Colorado digs to find water as aquifer-dependent residents fret

January 27, 2013 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Water

A project that could pump enough water from underground aquifers to serve 100,000 more people along Colorado’s Front Range is moving ahead — even as communities pledge to reduce dependence on such finite sources of water.

Two test wells drilled deep beneath Douglas County-owned open space, between Denver and Colorado Springs, found abundant water and good pressure, consistent with 1995 estimates by the state engineer. Permanent facilities — including pump stations — are being installed so that the aquifers can be tapped.

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EPA, Sen. Udall launch push to clean up West’s toxic mines

January 20, 2013 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Pollution, Water

A snow-covered tailings heap on Boreas Pass leaks toxic cadmium and zinc, deadly for fish, into creeks that flow down through Breckenridge and, eventually, into Denver’s Dillon Reservoir.

This mining mess from a century ago sat largely ignored until Friday, when national, state and local authorities trudged in and eyed it as a potential demonstration project to jumpstart cleanups of thousands of festering mines around Colorado and the West.

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Foresters have 180,000 piles of trees to burn in Colorado forests

January 8, 2013 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Wildfire

PINEWOOD LAKE —  A federal forester flicked a Bic, igniting a first bone-dry pile of culled young pines — testing conditions for the looming task of torching 180,000 similar piles across Colorado.

The continued construction of houses in burn zones is forcing this effort to thin overly dense forests and reduce the risk of super-intense wildfires.

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