Water knows no boundaries, a photo journal to Colorado.

David Casaletto, Executive Director, Ozarks Water Watch

My middle daughter Sarah graduated last May from Portland State University and accepted a teaching position in Edwards, Colorado near Vail. Since Vail is at least within reasonable driving distance from our home on Table Rock Lake, my wife Diane and I decided to take a road trip across Kansas and visit Sarah in her new Colorado location. 

Yes, I am really a tree hugger! I could not resist this huge cottonwood tree at a rest stop on I-70 near Salina, Kansas. Its secret to growth may be due in part to the water flowing nearby in a little stream (I am from Kansas originally and I called them ditches) which I suspect may be nutrient enriched from the rest stop wastewater.

Sarah already has friends in Vail and one manages a very exclusive resort hotel at the base of the Vail ski slope. Since we were arriving in the slow season and the rush to see the beautiful yellow aspens was over and it would be another month before the ski slopes opened, she got us rooms at ¼ of the normal rate.

View from our 3rd floor balcony overlooking Vail ski slopes. Note the yellow aspens on the mountain.

Before I even left on the trip, I had determined I would search out and photograph any interesting water related sites. But many of the aspens had decided to keep their leaves until we arrived, so we had many, many photo opportunities.

This was my first trip to Colorado during the fall and my first chance to experience the brilliant aspens in person.

In this day and age of digital cameras, it is easy to take a huge quantity of pictures so between my wife, my daughter and myself, I think we took over 600 photos that I culled down to 200 that I uploaded to my personal facebook page. Click HERE if you are interested.

We had a wonderful trip, the weather cooperated with temperatures in the upper 60's low 70's everyday and the snow waited until we were well on our way back home. Sarah teaches special needs students in a junior high school and we were very proud parents when the father of one girl that is confined to a wheel chair and must use a feeding tube for nutrition came up to us to tell us what a blessing Sarah is to his daughter. I am sure you can feel our pride for our "little" girl.

Daughter Sarah at her junior high classroom

We decided to take a drive south of Vail to Leadville, CO which is the location of numerous mining activities dating back into the 1800's. And not mining only for lead but also gold and silver. Just outside of town were piles of mining tailing. At the National Mining Museum located in Leadville I was told that EPA has required some cleanup of this left over mining activity to protect water quality.

Just a few miles outside of Leadville, CO is the headwaters of the Arkansas River

Continuing on from Leadville, we headed up the highway towards Independence Pass which is the highest paved mountain pass in Colorado at 12,095 feet elevation.

A Colorado mountain lake we encountered as we were heading towards Independence Pass.

Mountain Stream at Maroon Bells near Aspen

After making our way over the pass and driving through Aspen, CO, we visited Maroon Bells where we found a beautiful lake, stream and hiking trails.

My wife Diane and daughter Sarah at Maroon Bells

As I was standing on the continental divide at Independence Pass where the water on my left flows many of hundreds of miles east to the Gulf of Mexico and the water on my right flows just as far west towards the Gulf of California, it became so clear that our activities that pollute our waters not only affect the waters locally but have a cumulative effect many miles downstream. Water truly knows no boundaries, especially those imposed by man.

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Current News Articles

If you are interested in building a rain garden but aren't sure how to go about it, then you will want to attend a Rain Garden Academy hosted by the Illinois River Watershed Partnership and Beaver Water District from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, Nov.10, at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, 4703 N. Crossover Road, in Fayetteville. Becky Roark, IRWP Rain Garden Resource Specialist, said the Academy will offer valuable resource materials including a Low Impact Development Manual, a bus tour of area rain gardens, and lunch. The cost is $25 per person and $15 for students. The class will be limited to 50 people and pre-registration is required. Participants may register on line at www.irwp.org. Individuals affiliated with public and quasi-public institutions that are interested in applying for a Northwest Arkansas Rain Garden Project Mini-Grant are encouraged to attend. (more)

The United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works ("Committee") held an October 4 hearing addressing nutrient pollution issues.  Nutrient pollution is associated with high levels of nitrogen and phosphorous in a water body.  The witnesses included Nancy K. Stoner of the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"), Dave White of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture ("USDA"), George Hawkins, General Manager, District  of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, Andy Buchsbaum, National Wildlife Federation, and Shellie Chard-McClary, Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. 

The witnesses prepared statements included:

(1) Ms. Stoner's (EPA) testimony discussed the extent of the nitrogen pollution problem, contributions from various sectors, wastewater treatment systems, live stock waste, row crop fertilizer, air deposition, actions to address the nutrient pollution problem, storm water, decentralized wastewater treatment, and geographic initiatives.
 

(2) Mr. White (USDA) described the actions the agency and its customers are voluntarily taking to improve water quality through conservation measures applied to agriculture lands.  His discussion included the Conservation Effects Assessment Project describing:

a. Agricultural conservation practices 

c. Conservation practices needed to manage complex loss pathways
d. Targeting the most critical acres delivering the largest benefits

(more)

To Read More, Click: HERE.

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Republican congressmen take aim at Environmental Protection Agency 

By Bruce Alpert, Times-Picayune 

Published: Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Since assuming control of the U.S. House of Representatives in January, Republicans have passed at least 75 bills, riders and amendments designed to scale back environmental regulations they say stymie job creation. Opposition by most Senate Democrats and the Obama administration have stopped the measures from becoming law, but that could change if the GOP holds onto the House, unseats enough Democrats to win a majority in the Senate and wins the White House in next year's elections.

A key bill, passed by the House in September, would require the Environmental Protection Agency to examine the economic costs of its regulations. Supporters say it will force the EPA to consider whether the costs are so high as to limit economic development at a time the United States needs jobs. Critics say the bill doesn't consider whether the regulations would prevent illnesses, including asthma and mercury poisoning, that lead to substantial health care costs nor the jobs created by adding better pollution controls. The stream of GOP bills -- labeled regulatory reform by Republicans and an attack on the environment by opponents -- continue to pass the House at a steady rate. (more)

To read more, Click HERE.

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