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February 19, 2015 VOLU M E 1 2 0 | I S S UE 3 | 7 5 ¢
ElbertCountyNews.net E L B E R T C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
A publication of
County updated on well monitoring
THE COWBOY WAY
Geological Survey project still seeking participants By Rick Gustafson
Special to Colorado Community Media
$10 million for the next five years. “I see this bill as one that has the potential of saving a great deal of general fund dollars,” said Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose. “I think it will certainly be beneficial to the state in the long run.” If the bill makes it through the House and Senate, the system could go online as soon as the spring of 2016. “These Colorado-developed technologies provide Colorado with the unique opportunity to take the lead in putting these systems to work across the state to save lives and property,” said William Mahoney, deputy director of the research applications laboratory at NCAR. The disaster prediction technology will change the way firefighters think on how to fight fires, said Gary Briese, executive director of the nonprofit Colorado State Fire Chiefs group. He added that the decision process by officers in command centers will be sped up significantly and will provide them with resources never seen before.
A representative from the U.S. Geological Survey was in Elbert County to update the Board of County Commissioners on an ongoing well monitoring project currently underway in the county. At the Feb. 9 work session, Rhett R. Everett, a groundwater research expert for the USGS, provided a study update as well as a summary of the current water situation. The four-phase groundwater-measuring network is the first of two projects initiated by the BOCC and brought to fruition by the county’s all-volunteer Water Advisory Board. Both water-research projects are primarily funded by grants from the USGS, Colorado Water Conservation Board and area water roundtables. Phase one of the monitoring project establishes target areas and began last July. In October, Everett began phase two, work on field visits and site surveys. The surveys will be ongoing as wells are added to the study. Phase three, the actual water level measuring, will begin this month and continue through June 2017. The project will conclude with phase four, Everett’s report in the spring of 2018. The majority of Elbert County overlies several Front Range aquifers that are part of the formation collectively known as the Denver Basin, which extend from Colorado Springs to Greeley. The well monitoring network will track water levels in at least 30 wells drawing from the five aquifers throughout the county at two-month intervals. Six wells will be fitted with pressure transducers and data loggers that will record hourly levels. “All of the data from the study is published to the web. Anyone can access it at any time. The nice thing about it is that you can search several wells simultaneously,” said Everett, who expects the data from the study to be available in August along with interactive maps, which will be accessible through the USGS webpage. According to Everett, the author of multiple studies for the USGS, only 5,000 of the 9,311 known wells drawing water in Elbert County are suitable for the survey. The program is strictly voluntary, and Everett, who hopes to recruit as many as 47 residents to participate, is still looking for volunteers in some target areas. The second project is an assessment of the data collected from the well monitoring network to assess changing water levels and their effect on available water supplies. Once Everett’s report is completed, the BOCC hopes to engage an engineering firm to assess the data and incorporate it into a longer-term water-supply strategy to handle development throughout the county. The final funding for the engineering study has not been secured, but the county hopes to have an answer by mid-March. Everett’s update to the BOCC also included a summary of a 2010 water report prepared by Ivahneko, Tamara & Flynn JL in cooperation with the Colorado Water Conservation Board. According to the report, Elbert County wells draw 29.5 million gallons of groundwater each day, which constitutes 4 percent of total water demand on the Denver Basin. The majority of Elbert County’s groundwater, 71 percent, is pumped by
Wildfire continues on Page 8
Wells continues on Page 4
Pastor Kevin Weatherby holds a Save the Cowboy service at the Elbert County Fairgrounds on Feb. 15. Cowboy church is held at 10 a.m. Sunday mornings at the facility in Kiowa. To learn more, go to www.savethecowboy.org. Photo by Rick Gustafson
Emergency system to undergo test Notifications are sent in variety of ways POSTAL ADDRESS
ELBERT COUNTY NEWS (USPS 171-100)
OFFICE: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210 Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 PHONE: 303-566-4100 A legal newspaper of general circulation in Elizabeth, Colorado, the Elbert County News is published weekly on Thursday by Colorado Community Media. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT ELIZABETH, COLORADO and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210 Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 DEADLINES: Display: Thurs. 11 a.m. Legal: Thurs. 11 a.m. | Classified: Mon. 10 a.m. GE T SO CIAL WITH US
P L EA SE R ECYC L E T H I S CO PY
By Rick Gustafson
Special to Colorado Community Media The Elbert County Office of Emergency Management has scheduled an all-call test of its emergency notification system. The test will consist of an automated call at or shortly after 2 p.m. on March 5 to every Elbert County number registered with the Code Red service. “The purpose of the all-call will be to validate phone numbers currently in the Code Red database and to validate that the system is working properly,” said Brandon Lenderink, director of Elbert County Emergency Management. “This process allows us to verify registered numbers and clean up phone numbers which were once registered but may have been disconnected.” According to Lenderink, removing numbers no
longer in service will improve the speed and efficiency of the system during an actual emergency. “The recorded message will explain that it is a test of the Code Red Emergency notification system and that no action is required,” he said. “In a real emergency, the message will include specific details describing what residents should do.” Lenderink asks recipients of any Code Red call to listen to the entire message before calling 911. During an emergency, dispatchers are especially busy and have less time to field nonemergency calls, and Code Red messages communicate critical information. Code Red is a privately owned, dedicated network infrastructure owned and operated by Emergency Communication Network, which contracts with local municipalities to provide the notification service. Residents may sign up to receive alerts via their telephones, mobile phones, social media and email. Code Red continues on Page 8
House bill targets disaster prediction Technology offers better grip on fire, flood patterns By Amy Woodward
awoodward@coloradocommunitymedia.com A revolutionary new disaster prediction system could be integrated as a tool for first responders statewide. State Rep. Tracy Kraft-Tharp has championed the technology developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder through a House bill, which passed its first committee hearing in a 10-3 vote Feb. 9. Using advanced computer modeling and data sampling, the fire and flood predictor would give first responders 18 hours’ warning of where and when fires and floods are likely to start, what areas they will affect and when it will reach the affected area. The bill requires an appropriation from the general fund for the implementation of the system at