeding line observations the entire chain of events from once we put the silver iodide into the cloud to how much snow we produced. No one had done that before.

The reason we are cloud seeding is because of water scarcity.

How much precipitation can one cloud-seeding event produce?

We showed that you can produce additional snowfall. Based on our study that included seeding during three days, the total amount of water generated by cloud seeding was about the equivalent of the volume of water needed to fill 50 Olympic-sized swimming pools in 20 minutes over an area of about 7,500 square kilometers.

What are some concerns you hear about cloud seeding?

The reason we are cloud seeding is because of water scarcity. It is becoming really important to show that we can produce some precipitation. Cloud seeding is not the holy grail if you think about how to generate water or mitigate droughts. But this is an important part because you can maybe produce additional water. I give this example of Lake Mead. Right now, the water levels are so low that hydropower can’t be run at full capacity. If we could cloud seed and raise the water levels just a little bit higher so we can still generate hydropower, this would have massive effects on large populations.

The downside is putting materials in the atmosphere. Other people say we’re manipulating the weather, which is true. The other argument I say is if you get into your car or are flying on a commercial airplane, you are also manipulating the weather. Every airplane that flies through a cloud of super cold liquid is doing cloud seeding because they’re putting particles in the cloud that can generate snowfall. So people need to be aware that we are manipulating the weather and the climate with everything we are doing.

What is one of the most extreme situations in which you’ve conducted research?

We are manipulating the weather and the climate with everything we are doing.

I have gone out for one hurricane, Hurricane Ike in 2008, when I had just started working at CU. This was one of the most amazing things that I’ve seen in respect to the weather. We were on these bridges and you saw the water coming in and everything was flooding around us, and we were in what felt like a carwash. We even deployed through the eyewall — for one hour it was totally quiet, and you could hear birds flying. Then came another five or six hours of this carwash feeling. The hurricane passed, and within half an hour you could see how the water trails out. And then I saw emergency boats coming in looking for people. … As for tornadoes, I have to say they look better on TV than in real life.

What else are you working on right now?

I’m looking at Colorado’s Front Range and other high plateau regions where thunderstorms produce large amounts of hail — so much that we call these hail-accumulating thunderstorms “snowplowable hail.” We built a warning system for the weather service, so they know which thunderstorms are producing a lot of hail that will be dumped on the ground. But also we are trying to understand why that happens and whether there is a way we can forecast it perhaps an hour ahead of time so we can coordinate resources like snow plows, which aren’t always readily available in the summertime.

What do you do outside of work?

When I’m not working, I like to ski. I like to mountain bike. I have two kids, so we are doing a lot of outdoorsy stuff. We like to camp. We like to travel. That’s what we do — things outside.

Submit feedback to the editor

Photos by Matt Tyrie

CU Boulder's Katja Friedrich is known for her work in cloud seeding, a process used to generate precipitation from existing clouds.

Traditional

Spring 2024

White

Editor’s Note: Spring 2024

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Editor’s Note: Spring 2024 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 00:00

Maria Kuntz

It was June in Utah, and the midday heat was blistering. The AC on “La Tortuga Azul” — the pet name for my family’s lifted #vanlife 2002 Safari — struggled to keep the heat at bay. This road trip took us from the San Rafael Swell to Capitol Reef National Park and the northern end of Lake Powell. Expecting summer crowds, houseboat revelers and water jets, I was surprised by the dusty tributaries, abandoned boats and roadside communities turning to ghost towns. After a few tries, the map confirmed we were not lost — instead the water had nearly disappeared.

Water in the West is a complex, evolving and non-linear system as water levels rise and fall with each year’s rainfall. May these images in our photo feature pique your curiosity and lead to a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of water access, justice and human rights.

And don’t miss profiles on the class of 2024, CU’s resident bee expert and a bone archaeologist.

Maria Kuntz
Contact the editor at editor@colorado.edu.

Submit feedback to the editor

Photo courtesy Maria Kuntz

Water in the West is a complex, evolving and non-linear system as water levels rise and fall with each year’s rainfall.

Off

Traditional

Spring 2024

White

How Law Students Are Keeping a Historic Water Distribution Tradition Alive in Southern Colorado

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

How Law Students Are Keeping a Historic Water Distribution Tradition Alive in Southern Colorado Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 00:00

Sarah Kuta

Water is vital for life in the West. In Colorado’s San Luis Valley, it’s so essential that, for generations, some communities — called acequias — have treated it as a communal resource that’s meant to be shared.

For the past decade, Colorado Law students have supported the legal needs of these communities through the Acequia Assistance Project. The initiative is a collaboration between CU Boulder’s Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment with Colorado Open Lands, the Sangre de Cristo Acequia Association and several law firms in the state.

Through the project, law students work hand-in-hand with lawyers and professors to provide an estimated $300,000 worth of free legal services to the roughly 130 acequia communities in Colorado.

Not only does this pro bono work help keep a historic water distribution philosophy alive, but it gives students a chance to put theory into practice — and experience how natural resources law can affect real people.

“Water in the West is at a critical point right now, where climate scientists are predicting increased aridication in Colorado, which will likely result in less water,” said Mary Slosson (Law’24), one of the project’s student deputy directors. “It’s one thing to study these problems from a legal standpoint in the classroom, but it’s entirely another thing to talk about climate change with a small family farmer while walking their land.”

Acequia means “water bearer” in Arabic. The practice — which centers on a network of irrigation channels — originated in Northern Africa, then spread to Europe during the Middle Ages. From there, the Spanish brought the concept to the New World, where it took hold in Mexico and what is present-day New Mexico and Colorado.

But an acequia represents much more than just the physical infrastructure: It’s a way of life. In acequia communities, water is divvied up as equitably as possible — and landowners pitch in to help maintain the ditches.

This philosophy stands in stark contrast to the way water is distributed elsewhere in Colorado. The state’s water laws are based on “prior appropriation,” which means that whoever has the oldest water rights gets first dibs on water, according to Gregor MacGregor (IntlAf’12; Law’19), who participated in the project as a law student and now serves as its director. In times of scarcity, this approach — also known as “first in time, first in right”— means there may not be enough water for those with the youngest water rights, he added.

“In an acequia system, there aren’t shares — it’s one landowner, one vote,” said MacGregor. “The way they allocate water is more personal and values-driven. People on the acequia system are tied to the water and the land.”

For more than a century, Colorado’s legal framework did not recognize acequias. But in 2009, the state legislature passed a law that allowed acequias to incorporate while continuing to operate in their traditional way. To help acequias take advantage of this new recognition, Peter Nichols (MPubAd’82; Law’01) launched the project with Colorado Law professor Sarah Krakoff in 2012.

“The fact that we have this population that was more or less ignored for 150 years is a huge environmental justice issue,” said MacGregor. “This is a great way to use our very particular set of skills to right the wrongs of the past in a very meaningful way that empowers these communities to chart their own future.”

Law students help acequia communities by drafting bylaws and governance documents, representing them in water court and negotiating the sale of water rights. They also conduct extensive research to help acequias incorporate, as they did with the historic Montez Ditch in San Luis, Colorado.

“The Acequia Project has become part of our community,” said Charlie Jaquez, a former Montez Ditch commissioner whose ancestors were some of the original settlers of San Luis in 1851. “They have been very, very helpful — and very generous. Especially in areas like Conejos and Costilla counties, these communities just do not have a whole lot of money. The ditch would’ve just kept on going the way we did before, decade after decade, but now it’s been placed on solid legal footing.”

Submit feedback to the editor

Illustration by Sally Deng

For the last decade, Colorado Law students have supported the legal needs of acequia communities in Colorado's San Luis Valley through the Acequia Assistance Project.

Traditional

Spring 2024

White

Water in the West: Documenting the Change

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Water in the West: Documenting the Change Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 00:00

Kelsey Simpkins

Above: A braided section of the Arkansas River flows east toward Kansas on Oct. 3, 2020 in Pueblo County, Colorado. Photo by RJ Sangosti.

Photojournalists RJ Sangosti and Elliot Ross, former and current Ted Scripps Fellows at CU Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism, use photography to show immediate and long-term water concerns throughout the rapidly changing Western landscape.

Dead fish line the sun-baked shore of Neenoshe Reservoir in eastern Colorado. Water in the sandy Arkansas River bed inches slowly eastward. Exposed rock, water lines, marooned boats and fresh green growth illustrate dramatic changes to the Colorado River and its tributaries happening at this very moment.

Two Colorado photojournalists on the front lines of Western water’s decline have captured these pivotal scenes — and in doing so, RJ Sangosti and Elliot Ross convey the consequences of hundred-year-old legal agreements, showcase what’s at stake and start conversations that will shape not only the future of Western water, but the rights of the people who rely on it.

“Drought, climate change and water issues in the West — no matter if it’s in the Colorado or Arkansas river basin, it’s all tied together,” said Sangosti.

The photographers received Ted Scripps Fellowships, a philanthropy-funded program celebrating over 25 years at CU Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism. As the region’s environment and its resources rapidly change, seeing is believing.

RJ Sangosti

After two decades of covering Colorado breaking news for The Denver Post, RJ Sangosti needed a change. In 2020, during his Ted Scripps Fellowship, he found his calling covering Western water issues: “I knew the impact of what was happening on the Colorado River, but the fellowship made it crystal clear that this was the story of my life,” he said.

Sangosti’s transition to documenting Colorado’s environment was inspired by his firsthand experiences. Over the years, he saw changes happening in his home state that were affecting places he loved. He wanted to bring a voice to something that his kids would be proud of, and water in the West is “the biggest thing that we all need to be concerned about.”

“As climate change affects the West, we’re the first ones to see how a major river is affected,” he said. And in a dry region heavily reliant on major rivers for its water, communities in the West are also “going to be the first ones to feel it.”

“This is a story that I can work on, and should work on, until I don’t want to work anymore,” Sangosti said

Right: A sunken boat reemerges at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada, during low water levels in 2023. Photo by RJ Sangosti.

The story of Western water is a story about people. Whether to drink, complete chores or stay cool, water is not guaranteed in drought-stricken and disproportionately impacted communities.

Children cool off in a pool outside a home in Haswell, Colorado, which was hit hard by drought.

Pelicans gather on a small island exposed by low water levels in 2020 at John Martin Reservoir in Hasty, Colorado. In 2019, Colorado and Kansas agreed to provide an additional water source to feed the reservoir, which the Colorado Parks and Wildlife calls a conservation pool. It took 40 years for this agreement to come to fruition.

Yolinda Mejia siphons water into a fivegallon bucket to use for a load of laundry outside her home on the Navaj

Above: The sharp curves within the northwestern arm of Glen Canyon form a stunning backdrop for the dramatic gap between the high-water line, marked by white calcium carbonate deposits, and the black mass of water below

Elliot Ross

Elliot Ross was raised in part on Colorado’s eastern plains in a ranching family focused on weather and water. As he pursued photography, he dreamed of assignments that would take him to wild places around the world. Yet after years of working with elite photographers in New York, he returned home in 2018 to find that “water was more of a conversation than it had been when I left,” he said.

His time as a Ted Scripps Fellow brought him back to his Western roots, using his camera “to understand this most precious resource that we have — that a lot of us, myself included — take for granted [that it] runs clean out of the tap.”

In 2024, for the second half of his Scripps Fellowship, Ross is focusing on issues of water equity and justice to foster conversations about the disadvantaged populations who do not have the same access to this vital resource, especially tribal nations in the region.

Water equity is a timely topic. When regional leaders begin creating the 2026 interim guidelines for the Colorado River, Native American tribes will join the negotiating table, and “hopefully, for the first time they’ll be addressing the inequities of the 1922 Colorado River Compact through indigenous inclusion,” said Ross.

Right (kayak): As water levels have dropped in the upper region of Glen Canyon, many valleys are buried in suffocating silt — some upwards of 200 feet deep.

Elliot Ross’ wife, Genevieve, navigates the soupy, silt-filled aftermath of a flash flood in Iceberg Canyon, which removed about two feet of silt from the canyon in one day. This image “illustrates how quickly deposited sediment has been washed out,” said Ross, visualizing geologic change on a human timeline. Photo by Elliot Ross.

As water recedes from canyon walls and valleys, flora thrives once again, forming a diverse ecosystem within the vast number of tributary canyons that feed into the main Colorado River channel.

Ross’ summer 2024 exhibition at the Denver Botanic Gardens, “Geography of Hope,” puts a positive spin on these changes and illustrates the opportunities that can take root even in the absence of water. Western ecological documentation was sparse before the construction of Glen Canyon Dam in 1964, which created Lake Powell by flooding almost 190 miles of canyon upstream. As this artificial lake shrinks, we are watching a major river and long-sunk ecosystem reestablish itself in Colorado, said Ross.

Houseboats gather in the deepest water available, with access to one of the last operating boat ramps off Lake Powell’s Bullfrog Bay. Here the decline of Western water is startlingly clear, as recreational boats sit unused on the lake. While 3 million visitors each year vacation and recreate on the reservoir, Ross is more concerned with those unable to access the water. In 2024, for the second half of his Scripps Fellowship, Ross is focusing on issues of water equity and justice to foster conversations about the disadvantaged populations who do not have the same access to this vital resource, especially tribal nations in the region. Water equity is a timely topic. When regional leaders begin creating the 2026 interim guidelines for the Colorado River, Native American tribes will join the negotiating table, and “hopefully, for the first time they’ll be addressing the inequities of the 1922 Colorado River Compact through indigenous inclusion,” said Ross

Submit feedback to the editor

Photos by RJ Sangosti and Elliot Ross

RJ Sangosti and Elliot Ross, former and current Ted Scripps Fellows at CU Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism, use photography to show immediate and long-term water concerns through the rapidly changing Western landscape.

Dark Mode

Spring 2024

White

Protecting Colorado’s Declining Snowpack

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Protecting Colorado’s Declining Snowpack Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/07/2022 - 00:00

Helen Olsson

Mother Nature’s water storage tank — aka the snowpack — is a massive frozen reservoir that parses out water in the spring as snow melts. It is also, literally, the foundation of the snowsports recreation industry. Researchers are increasingly sounding the alarm that climate change is negatively impacting snowpack in Colorado and nationwide.

Two-time Olympic freestyle skier and a former wide receiver for the Buffs, Jeremy Bloom (A&S ex’06) was one of the first celebrities to be featured in a public service announcement (PSA) for Water ’22. Spearheaded by the nonprofit Water Education Colorado (and launched in partnership with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis), the year-long initiative is designed to educate Coloradans about water as an important natural resource.

“Water conservation in the context of climate change is central to the mission of Water ’22,” said Jayla Poppleton, executive director of Water Education Colorado. “Jeremy is a skier born and raised in Colorado; we knew he would get it right away.”

“I grew up learning to ski in Colorado and water-skiing on Boyd Lake,” Bloom said. “When the governor’s office approached me to be the face of Water ’22, I knew this was a really important thing to do.”

In the PSA, Bloom encourages Coloradans to do their part. “It’s shortening your shower, doing full loads of laundry and watering your lawn at night,” he said.

These simple actions can add up to saving 22 gallons of water a day — and a whopping 48 billion gallons across Colorado a year. Colorado is a headwater state that supplies water not only to the 6 million people who live here, but to tens of millions more people in the 18 states downstream.

“Water is fundamental to everything that makes life possible,” Poppleton said.

A declining snowpack affects the water supply for drinking, sanitation, agriculture and hydropower production. A shrinking snowpack also affects winter recreation.

In a 2017 study on climate change and winter recreation published in the journal Global Environmental Change, researchers — including Eric E. Small, CU professor of geological sciences — projected that by 2050, the ski season will be cut in half for most U.S. winter recreation destinations, resulting in an annual loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

“If people who care about skiing and snowboarding are committed to preserving our snowpack, that’s not only going to benefit the ski industry but ultimately help preserve the most fundamental source of our water supply — snow,” Poppleton said.

Snow-covered ski trails, from black diamond chutes to meandering green circles, are an immense natural water storage system.

Colorado is a headwater state that supplies water not only to the 6 million people who live here, but to tens of millions more people in the 18 states downstream.

“The snowpack acts as a reservoir; it banks water,” said W.T. “Tad” Pfeffer, professor of civil engineering at CU Boulder and a fellow of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), whose area of specialty is glaciology. “If all that snow fell as rain, it would just run off into the rivers.”

Pfeffer points to the 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment, which predicts that Colorado and the West will be hotter and drier. That means more wildfires and less water.

“Intensified droughts and earlier runoff from diminished snowpack will increase water scarcity during the summer peak water demand period,” the report warned.

“For the ski industry, climate change is no longer an intangible future issue,” Pfeffer said.

Snowpack declines are already happening. From 1955 to 2022, the April snowpack in the Western U.S. declined by 23%, with declines at 93% of sites measured, according to a recent trend analysis by the EPA. The report described snowpack decreases as “large and consistent.”

“The snowpack is responding to climate warming in a relatively dramatic way,” said Noah Molotch (EnvSt’97), associate professor of geography and an INSTAAR fellow who specializes in snow hydrology. “We’re seeing more storms fall as rain instead of snow, and we’re seeing more melt occur in the middle of winter between storm cycles.”

In 2021, Molotch co-authored a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change that focused on snowmelt trends as a critical indicator of hydrological change. Researchers analyzed data from 1,065 remote snowpack monitoring stations in western North America. They found that the “snowmelt signal” is widespread across the West, including in Colorado. The research showed the annual melt that occurs before April 1 is increasing by 3.5% per decade.

“Climate sensitivity is greatest around the freezing point. When temperatures are hovering around 32 degrees Fahrenheit, we’ll see more snowmelt, particularly between storm periods,” Molotch said.

As the snowpack decreases due to climate change, ski resorts need to use more water for snowmaking.

“The water issue is a double whammy,” said Molotch, but he says access to water is not the primary stressor. “The big issue is that climate warming is causing a change in the snow conditions that resorts rely on. There are very sound first principles in science that would lead us to hypothesize that climate warming would diminish the quality of skiing.”

Snow has multiple climate sensitivities. As temperatures get warmer, the density of new snow becomes higher. It becomes less fluffy.

“Powder hounds beware, right?” he said. And those increasing levels of snowmelt identified in Molotch’s study mean the quality of the snow in the shoulder seasons is also in peril.

In Colorado, snow-related recreation contributes $1.2 billion to the state’s economy; at the national level, it’s a $4.7 billion economic driver, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. A shrinking snowpack means shorter seasons, which will impact a ski area’s revenue but also the livelihood of workers, from the dishwashers to the lift operators. A 2012 study by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Protect Our Winters (POW) — a nonprofit that works with CU scientists — found that changes to the winter season driven by climate change cost the ski resort industry approximately $1.07 billion in aggregated revenue over the last decade. The research also showed that a low snow year can cost the industry 17,400 jobs compared to an average season.

“I think we’ve all been seeing the seasons getting shorter. Now, we’re lucky if we have a couple good trails by Thanksgiving,” said Bloom, who lives in Boulder with his wife, Mariah Buzolin. They have a toddler, a baby on the way and a place in Keystone, so protecting water for future generations is top of mind.

As soon as they’re old enough, he’ll teach his kids to ski — and to conserve water.

Jeremy Bloom PSA:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I4GUrF6ZbE]

Submit feedback to the editor

Illustrations by Curt Merlo

A deep snowpack isn’t just a boon for skiers and snowboarders. It’s a critical resource for all of humanity.

Off

Traditional

White

CU Alumni Own Eldorado Artesian Springs

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

CU Alumni Own Eldorado Artesian Springs Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/11/2022 - 00:00

Christie Sounart

Less than eight miles south of CU Boulder, off of Hwy. 93 and up the scenic Eldorado Canyon, one of Colorado’s busiest state parks welcomes visitors of all kinds. Steep Canyon walls lure rock climbers. Fish are plentiful. Scenic hiking trails are accessible year round.

But perhaps the area’s best highlights one often unnoticed — an aquifer thousands of feet below the Flatirons, releasing naturally filtered water through an artesian spring.

For nearly 40 years, CU alumni have helped maintain the purity of the spring’s water and have sold millions of gallons of water to local and national customers through the bottled water company Eldorado Artesian Springs.

“We regard our company as guardians of the spring,” said Doug Larson (Fin’78), who founded the business with friends Jeremy Martin (IntlBus’77) — whom he's known since middle school — and Kevin Sipple (Psych’77), whom he met in highschool. “The water is truly special.”

The Place to Go

In the early 1900s, this spring water fueled entertainment. A resort opened in the canyon on July 4, 1905, with a gigantic spring-fed swimming pool. The area — accessible only by train or horseback — gained popularity and was coined the “Coney Island of the West.” Word grew about the resort’s carnival games, dancing, roller skating and swimming.

Starting in 1906, renowned hot air balloonist Ivy Baldwin walked across Eldorado Canyon on a tightrope suspended about 600 feet above the ground — and became a visitor highlight, completing the feat 86 times over 40 years. Ten years later the future president and first lady, Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower, honeymooned in one of the on-site cabins. Other politicians and celebrities, including world heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, frequented the resort.

“It was the place to go,” said Jeremy Martin, who has a 1920s photo depicting gleeful swimmers at the spring-fed pool hanging in his Boulder home.

In the years following, resort ownership traded hands, priorities shifted and activities dwindled. When the Great Depression hit, attendance plummeted. In the late 1930s, a fire burned the hotel,and a flood caused part of the ballroom to collapse.

In the 1940s, Jack Fowler, whose family was among the original owners, started packaging and distributing water from the canyon spring. A small following ensued, but the resort remained a shadow of its former glory.

In 1978, the State of Colorado purchased more than 400 acres from theresort to establish Eldorado Canyon State Park. Day-trippers began frequenting the area.

Eldorado Springs hummed with life again. And the CU alumni were about to offer more.

Water as a Business

In the early 1980s, Larson, Martin and Sipple — all in their late twenties — hoped to start a company in health and wellness. Martin had signed up for water delivery with Deep Rock, one of Eldorado Artesian Springs’ future competitors, and it spurred the trio to pursue selling bottled water. While searching for local water sources, they discovered Eldorado.

“I learned to swim in the resort pool when I was five years old,” said Larson. “Upon investigating, we found that the quality of the spring water was one of the best-known worldwide, so we decided to take a deeper dive.”

The 46-acre property was in poor condition, but a year later, a lease became available. Still seeing potential, the trio moved to purchase the resort property, which came with dilapidated cabins and a leaky, unusable pool — remnants of a thriving past. They completed the purchase on Oct. 18, 1983.

“We had our signing-day celebration in the ballroom, and melting snow rained down on us as we toasted our acquisition,” said Larson.

They also gained about 300 Boulder customers who paid for bottled water from the spring.

They focused on growing bottled water sales, but in order to market the water, they needed the profits from the summer season at the famous swimming pool, which they’d repaired.

“The bottled water market was fairly nonexistent in 1983,” said Larson. “One could buy gallon jugs of distilled water at the grocery store. The demand for residential delivery and store purchases grew along with the increasing consumer consciousness for better health and wellness that became mainstream.”

The team distributed thousands of free water samples to the community,relying on the clean spring taste to gain enthusiastic customers.

Sales began to flourish. In 1996, the water was named best-tasting in the U.S.— and third-best in the world — at the annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting in West Virginia.

They moved their bottling facility from Eldorado Canyon to Louisville, Colorado, in 2001. They also adopted a subscription water service, implemented by Kate Lohoefener Janssen-Krejsa (Thtr’94), the company’s business development officer, who has worked for the company since 1995.

There were some hurdles, especially during the Great Recession. But CFO Cathy Shoenfeld, a CU Denver graduate who joined Eldorado Artesian Springs in 1990, successfully negotiated a banknote crisis in order to keep the company in operation.

In 2010, in line with its commitment to sustainability, the company became the first bottled water company in the U.S. to use bottles made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic (rPET).

From left: Doug Larson, Cathy Shoenfeld, Kate Lohoefener Janssen-Krejsa and Jeremy Martin, all partners of Eldorado Artesian Springs

A Family Company

Today, the spring water is collected five to six times a day and sent to Louisville For bottling and distribution. The remaining water flows into South Boulder Creek.

The water is sold to hundreds of thousands of customers annually in individual homes, businesses and inhealth food and grocery stores — such as Kroger, Whole Foods and Safeway — in Colorado and neighboring states. Many companies, including Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey, use it in their products.Their five-gallon bottle is the bestseller, said Martin.

In 2021, the water was again named best-tasting in the U.S. at the West Virginia tasting festival.

Today, the company is co-owned by Larson, Martin, Janssen-Krejsa and Shoenfeld. (Sipple retired in 2014.) They’re witnessing an explosion of visitation to Eldorado Canyon — more than half a million people a year. To capitalize on the volume of visitors in the area, Eldorado Artesian Springs will offer more of what once was: The pool is undergoing a complete renovation, and plans to rehaul the ballroom are underway.

For Larson, distributing Eldorado Springs water is special. But it’s the people who keep him coming to work. In addition to working with his lifelong friends, he employs three of his four children.

“I met my wife, Kathy Larson (Bio’85), at the pool,” said Larson, who lives in Eldorado Springs next door to Sipple. “I am most proud of the manner in which we have built the company. One that values people and strives to improve the well-being of our employees and the community we serve.”

Submit feedback to the editor

Photos courtesy Eldorado Artesian Springs

Forever Buffs control the natural spring water in Eldorado Springs, once considered the “Coney Island of the West,” and hope to maintain the area’s history.

Traditional

Spring 2022

White

Water

Feedback: Summer 2024

Fan of the Coloradan

Can’t Argue with Larry Zimmer!

Coloradan vs. Coloradoan

Rabbit Holes

Cloud Seeding

A Historical Event

Water in the West

Solar Eclipse, CU Style

Bennet’s Brick Oven

Los Seis de Boulder

A Cosmic Surprise

Off

A Solutions-Based Approach for Western Water

Off

Ensuring a Reliable Water Supply for the City of Boulder

Off

Water Purification Through a Straw

Related Articles

Can Cloud Seeding Stem the Water Crisis?

How do you best describe cloud seeding?

Does it work?

How much precipitation can one cloud-seeding event produce?

What are some concerns you hear about cloud seeding?

What is one of the most extreme situations in which you’ve conducted research?

What else are you working on right now?

What do you do outside of work?

Related Articles

Editor’s Note: Spring 2024

Off

How Law Students Are Keeping a Historic Water Distribution Tradition Alive in Southern Colorado

Related Articles

Water in the West: Documenting the Change

RJ Sangosti

Elliot Ross

Related Articles

Protecting Colorado’s Declining Snowpack

Off

CU Alumni Own Eldorado Artesian Springs

The Place to Go

Water as a Business

A Family Company

Related Articles