1 00:00:06,755 --> 00:00:10,541 The webinar will last for about an hour. 2 00:00:11,198 --> 00:00:13,992 As attendees, you'll be muted throughout the presentation. 3 00:00:14,298 --> 00:00:21,659 If you have questions, please type them into the questions pane in your go-to 4 00:00:22,008 --> 00:00:25,009 webinars toolbar, which should be on the side of your screen. 5 00:00:25,911 --> 00:00:30,857 We will try to reserve about 15 minutes at the end of the webinar to address any 6 00:00:31,770 --> 00:00:34,228 questions, which we will read aloud so our speakers can respond. 7 00:00:34,617 --> 00:00:37,419 The webinar is being recorded and will be available later this week for your 8 00:00:37,782 --> 00:00:39,049 reference. 9 00:00:39,474 --> 00:00:42,324 If you have any technical questions, please email Emily at 10 00:00:42,491 --> 00:00:49,079 ebrumit@cowatercongress.org. 11 00:00:49,989 --> 00:00:55,612 So now on to the topic at hand. Cyanotoxins, algoglams, nutrients and 12 00:00:56,236 --> 00:00:58,907 of course, how it affects Coloradoan's public health. 13 00:00:59,578 --> 00:01:03,642 Today, we will hear from, hopefully, three wonderful experts and leaders 14 00:01:04,083 --> 00:01:06,669 who will guide us through these topics. 15 00:01:07,088 --> 00:01:08,723 Djenette Khiari with the water research foundation. 16 00:01:08,904 --> 00:01:13,244 Steve Lundt, representing the Barr Milton Watershed association. 17 00:01:13,653 --> 00:01:16,074 And Troy Bauder with CSU extension. 18 00:01:16,393 --> 00:01:22,272 Steve has worked on lakes and reservoirs as a certified lake manager since 1999. 19 00:01:22,272 --> 00:01:26,906 Focusing on improving water quality through in-lake techniques and 20 00:01:27,186 --> 00:01:30,064 watershed projects. 21 00:01:31,551 --> 00:01:33,758 Today he will be talking with us about work reducing algolams at Barr lake. 22 00:01:34,073 --> 00:01:36,977 Which he has worked on along with other reservoirs downstream of Denver for 23 00:01:37,247 --> 00:01:38,455 the past 15 years. 24 00:01:38,928 --> 00:01:41,872 Troy Bauder is an Extension water quality specialist in the department 25 00:01:42,187 --> 00:01:45,313 of soil and crop sciences at Colorado State University. 26 00:01:45,681 --> 00:01:49,967 There he is responsible for conducting statewide educational and applied 27 00:01:50,165 --> 00:01:53,860 research programs for water quality, especially related to the protections 28 00:01:54,102 --> 00:01:57,597 of groundwater quality from impremest to agricultural chemicals. 29 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:01,856 His research and expertise include nutrients and irrigation management, 30 00:02:02,146 --> 00:02:04,009 which he'll be talking about today. 31 00:02:06,416 --> 00:02:07,855 Is Dejenette on the line? 32 00:02:09,056 --> 00:02:12,589 I am not seeing that Dejenette has been able to join us. 33 00:02:13,467 --> 00:02:15,469 As Kaitlyn mentioned, she had a power outage. 34 00:02:16,251 --> 00:02:21,877 So we are planning, um, Steve if you are OK with this plan. 35 00:02:22,297 --> 00:02:27,554 So kind of like, let you go through her slides, and I will advance them for you. 36 00:02:27,936 --> 00:02:29,440 Does that work for you? 37 00:02:29,709 --> 00:02:34,284 [laughing] I will do my best. I'll have to remember what she was going 38 00:02:34,693 --> 00:02:35,452 to talk about. 39 00:02:35,768 --> 00:02:37,899 But I can definitely address some of the things also in my talk, but I can maybe 40 00:02:38,422 --> 00:02:40,576 fill in a little. 41 00:02:41,156 --> 00:02:43,443 Kaitlyn: So I'll just go through the slides and when you are ready for 42 00:02:43,793 --> 00:02:45,679 me to advance, just let me know. 43 00:02:46,159 --> 00:02:49,443 So Djenette was going to offer an introduction to cyanobacteria 44 00:02:49,851 --> 00:02:54,039 and cyanotoxins. So Steve can kick us off. 45 00:02:55,111 --> 00:02:59,500 Steve: [laughing] This is a fun game, to wing someone else's presentation. 46 00:02:59,901 --> 00:03:05,831 The whole reason why we probably have all these people on this webinar is to. 47 00:03:05,831 --> 00:03:15,264 Because we all do care about our lakes, our reservoirs, our rivers and it boils 48 00:03:15,392 --> 00:03:17,607 down to managing nutrients that support algae bloom that then now 49 00:03:21,907 --> 00:03:23,686 have gotten into the realm of toxins. 50 00:03:24,987 --> 00:03:28,495 This idea of blue-green algae blooms that produce cyanotoxins has been around 51 00:03:28,769 --> 00:03:33,424 for quite a while. but it wasn't until about 2015, I believe, with Lake Erie 52 00:03:33,737 --> 00:03:36,938 and the Toledo incident where they had to close down their drinking water plant 53 00:03:37,274 --> 00:03:40,418 for, what was it, close to 1 million people. or a half a million people. 54 00:03:40,808 --> 00:03:44,511 So it really brought this topic to the surface for our country. 55 00:03:45,238 --> 00:03:49,484 and so since then we've been really focusing on cyantoxins. 56 00:03:49,778 --> 00:03:52,079 what does it mean to drinking water? 57 00:03:52,314 --> 00:03:55,306 what does it mean to recreation? and all that. 58 00:03:55,687 --> 00:04:00,339 Colorado and around the country, have been focusing on nutrient standards 59 00:04:00,684 --> 00:04:03,417 and have been trying to come up with appropriate numbers for phosphorus 60 00:04:03,763 --> 00:04:09,058 and nitrogen. And maybe the main focus has been on, obviously, to control algae 61 00:04:09,277 --> 00:04:12,451 blooms and to make sure all the uses for those waters are being met. 62 00:04:12,894 --> 00:04:17,766 And so what's kind of come up as more of a higher priority is, maybe, this public 63 00:04:18,028 --> 00:04:22,637 health idea. So maybe let's go to the next slide and see what she has to say. 64 00:04:23,075 --> 00:04:31,087 So there are a few key blue-green algae that are very common. 65 00:04:31,416 --> 00:04:39,107 There's microcystins, Anabana, Aphantzomenon and those blue-greens 66 00:04:39,107 --> 00:04:42,466 are very typical throughout our lakes and reservoirs around our country as 67 00:04:43,128 --> 00:04:44,605 well as the world. 68 00:04:44,942 --> 00:04:49,946 The world health organization, a few years back, you know, came up with 69 00:04:50,656 --> 00:04:53,176 some guidelines for the toxins that those produce. 70 00:04:53,684 --> 00:04:57,915 It's really been a hard topic because those blooms sometimes produce 71 00:04:58,201 --> 00:04:59,563 the toxins and sometimes they don't. 72 00:04:59,725 --> 00:05:05,266 And sometimes when they die and there's no bloom or scum on the surface, that's 73 00:05:05,434 --> 00:05:08,622 when the toxins are the highest. So it's a really hard thing 74 00:05:08,916 --> 00:05:11,747 to understand about these toxins and the properties around them. 75 00:05:12,049 --> 00:05:21,444 But some of them, they impact the liver. They impact your nervous system. 76 00:05:21,983 --> 00:05:24,283 They also, you know there's even dermatologists that will give you 77 00:05:24,591 --> 00:05:29,517 skin rashes and so forth. And then there's some toxins that will kind 78 00:05:29,834 --> 00:05:33,970 of cover everything and just wreck havoc on your body and your system. 79 00:05:34,561 --> 00:05:43,977 A lot of times those toxins, have hurt animals like cattle and pets like dogs 80 00:05:44,302 --> 00:05:47,646 that will go down to a scum covered pond and drink from it. 81 00:05:47,974 --> 00:05:54,220 Typically humans are wise enough to know not to get into close contact or to drink 82 00:05:54,505 --> 00:05:58,876 water with cyanotoxins in it, with a bloom. 83 00:05:58,876 --> 00:06:03,827 But you can see from this chart, that some of the names of the toxins. 84 00:06:04,155 --> 00:06:06,875 Some of the primary organs that it goes after. 85 00:06:07,207 --> 00:06:12,065 and then the different species of algae for each of those toxins. 86 00:06:12,442 --> 00:06:17,273 Might talk later, for Barr Lake, we definitely have mirocystis, and 87 00:06:17,571 --> 00:06:20,817 Anabana. Those are the ones that I mainly have been monitoring. 88 00:06:21,158 --> 00:06:24,086 As well as Aphanzomenon. You can go to the next one. 89 00:06:24,426 --> 00:06:33,767 Microcystin, there's a whole sort of different kinds of these toxins. 90 00:06:35,409 --> 00:06:38,775 So there's microcystin-LR , but there's a whole series of different kinds of 91 00:06:38,950 --> 00:06:41,899 microcystin. So this is just a more common one. And then you can 92 00:06:42,260 --> 00:06:46,214 see the saxitoxin and the cylindrospermopsin and anatoxin-a. 93 00:06:46,497 --> 00:06:51,765 Some samples that I've sent off from Barr Lake we sent to a lab in Florida. 94 00:06:52,128 --> 00:06:56,764 When we had them tested for these four main categories, to see what we had 95 00:06:57,457 --> 00:07:02,987 in Barr Lake. And then also states around the country are starting to set up their 96 00:07:03,285 --> 00:07:08,254 monitoring program and how to sample for toxins and to give warning to people 97 00:07:08,689 --> 00:07:10,271 that are using it for drinking water, for recreation. 98 00:07:10,615 --> 00:07:15,178 So these are the main cyantoxins that we are concerned about. Next one. 99 00:07:15,910 --> 00:07:28,327 So in June 2015, EPA put out an advisory for drinking water. 100 00:07:28,985 --> 00:07:34,648 I know here in Colorado I've been working with the health department and a group to 101 00:07:34,901 --> 00:07:36,865 kind of figure out what that means for drinking water plants and how do you 102 00:07:37,258 --> 00:07:40,225 monitor, and where do you monitor and how do you go about this whole process. 103 00:07:40,586 --> 00:07:43,525 This whole new thing about another toxin to worry about. 104 00:07:43,935 --> 00:07:46,876 To figure out how to make sure it's not in your drinking water, how you're 105 00:07:47,217 --> 00:07:49,304 getting it out of your drinking water, how to prevent it. 106 00:07:49,650 --> 00:07:53,593 And then what to do, god forbid that it gets through the system and it's all 107 00:07:53,810 --> 00:07:55,915 sent out into distribution lines, what do you do then? 108 00:07:56,157 --> 00:08:00,883 So states, Colorado and others have been working on that since 2015. 109 00:08:03,117 --> 00:08:10,369 And then you see recently, EPA sent out in the fall of 2016 the recreational waters. 110 00:08:11,289 --> 00:08:16,839 And this is more applied to Barr Lake and to maybe more reservoirs in Colorado 111 00:08:17,071 --> 00:08:21,066 where there's a lot more recreational contact and swimming involved. 112 00:08:21,393 --> 00:08:26,143 And you can see those toxins and those levels for recreational waters. 113 00:08:26,460 --> 00:08:29,834 The closing period for comments, I believe, just closed for that process. 114 00:08:31,848 --> 00:08:35,618 Let's see. I think we can skip this one and I'll cover it with maybe my talk? 115 00:08:41,308 --> 00:08:46,200 I like this one actually. When I saw this, it definitely tells the story. 116 00:08:46,658 --> 00:08:51,290 Blue-greens are the only species of algae that can change their buoyancy. 117 00:08:51,664 --> 00:08:55,641 So that's why you see that one cartoon figure up there on the surface 118 00:08:56,076 --> 00:08:56,711 getting a suntan. 119 00:08:56,891 --> 00:09:00,015 It's blocking out the sunlight to any other species of algae that grow. 120 00:09:00,387 --> 00:09:05,318 So blue-greens have evolved over billions of years to really be able to 121 00:09:05,656 --> 00:09:10,307 do a good job of surviving in any kind of condition. 122 00:09:10,728 --> 00:09:11,863 They prefer the warmest water. 123 00:09:12,225 --> 00:09:16,271 They prefer the still water, so that's why they are more in lakes and reservoirs. 124 00:09:16,549 --> 00:09:17,884 And they can get to the surface. 125 00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:21,783 Obviously they can change their buoyancy and they go down at night. 126 00:09:22,139 --> 00:09:26,652 I've seen blooms literally come to the surface while I'm anchored in 127 00:09:27,015 --> 00:09:28,063 one spot monitoring a lake. 128 00:09:28,498 --> 00:09:30,820 They can go down and they can store phosphorus. 129 00:09:31,086 --> 00:09:33,761 They also have the ability to take nitrogen right out of the atmosphere 130 00:09:34,074 --> 00:09:37,267 and use that instead of ammonia or nitrate. 131 00:09:37,283 --> 00:09:41,374 So they are capable of using nitrogen right out of the atmosphere, which all the other 132 00:09:41,682 --> 00:09:46,310 species cannot do.so that's why they definitely can beat when nitrogen is low. 133 00:09:46,935 --> 00:09:54,285 They can still use that phosphorus that they stored up and they can use it 134 00:09:54,701 --> 00:09:55,970 from the air. 135 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:58,363 So they have this kind of daily cycle of going down and coming back 136 00:09:59,993 --> 00:10:01,541 up to get to the sun and blocking everything out. 137 00:10:02,852 --> 00:10:05,971 Definitely, this occurs and has occurred at Barr Lake for many years. 138 00:10:07,019 --> 00:10:07,418 Next slide. 139 00:10:09,017 --> 00:10:11,593 I think I can get to my slides on this one too. 140 00:10:12,381 --> 00:10:13,762 We can skip this one. 141 00:10:14,712 --> 00:10:18,663 Definitely these are the sources of nutrients. If any body is dealing with 142 00:10:19,044 --> 00:10:21,996 lakes, with reservoirs, with water quality with drinking water, with waste water, 143 00:10:22,197 --> 00:10:27,899 these are the classic sources of nutrients. If any body's ever doing TMDL for nutrients 144 00:10:28,829 --> 00:10:32,072 and you're doing it on a watershed scale, these are, you're going to be looking at 145 00:10:32,337 --> 00:10:36,526 background, you're going to be looking at fertilizer application whether it's lawns 146 00:10:36,790 --> 00:10:37,357 or agriculture. 147 00:10:37,940 --> 00:10:41,894 Definitely stormwater. And then reservoirs and lakes, you know when a lake has zero 148 00:10:42,285 --> 00:10:45,845 oxygen at the sediment, the phosphorus can recycle, dissolve out of the sediment 149 00:10:46,147 --> 00:10:49,560 and get recycled into the water. next slide. 150 00:10:50,483 --> 00:11:03,800 Nice pictures. Those are all the different sources. 151 00:11:04,249 --> 00:11:07,066 So, how much is too much? 152 00:11:07,358 --> 00:11:12,538 A lot of times for lakes and reservoirs I've seen where anything under 10 micro 153 00:11:13,103 --> 00:11:14,993 grams per litre, you should be really good. 154 00:11:15,305 --> 00:11:18,546 Anything that gets above 10, above 20, then you're going to start running into 155 00:11:18,909 --> 00:11:24,025 signs of nutrofication and water quality issues with algae. 156 00:11:24,443 --> 00:11:29,483 So dealing with lakes, I kind of keep those numbers in mind. 157 00:11:29,929 --> 00:11:33,212 We can keep going , I think , to the next one. 158 00:11:37,063 --> 00:11:40,712 So you can see here, you know, if total phosphorus is below 10 then it should 159 00:11:40,947 --> 00:11:45,193 be very good. And then to the different levels. Very high or poor, you'll see over 100 and 160 00:11:45,764 --> 00:11:48,206 with my talk, you'll see where we are at Barr Lake. 161 00:11:48,648 --> 00:11:53,941 I'm at, right now, typically 250 at Barr Lake and I'm ecstatic. 162 00:11:54,395 --> 00:11:56,998 I'm happy because it's a lot better than where it used to be. 163 00:11:57,725 --> 00:12:00,890 So these numbers are all relevant, they are just sort of guidelines too, so just 164 00:12:01,147 --> 00:12:03,689 keep that in mind. Next slide. 165 00:12:07,249 --> 00:12:12,391 Source control strategies. There's a lot of things you can do in the reservoir to 166 00:12:12,822 --> 00:12:15,669 keep intraloading, to keep the phosphorus in the sediment. 167 00:12:15,856 --> 00:12:18,365 There's a lot of things you can do at point sources like wastewater treatment 168 00:12:18,365 --> 00:12:20,828 plants. They are starting to treat for phosphorus, tertiary treatment. 169 00:12:21,602 --> 00:12:25,876 There's a lot of in lake techniques. You can skim the algae off. 170 00:12:26,797 --> 00:12:29,474 That's sort of a band-aid approach. Not really getting at the source of the 171 00:12:29,676 --> 00:12:33,709 problem, which is the phosphorus. Many states, there's about 12 172 00:12:33,941 --> 00:12:39,133 states that have state-wide phosphorus controls on lawn fertilizers. 173 00:12:39,893 --> 00:12:42,736 We don't have one here in Colorado, but definitely that's the way. 174 00:12:43,027 --> 00:12:46,006 You can no longer buy phosphorus in detergents in laundry soap. 175 00:12:47,961 --> 00:12:52,488 That has definitely helped since 1970's with the Great Lakes and around the 176 00:12:52,712 --> 00:12:56,625 country is controlling phosphorus in the products that everybody uses. 177 00:12:57,936 --> 00:13:05,895 Go to the next one. Multi-barrier approach. Let's see. I think we'll just skip this one. 178 00:13:07,866 --> 00:13:09,513 Prefer to get to my talk here soon. [laughter] 179 00:13:09,845 --> 00:13:14,731 Looks like we are getting close to the end here. Obviously her organization 180 00:13:15,012 --> 00:13:17,656 has put out a lot of good information and hopefully you can contact Dejenette and 181 00:13:17,927 --> 00:13:22,126 get more information from the great things that she does. at the water resource 182 00:13:22,365 --> 00:13:24,720 foundation. How was that? 183 00:13:25,356 --> 00:13:28,660 Kaitlyn: thank you so much Steve, that was awesome! 184 00:13:29,076 --> 00:13:29,839 Steve: Sure. 185 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:33,206 Kaitlyn: Thanks, for stepping in for Djenette. I'm going to go ahead and 186 00:13:33,299 --> 00:13:36,216 pass the controls to you for your presentation. 187 00:13:36,534 --> 00:13:37,941 Steve: Sure. 188 00:13:39,009 --> 00:13:40,042 Thank you. 189 00:13:40,568 --> 00:13:45,150 Are we good? Alright. 190 00:13:45,301 --> 00:13:51,834 Round 2 here. I first want to say I just really appreciate this opportunity to talk 191 00:13:52,081 --> 00:13:53,774 about Barr Lake specifically. 192 00:13:54,080 --> 00:14:00,527 I've worked on it for about 15 years and for me it's pretty exciting to see how water 193 00:14:00,802 --> 00:14:03,170 quality has changed over those 15 years. 194 00:14:04,352 --> 00:14:08,771 And so much like the talk before, going to talk about nutrients and how algae 195 00:14:08,901 --> 00:14:13,484 responds and I have definitely seen improvements in Barr Lake. 196 00:14:14,272 --> 00:14:18,425 So this is why I was definitely on board when I was asked to do this webinar. 197 00:14:21,449 --> 00:14:28,508 First off, cultural eutrophication it's sort of, it's a fancy way, a term of 198 00:14:28,815 --> 00:14:34,451 saying people mess up a lake by sending it too much nutrients all at once. 199 00:14:35,446 --> 00:14:39,978 Especially at Barr Lake. Barr Lake probably gets a million years' worth of phosphorus 200 00:14:40,618 --> 00:14:43,002 in just a few months when it fills up every year. 201 00:14:43,655 --> 00:14:49,717 So the process of lakes that can handle over time, thousands of years, millions 202 00:14:50,058 --> 00:14:54,910 of years, can transition from a ligatrophic lake to a mesatrophic 203 00:14:55,095 --> 00:14:58,378 to a hypotrophic lake where it's very very productive. 204 00:14:58,736 --> 00:15:04,575 That can occur in a reservoir in a matter of years. So that's the process 205 00:15:04,809 --> 00:15:07,928 that we all talk about and that we're worried about with cyanotoxins. 206 00:15:08,332 --> 00:15:12,590 In the news, we usually hear about the problems. Where it's toxins, fish kills. 207 00:15:12,902 --> 00:15:17,108 For Barr Lake it was high pH. It was all based around the idea that there's 208 00:15:17,309 --> 00:15:20,449 these algae blooms. But again, it's mislabled. Those are just symptoms, 209 00:15:20,835 --> 00:15:23,939 the true problem, is that it always goes back, every single time to too 210 00:15:24,343 --> 00:15:27,837 much phosphorus and nitrogen, too quickly to a body of water. 211 00:15:29,824 --> 00:15:32,226 To introduce you to Barr Lake, this is an aerial photo of Barr Lake. 212 00:15:32,434 --> 00:15:36,084 It's just north of DIA. A lot of times, people fly in and you can see it out 213 00:15:36,350 --> 00:15:37,778 your window as you are looking at the mountains. 214 00:15:38,333 --> 00:15:42,890 Just north of the rocky mountain arsenal wildlife refuge. 215 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:46,859 There's also, you can see the community. There's definitely a lot of developments and 216 00:15:47,488 --> 00:15:51,964 growth in the area. It's not quite as popular as Cherry Creek and Chatfield, 217 00:15:52,145 --> 00:15:54,303 but this reservoir is quite different. 218 00:15:54,601 --> 00:15:58,448 It's been around for a little over 100 years. About as old as Denver, almost. 219 00:15:58,595 --> 00:16:08,047 The other thing is, is that, it fills up every winter and the main use over 220 00:16:08,384 --> 00:16:09,204 the years has been agriculture. 221 00:16:09,645 --> 00:16:12,818 While Cherry Creek and Chatfield and Bear Creek have been flood control. 222 00:16:12,917 --> 00:16:17,843 Barr Lake has been around a long time and a lot of water goes out 223 00:16:18,214 --> 00:16:19,578 there to be sent out to grow crops. 224 00:16:20,116 --> 00:16:24,183 And so the residence time is only 8 months. Basically, fills in the winter and releases 225 00:16:24,473 --> 00:16:26,523 during the summer and does this annual cycle. 226 00:16:26,919 --> 00:16:31,240 It is twice the size of volume as Cherry Creek so it is pretty big. 227 00:16:31,576 --> 00:16:39,713 It's had a state park since 1975. And the main uses now are recreation, 228 00:16:39,986 --> 00:16:43,998 aquatic life, agriculture and drinking water that was added about 229 00:16:44,249 --> 00:16:45,851 15 or so years ago. 230 00:16:46,991 --> 00:16:49,679 The main source of water to Barr Lake is from the South Platte river. 231 00:16:49,965 --> 00:16:54,019 There's a 19 mile ditch, the Burlington Ditch that diverts water from the 232 00:16:54,469 --> 00:16:58,014 South Platte River. Typically, it sweeps the entire river. So any water you see 233 00:16:58,306 --> 00:17:01,657 downtown by the confluence at Cherry Creek or by REI, that's going out a 234 00:17:02,051 --> 00:17:06,114 couple of miles to almost the riverside cemetery and gets diverted and 235 00:17:06,380 --> 00:17:07,359 sent to Barr Lake. 236 00:17:07,778 --> 00:17:10,407 So travel time, if you were standing Downtown Denver, water going down 237 00:17:11,468 --> 00:17:14,587 the south platte, it probably gets to Barr Lake in about a day and a half. 238 00:17:15,847 --> 00:17:20,553 A lot of times, people think Barr Lake is way out northeast. People don't see 239 00:17:20,934 --> 00:17:23,910 it that much, but it is definitely connected to the urban Denver area. 240 00:17:24,158 --> 00:17:30,930 The ditch can also send water around Barr Lake to several other agricultural 241 00:17:31,183 --> 00:17:38,171 reservoirs. So here's the watershed. Back in the 90's it collected a lot of 242 00:17:38,375 --> 00:17:41,439 water quality data in Barr Lake as well as Milton Reservoir. 243 00:17:41,914 --> 00:17:44,472 And determined that both were exceeding the pH standard which 244 00:17:44,472 --> 00:17:46,762 is the upper limit is 9 and so they were going above 9. 245 00:17:46,944 --> 00:17:56,136 So it got put on a 303 D-List. And similar to Bear Creek, and Chatfield 246 00:17:58,145 --> 00:18:00,855 and Cherry Creek, the state helped organize a watershed association. 247 00:18:01,746 --> 00:18:04,817 We call it the Barr-Milton watershed association because we focus on both 248 00:18:04,817 --> 00:18:09,240 of those. But my main focus of this talk is Barr lake. The idea was that this group 249 00:18:09,654 --> 00:18:11,440 would bring all the stakeholders together. 250 00:18:11,747 --> 00:18:19,003 And help write a TMDL for pH. Which meant obviously, pH is a symptom, 251 00:18:19,229 --> 00:18:21,102 so you go back to phosphorus. 252 00:18:21,393 --> 00:18:26,999 So it's actually a phosphorus TMDL. To determine how you can achieve 253 00:18:27,323 --> 00:18:28,027 the pH standard. 254 00:18:28,907 --> 00:18:31,860 The big story for this watershed, obviously, is the number of people 255 00:18:32,228 --> 00:18:33,875 living just upstream of Barr Lake. 256 00:18:34,265 --> 00:18:38,851 It's literally about 1 in 2 coloradoans, live upstream of Barr. Which means, 257 00:18:39,001 --> 00:18:43,349 obviously, cultural eutrophication again and excessive amount of 258 00:18:43,630 --> 00:18:45,254 phosphorus that goes out to Barr Lake. 259 00:18:46,868 --> 00:18:50,269 This is sort of a timeline. This is a timeline of the phosphorus out at 260 00:18:50,603 --> 00:18:53,485 Barr Lake, prior to 1960's for about 50 years. 261 00:18:53,485 --> 00:18:57,074 As long as there was water in the South Platte coming out of Denver, 262 00:18:57,332 --> 00:18:58,755 they didn't care what was in it. 263 00:18:58,755 --> 00:19:02,857 Quantity trumped quality, so they sent water, anything to Barr Lake to 264 00:19:03,064 --> 00:19:06,584 according to it's water rights so they could fill it up so they could grow crops. 265 00:19:07,224 --> 00:19:10,699 But that finally caught up to them and it was labeled as the country's largest 266 00:19:11,064 --> 00:19:15,035 inland sewage bloom back in the 50's and 60's. 267 00:19:15,408 --> 00:19:18,454 And so you can see the phosphorus concentrations are enormous. 268 00:19:18,528 --> 00:19:24,402 Then there was in the mid-60's there was a better job of consolidating wastewater 269 00:19:24,698 --> 00:19:27,469 treatments. and built a new treatment plant that was downstream of the 270 00:19:27,894 --> 00:19:33,903 burlington ditch. And then by 1975 it became a state park. EPA actually 271 00:19:34,335 --> 00:19:37,689 came out and sampled it three times in the mid 70's. 272 00:19:37,913 --> 00:19:41,175 So you can see where the concentrations were in the 70s, just over 1 milligram 273 00:19:41,496 --> 00:19:43,099 per litre phosphorus. 274 00:19:43,530 --> 00:19:47,926 and then we started collecting a lot of data on water quality in the 90's, 2000's. 275 00:19:48,258 --> 00:19:52,669 And we collected a lot more data and that resulted in showing about half of the 276 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:55,544 phosphorus now, about 660 micrograms per litre. 277 00:19:55,991 --> 00:20:04,432 Then by 2015 we got down to 250 micrograms per litre and that's where I got excited, 278 00:20:04,828 --> 00:20:06,067 because look where we came from. 279 00:20:06,206 --> 00:20:12,582 From 10,000 micrograms per litre to 250. reason why this happened was there was 280 00:20:12,582 --> 00:20:17,681 the 2013 flood that happened in September and it came down sand creek and washed 281 00:20:17,899 --> 00:20:22,980 out a pipeline that used to send treated effluent from metro wastewater uphill 282 00:20:23,278 --> 00:20:25,284 and put it into the burlington ditch. 283 00:20:25,918 --> 00:20:32,131 That pipeline was washed away. so since 2013 there's been no treated effluence 284 00:20:32,347 --> 00:20:36,212 being pumped up into the ditch to go to Barr Lake. 285 00:20:36,554 --> 00:20:41,307 So by, sort of, an act of God. It has definitely helped water quality. 286 00:20:41,882 --> 00:20:47,223 The TMDL process, the goal is to get to less than 100 micorgrams/litre in 287 00:20:47,514 --> 00:20:50,943 the growing season. So that's what we're shooting for. So we still have to reduce 288 00:20:51,156 --> 00:20:55,501 it by half again. So now we're in the phase of implementing the TMDL. 289 00:20:55,745 --> 00:21:03,388 From the TMDL, we estimated the annual load of phosphorus, 70,000kg would go 290 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:08,465 out to Barr Lake. About 90% of that came from point sources, which was wastewater 291 00:21:08,744 --> 00:21:12,852 treatment plants and permitted stormwater MS4 folks. 292 00:21:13,770 --> 00:21:18,709 then there was background, and background is what's coming from Chatfield, Cherry Creek 293 00:21:19,093 --> 00:21:22,408 and Bear Creek. Those reservoirs release water into our watershed and so then 294 00:21:23,201 --> 00:21:24,450 we have to account for that. 295 00:21:24,821 --> 00:21:28,278 And then about 4,000kg comes internally from the reservoir. 296 00:21:28,722 --> 00:21:36,125 We need about a 92% reduction, which is huge, to get down to about 6,000kg a year. 297 00:21:36,923 --> 00:21:39,786 And then, you can see, it's a little more balanced distribution from the different 298 00:21:39,979 --> 00:21:44,822 sources. One thing to note though, in this process, we learned that even if 299 00:21:45,019 --> 00:21:47,262 you removed every single person in the watershed, all the streets, all the 300 00:21:47,432 --> 00:21:52,961 stormwater, removed all the point sources, you'd still be left with the 301 00:21:53,370 --> 00:21:56,434 3,000 coming in from upstream watersheds and the 4,000 in the reservoir. 302 00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:02,118 So that's 7000kg which is more than what we think it will take to achieve the pH 303 00:22:02,373 --> 00:22:06,941 standard. And so it just means that every single source needs to be addressed. 304 00:22:09,059 --> 00:22:10,250 So how are we going to do this? 305 00:22:10,634 --> 00:22:14,101 A lot of dollar signs on this slide, so you can see it's going to take a lot of money 306 00:22:14,791 --> 00:22:17,133 to get down below 100 micrograms per litre. 307 00:22:17,672 --> 00:22:21,858 First off, wastewater treatment plants are moving to tertiary treatment. 308 00:22:22,516 --> 00:22:25,770 Metro wastewater, Littleton/Englewood, and Centennial are the three upstream 309 00:22:27,671 --> 00:22:29,013 wastewater treatment plants to Barr Lake. 310 00:22:31,025 --> 00:22:40,112 Stormwater also. Denver, just last year I believe, increased their stormwater bills. So they 311 00:22:40,381 --> 00:22:43,575 now have plans for major improvements in north Denver. 312 00:22:44,493 --> 00:22:48,580 Platte Park Hill is one of those big stormwater projects that will eventually 313 00:22:49,016 --> 00:22:50,558 help water quality in Barr Lake. 314 00:22:51,908 --> 00:22:58,017 We've also looked at studies for internal loading. Not quite as expensive, but still 315 00:22:58,410 --> 00:23:00,836 going to cost some money. 316 00:23:01,349 --> 00:23:04,970 we also have to treat the phosphorus that's coming out, from upstream in 317 00:23:05,561 --> 00:23:07,774 our watershed. So we somehow have to intercept that. 318 00:23:09,854 --> 00:23:11,710 And then of course we do public education. 319 00:23:17,944 --> 00:23:24,129 Here's a chart of our phosphorus. This is sort of a monthly timeframe 320 00:23:24,361 --> 00:23:25,652 of the 15 years I've been sampling. 321 00:23:25,856 --> 00:23:28,618 You can see the phosphorus comes in with the water in the winter and slowly 322 00:23:28,653 --> 00:23:32,410 drops out. and then increases again in the summer, maybe during internal loading. 323 00:23:33,334 --> 00:23:34,975 and then it gets lowest in October. 324 00:23:37,733 --> 00:23:42,496 Along with that, you get chlorphyill A. Chart here shows there's a big diatom 325 00:23:42,748 --> 00:23:44,687 growth in the spring time. 326 00:23:45,064 --> 00:23:49,252 the best time to go up to Barr Lake, I recommend, is in May and early June. 327 00:23:49,739 --> 00:23:54,570 There's very little growth of algae, it's full, and it's got great water clarity. 328 00:23:55,196 --> 00:23:59,719 Because as soon as 4th of July comes around and the big recreational season, 329 00:23:59,978 --> 00:24:00,784 and the growing season. 330 00:24:01,317 --> 00:24:04,789 Typically we would get the big blue-green algae bloom, the first one, the microcystis 331 00:24:04,789 --> 00:24:08,345 algae bloom. And the kind of crash and bloom, crash and bloom. And we have 332 00:24:08,543 --> 00:24:11,342 another big one Aphantzomenon in late September. 333 00:24:13,101 --> 00:24:19,166 So this is why Barr Lake has the reputation of being a blue-green algae scummy lake. 334 00:24:19,601 --> 00:24:23,949 When I first started in '02 sampling this was pretty much every summer what it 335 00:24:24,133 --> 00:24:27,587 would look like. It would be monoculture of algae bloom that would go over 336 00:24:27,587 --> 00:24:34,365 the entire lake. And eventually get crusty and scab over and cause odor issues 337 00:24:34,901 --> 00:24:36,768 and stuff. And you can see the bottom picture. 338 00:24:37,010 --> 00:24:40,540 The people that would mostly recreate would be people fishing from shore 339 00:24:40,540 --> 00:24:46,526 and they would just tolerate it and avoid those scums the best that they could. 340 00:24:47,399 --> 00:24:52,324 More recently, since the 2013 flood, there has been a big noticeable change. 341 00:24:53,128 --> 00:24:57,888 Open water, it's clear and back in '02 and '03 the boat wake would be green 342 00:24:58,130 --> 00:25:02,642 not white and foamy. And then you can see last, middle of July, when we should 343 00:25:02,934 --> 00:25:07,246 be having a big bloom, we have really nice water quality compared to 344 00:25:07,246 --> 00:25:08,497 previous years. 345 00:25:10,541 --> 00:25:14,811 We did, because of the 2015 issues around the cyanotoxins. We decided to 346 00:25:15,142 --> 00:25:19,157 say "Ok let's just kind of explore this and get some strip tests from Abraxis 347 00:25:19,460 --> 00:25:25,396 and do some testing out there." I tested the open water as well as near shore. 348 00:25:26,821 --> 00:25:31,992 Open water never had any indication of the cyanotoxins. The only time I got 349 00:25:32,267 --> 00:25:36,461 it was when I would sample the shoreline where we see this green line of 350 00:25:36,496 --> 00:25:37,657 blue-green algae. 351 00:25:38,170 --> 00:25:43,226 Water quality's pretty good. It's not like the other pictures where it's completely 352 00:25:43,557 --> 00:25:44,353 crusted over. 353 00:25:44,709 --> 00:25:52,858 There was still a small less intense algae bloom. It was typically microcystis and 354 00:25:52,997 --> 00:25:54,088 some Aphantzomenon. 355 00:25:54,809 --> 00:25:58,498 but when we sent off those samples to green water, we did get a hit on 356 00:25:58,770 --> 00:26:03,178 microcystin. We did not have any Anatoxin-A, saxitoxin, or 357 00:26:03,426 --> 00:26:06,586 cylindrospermopsin. It was mainly because of the microcystis. 358 00:26:07,372 --> 00:26:11,811 But Barr Lake, key note is, that even though it's classfied as primary full 359 00:26:11,952 --> 00:26:16,122 contact use. The rules out there for the state park is that there is no swimming, 360 00:26:16,382 --> 00:26:21,008 no swim beach, even dogs are not allowed to wade into the water. 361 00:26:21,056 --> 00:26:25,661 The main thing is just boating and recreating, fishing from shore. 362 00:26:25,915 --> 00:26:30,250 Now clearly, people get into the water they roll their kayaks this was a camp 363 00:26:30,444 --> 00:26:32,301 here that would take kayaks out and learn how to roll kayaks. 364 00:26:32,525 --> 00:26:39,134 so there is incidental contact. but the thing is that we try to do a good job of 365 00:26:39,278 --> 00:26:43,355 educating people year round at Barr Lake to be algae aware. 366 00:26:43,578 --> 00:26:49,199 That you just want to avoid any time you see green surface scum on any body of water. 367 00:26:49,925 --> 00:26:55,453 So what we do educationally, we try to do our best to educate people just algae in 368 00:26:55,639 --> 00:26:59,086 general, water quality, phosphorus and the watershed. 369 00:27:00,697 --> 00:27:07,665 So the big plan here. If we achieve making sure all these uses are being met, then 370 00:27:07,739 --> 00:27:09,285 I think we'll be good. 371 00:27:09,662 --> 00:27:14,522 Obviously there's dollar signs to this. so if aquatic life is happy then the 372 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:15,612 fish will be happy. 373 00:27:16,092 --> 00:27:19,423 We'll be spending less money on fixing the problem than just maintaining the 374 00:27:19,736 --> 00:27:20,924 proper conditions out there. 375 00:27:21,441 --> 00:27:24,873 Recreation's a big deal. And then of course we grow a lot of food and 376 00:27:25,133 --> 00:27:25,982 it's a water supply. 377 00:27:26,519 --> 00:27:30,688 So those are definitely all these. What's unique about our lake is that 378 00:27:30,847 --> 00:27:31,834 these uses are equally important. 379 00:27:32,696 --> 00:27:36,323 And if we achieve the right amount of nutrients coming from the watershed, 380 00:27:36,615 --> 00:27:41,356 then we believe the blooms will be less intense, not as long and that the 381 00:27:41,526 --> 00:27:43,707 reservoir will be a healthy system. 382 00:27:44,510 --> 00:27:49,062 So I believe with that, I'll end with a sunset picture and I thank every body 383 00:27:49,333 --> 00:27:51,419 for listening to me for the last half hour. 384 00:27:54,318 --> 00:27:58,312 Kaitlyn; Thank you so much Steve. We are going to switch to Troy. 385 00:27:58,633 --> 00:28:03,326 Troy I just made you a presenter and I believe you just un-muted yourself. 386 00:28:03,824 --> 00:28:04,594 So thank you. 387 00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:16,824 Troy: Good morning every body. Is my sound and screen working ok? 388 00:28:17,620 --> 00:28:18,846 They sure are. 389 00:28:19,571 --> 00:28:20,923 Troy: Ok good deal. 390 00:28:21,346 --> 00:28:28,191 Moderator: You are not in presentation mode so we can still see your next slide. 391 00:28:28,695 --> 00:28:54,927 Troy: Let's try that. Did that help? 392 00:28:55,472 --> 00:29:00,804 Moderator: No, we can still see your next slide but feel free to carry on. 393 00:29:01,783 --> 00:29:05,948 Troy: Ok, sorry about that. So you get a preview of what I'm talking about before 394 00:29:06,115 --> 00:29:11,833 I get there. We're going to switch from point sources, that Steve was talking 395 00:29:12,033 --> 00:29:13,580 about with Barr Lake. 396 00:29:14,110 --> 00:29:17,639 You know, system mostly impacted by point sources to non point source. 397 00:29:17,895 --> 00:29:23,430 My field is working with agricultural producers on reducing nutrient losses on their fields. 398 00:29:23,512 --> 00:29:29,304 I'll give you a little bit about the process. and where we are on that. 399 00:29:29,883 --> 00:29:34,449 So it's important to remember that ag nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorus are 400 00:29:34,670 --> 00:29:38,951 in other nutrients, but in this instance we are talking about N and P. 401 00:29:39,154 --> 00:29:43,657 Are absolutely required for productive agriculture. If we fail to replace or 402 00:29:44,006 --> 00:29:48,472 supplement nitrogen and phosphorus that's removed by our crop systems, 403 00:29:49,189 --> 00:29:53,848 ultimately not only will you result in low and unprofitable yields, 404 00:29:54,139 --> 00:30:01,941 but you'll end up with a situation where you're not putting enough crop residue back into the system and you can have soil degredation. 405 00:30:02,287 --> 00:30:03,601 So it is important for sustainable agriculture. 406 00:30:04,405 --> 00:30:13,376 But of course we need good management. To prevent too much N and P in our soils 407 00:30:13,633 --> 00:30:18,004 and then of course the potential to reduce the potential for movement to 408 00:30:18,486 --> 00:30:19,863 surface and groundwater. 409 00:30:21,365 --> 00:30:32,053 So recently, in 2012, Colorado passed a nutrient policy called regulation 85. 410 00:30:33,903 --> 00:30:38,052 For agriculture it's still a non point source kind of voluntary approach 411 00:30:38,727 --> 00:30:47,228 to help incentivize producers to utilize, voluntarily, BMPs around nitrogen and 412 00:30:47,427 --> 00:30:49,113 phosphorus control in their operations. 413 00:30:49,904 --> 00:31:00,383 and we partnered with CDPHE, to produce some resources and outreach program 414 00:31:00,569 --> 00:31:04,020 which we are calling Colorado Ag Water Quality and this is our logo. 415 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:10,414 And you'll find all these resources at that URL, coloradoagnutrients.org. 416 00:31:10,998 --> 00:31:18,085 the purpose of this outreach effort is to get the word out to growers about 417 00:31:18,177 --> 00:31:21,328 how reg 85 could potentially affect them. 418 00:31:22,095 --> 00:31:27,380 and right now it's a non point source voluntary policy for agriculture, but 419 00:31:27,659 --> 00:31:31,435 they are going to reevaluate that in 2022 to see if we've made progress 420 00:31:31,543 --> 00:31:37,363 on BMP implementation, adoption and water quality as it relates to non 421 00:31:37,771 --> 00:31:39,251 point source in agriculture. 422 00:31:39,635 --> 00:31:43,558 I'd really encourage you to go to that URL. There's a couple of videos up 423 00:31:43,783 --> 00:31:51,150 there that do a really nice job of having the stakeholders, producers and people 424 00:31:51,490 --> 00:31:57,556 that represent them talk about how nutrient, using nutrients in agriculture 425 00:31:57,754 --> 00:31:59,213 is important to them. 426 00:31:59,457 --> 00:32:04,897 and practices they can use to prevent non point source pollution. 427 00:32:05,090 --> 00:32:07,015 I'd encourage you to go check that out. 428 00:32:08,407 --> 00:32:13,795 So the approach that I encourage and we do in our program is what I call 429 00:32:14,034 --> 00:32:16,263 participatory research and outreach. 430 00:32:16,768 --> 00:32:19,975 Around getting growers to implement BMPs voluntary. 431 00:32:20,618 --> 00:32:25,221 And some of the concepts that we work with are nutrient management with 432 00:32:25,492 --> 00:32:26,502 the 4R concept. 433 00:32:26,902 --> 00:32:30,744 We encourage BMPs around conservation tillage and the soil resource. 434 00:32:31,087 --> 00:32:38,119 And what's really important in a semi-arid state like colorado, where so much of our 435 00:32:38,377 --> 00:32:45,239 crop production relies on agriculture's managing that water source improved 436 00:32:45,552 --> 00:32:48,050 irrigation systems and advanced irrigation scheduling. 437 00:32:48,434 --> 00:32:50,689 and i'll talk about that a little bit more in a couple of slides. 438 00:32:51,252 --> 00:32:56,946 and then finally, we definitely want to work with our growers on the agronomic 439 00:32:57,246 --> 00:33:00,504 and economic feasibility of these practices to help them understand 440 00:33:00,939 --> 00:33:02,765 how they can help the bottom line. 441 00:33:04,806 --> 00:33:10,919 so early in the process of any localized or state wide stakeholder engagement 442 00:33:11,353 --> 00:33:14,398 around ag and water quality, it's important to get the stakeholders 443 00:33:14,682 --> 00:33:15,902 involved early in the process. 444 00:33:17,154 --> 00:33:22,960 And we've been doing that for many years. producer input; we want them to 445 00:33:23,071 --> 00:33:27,915 understand that buying into what is even defined as a best management practice. 446 00:33:28,657 --> 00:33:32,617 and then demonstrate their effectiveness and their agronomic practicality. 447 00:33:32,799 --> 00:33:37,190 and then try to follow up with tools and resources that our producers can use 448 00:33:37,391 --> 00:33:41,424 and understand and help them manage their nutrients and water better. 449 00:33:43,982 --> 00:33:48,446 So a little bit about BMP effectiveness on the ground. 450 00:33:48,605 --> 00:33:53,098 I talked about the 4R concept that's kind of become fairly popular recently in 451 00:33:53,253 --> 00:33:58,414 agriculture. And that is applying the right nutrient at the right amount, or rate, 452 00:33:59,048 --> 00:34:01,269 at the right place within the soil. 453 00:34:02,018 --> 00:34:09,075 Either spatially or within the plane of the root zone, at the right time. Trying 454 00:34:09,198 --> 00:34:11,847 to time our nutrients when the crops need them the most. 455 00:34:12,344 --> 00:34:18,089 So the uptake efficiency will be be higher. and the right source. 456 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:23,609 Sometimes we have different nutrient sources, whether it be compost or 457 00:34:24,190 --> 00:34:28,458 commercial fertilizer. It might be better for the conditions on the 458 00:34:28,657 --> 00:34:30,924 ground or the farmer's situation. 459 00:34:32,598 --> 00:34:37,247 When these practices are properly implemented, they do in most cases 460 00:34:37,474 --> 00:34:42,310 increase nutrient use efficiency by the crop and thus prevent the potential for 461 00:34:42,557 --> 00:34:43,965 movement in most environments. 462 00:34:45,144 --> 00:34:48,166 However, as I mentioned before, in Colorado in our irrigated 463 00:34:48,449 --> 00:34:54,569 environment we know that most of our losses are with water, soluableized 464 00:34:54,769 --> 00:34:56,109 or attached to sediments. 465 00:34:56,476 --> 00:35:02,521 For these 4R's to work we need improved irrigation management to take place 466 00:35:02,806 --> 00:35:08,266 at the same time. In each of nutrients type we don't manage our water, 467 00:35:08,612 --> 00:35:10,221 we could be defeating the purpose. 468 00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:16,269 So a little bit about irrigation management. 469 00:35:16,761 --> 00:35:19,308 Like I mentioned, it's really critical for quatifiable reductions at the 470 00:35:19,308 --> 00:35:23,233 field level. Particularly with nitrate leaching but also with runoff. 471 00:35:23,813 --> 00:35:30,163 and you can have improvements in system upgrades moving from a furrow to a 472 00:35:30,493 --> 00:35:36,240 pivot to a drip system. or you can improve your management in terms of scheduling 473 00:35:36,894 --> 00:35:39,024 your water at the right time and right amount. 474 00:35:39,436 --> 00:35:44,790 and together those two practices can go a long way for tightly managing your water 475 00:35:45,178 --> 00:35:52,650 and your nutrients. and a lot of this is occurring organically in the watershed. 476 00:35:53,146 --> 00:36:02,238 a good example I like to show is some google earth imagery, satellite imagery 477 00:36:02,551 --> 00:36:07,779 from around fort morgan. And if you go back to 1998 and look, 478 00:36:08,154 --> 00:36:13,244 and this is black and white imagery. you can see a grid work of rectangular and 479 00:36:13,557 --> 00:36:20,036 square fields out there as recently as only 20 years ago. 480 00:36:20,542 --> 00:36:23,861 but if you look at an image from just a couple of years ago, you can see that 481 00:36:24,149 --> 00:36:30,337 most of those have been replaced with circles and center pivot irrigation systems 482 00:36:30,722 --> 00:36:35,159 and the opportunity to manage your water and your nutrients is much higher 483 00:36:35,436 --> 00:36:38,451 when you improve your efficiency of your system. 484 00:36:38,851 --> 00:36:43,615 a lot of this is happening already. growers are adopting these practices 485 00:36:43,856 --> 00:36:47,496 for a variety of reasons, but usually it's economics and labor. 486 00:36:47,914 --> 00:36:53,045 I mentioned we like to provide tools that growers can use to manage their nutrients 487 00:36:53,605 --> 00:36:54,268 and their water. 488 00:36:55,020 --> 00:36:59,920 and recently we released an online irrigation scheduler called WISE. 489 00:37:00,629 --> 00:37:05,140 This is a couple screen shots from that particular product. 490 00:37:05,722 --> 00:37:09,679 you can find that at wise.colostate.edu. 491 00:37:10,216 --> 00:37:15,248 it's a very user friendly, convenient irrigation scheduling platform at 492 00:37:15,694 --> 00:37:18,428 erams at colorado state university. 493 00:37:18,648 --> 00:37:21,086 again tying our nutrients to our water management. 494 00:37:22,927 --> 00:37:27,101 the other thing that i mentioned that is important for agriculture for adoption 495 00:37:27,367 --> 00:37:31,395 of BMPs is to show results and water quality is part of that. 496 00:37:31,853 --> 00:37:37,797 growers need to know that if they use these practices it will make a difference. 497 00:37:38,092 --> 00:37:43,027 on one side of your screen you can see some water quality coming off fields 498 00:37:43,262 --> 00:37:48,073 where we had just conventional tillage and on the other side of the screen 499 00:37:48,356 --> 00:37:52,463 you can see BMP in terms of strip tillage and you can see the residue that it 500 00:37:52,463 --> 00:37:55,442 left in place there. and how that residue is affecting the 501 00:37:55,657 --> 00:37:59,307 quality of the water coming off that plot compared to the other plot. 502 00:38:01,635 --> 00:38:06,226 and of course, the bottom line matters with growers. they are in business to 503 00:38:06,444 --> 00:38:12,239 make money. and so we try to provide them the costs and returns of 504 00:38:12,239 --> 00:38:19,766 adopting practices. our gross returns are represented largely by the yield on one 505 00:38:20,122 --> 00:38:25,326 side of your graph where you can see the dark brown bar of conventional, compared 506 00:38:25,326 --> 00:38:32,536 to the light brown bar of strip vs the green bar of another BMP that we tried that was 507 00:38:32,696 --> 00:38:35,119 minimum till on this particular project. 508 00:38:35,814 --> 00:38:41,682 and where the gross returns showed the BMP was losing a little bit of money, 509 00:38:41,886 --> 00:38:46,846 when we looked at the net returns because of the costs of inputs for that particular 510 00:38:46,846 --> 00:38:51,191 practice, you can see that the gross returns were highest with the BMP 511 00:38:51,441 --> 00:38:52,876 practice of strip tillage. 512 00:38:53,362 --> 00:38:57,006 so the bottom line matters and it's important to work with growers so 513 00:38:57,257 --> 00:38:59,916 that they know how these practices are going to affect that for them. 514 00:39:01,895 --> 00:39:07,553 Some challenges that i see or have seen in my career, both looking locally and 515 00:39:07,797 --> 00:39:12,115 nationally in terms of what we're facing in nutrients and water quality. 516 00:39:12,561 --> 00:39:21,458 in colorado, where water rights and policy may be perceived from keeping 517 00:39:21,696 --> 00:39:24,688 growers from implementing certain, maybe, irrigation practices. 518 00:39:25,214 --> 00:39:28,599 a lot of times that's more perception than reality but it's still out there. 519 00:39:29,367 --> 00:39:32,604 In many parts of the country we have some nutrient balances and watersheds, with 520 00:39:32,968 --> 00:39:36,233 high density of animal feeding that are off. 521 00:39:36,614 --> 00:39:39,055 we have more N and P coming in than is going out as product. 522 00:39:40,402 --> 00:39:45,797 I see places where perhaps our baseline concentrations are greater than the 523 00:39:45,991 --> 00:39:48,860 standard that we are going to try and achieve and I think that's going to be 524 00:39:49,082 --> 00:39:53,367 difficult with non point source implementation to meet those targets. 525 00:39:54,968 --> 00:39:59,275 And then the idea, we know that a lot of our water quality problems are localized. 526 00:40:00,042 --> 00:40:07,690 And how do you target a watershed or an area of agriculture without making the 527 00:40:08,008 --> 00:40:13,045 producers feel like they are being targeted, as, at the problem with 528 00:40:13,254 --> 00:40:18,775 finger pointing. Funding is always an issue. not all of these BMPs are cost 529 00:40:19,684 --> 00:40:20,582 neutral or positive. 530 00:40:20,959 --> 00:40:26,146 so getting funding through NRCS cost shares or other places to help implement 531 00:40:26,408 --> 00:40:27,837 these is an issue. 532 00:40:28,344 --> 00:40:32,847 and then finally, when it comes to showing these are working. obtaining non point 533 00:40:33,085 --> 00:40:38,809 source water quality and adoption data is going to be necessary to show agriculture's 534 00:40:39,084 --> 00:40:40,452 doing it's part moving forward. 535 00:40:42,537 --> 00:40:47,914 just to finish up here. like i said, supplemental nutrients are definitely 536 00:40:48,166 --> 00:40:54,168 necessary for sustainable agriculture. you can't continue to grow profitable crops 537 00:40:54,398 --> 00:40:56,648 without supplementing what they are removing from the system. 538 00:40:56,992 --> 00:41:01,182 They have a lot of BMPs that can help mitigate that loss in movement in 539 00:41:01,410 --> 00:41:02,184 water resources. 540 00:41:02,430 --> 00:41:07,246 A lot of these growers are using already and I think we can improve upon what 541 00:41:07,363 --> 00:41:09,815 we are doing as we learn more information. 542 00:41:10,484 --> 00:41:16,077 Incentives, tools and resources are all critical to help growers adopt BMPs. 543 00:41:16,531 --> 00:41:19,557 and i think we can all work together to do a better job with that. 544 00:41:20,426 --> 00:41:25,557 It's definitely important to engage growers early and often in this process 545 00:41:26,129 --> 00:41:30,263 and not only the growers but their representatives and commodity groups 546 00:41:30,945 --> 00:41:32,474 and the people that advise them. 547 00:41:36,764 --> 00:41:42,950 and that is what I had to share this morning. I appreciate your attention and 548 00:41:43,159 --> 00:41:48,233 I appreciate the opportunity to be on this call. So I'll turn it back to Kaitlyn. 549 00:41:51,073 --> 00:41:57,093 Kaitlyn: It looks like we have a few questions coming in, so i think Emily 550 00:41:57,316 --> 00:42:03,873 will read those and Troy and Steve can see if they have responses. 551 00:42:05,342 --> 00:42:07,892 Emily: Yeah, so we have a few questions. 552 00:42:09,599 --> 00:42:14,133 The first question comes from Lisa Buchanan and she asks, "How difficult 553 00:42:14,373 --> 00:42:19,012 was it to get buy in for upstream treatment for Barr Lake?" 554 00:42:22,098 --> 00:42:28,436 Steve: Well, buy-in. So starting in 2002 we formed this watershed group that 555 00:42:28,534 --> 00:42:35,584 brought together the point source dischargers as well as the users of the 556 00:42:35,584 --> 00:42:38,786 lake and the owners of the lake and the people that use it for drinking water. 557 00:42:39,669 --> 00:42:45,493 So our goal from the very beginning was to have the consensus- driven 558 00:42:45,698 --> 00:42:48,314 process with this board of directors and this watershed group. 559 00:42:48,474 --> 00:42:52,861 We didn't want to have finger pointing and going down lawsuit routes and 560 00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:57,144 have twenty models trying to explain the system. 561 00:42:57,509 --> 00:43:01,978 so from the very beginning when we formed our watershed group and we put in 562 00:43:02,031 --> 00:43:06,598 our bylaws, we wanted to have buy in from every body that was sitting at the table. 563 00:43:06,928 --> 00:43:13,608 To join, and to be a member of the board, you had to put in $10,000 as a member 564 00:43:13,901 --> 00:43:15,200 and you got a seat on the board. 565 00:43:15,700 --> 00:43:21,217 And so the people, the dischargers, the upstream folks that were definitely 566 00:43:21,496 --> 00:43:25,522 going to be part of the TMDL as an allocation for phosphorus, wanted 567 00:43:25,697 --> 00:43:26,641 to be at the table. 568 00:43:26,993 --> 00:43:31,403 so you joined and then we all agree, that you know. We all understand this 569 00:43:31,843 --> 00:43:37,020 is an effort by everybody and that everyone's going to be paying for 570 00:43:37,255 --> 00:43:40,157 treatment plant upgrades, everyone's going to be paying for drinking 571 00:43:40,395 --> 00:43:41,264 water upgrades. 572 00:43:41,935 --> 00:43:47,438 Everybody will hopefully be enjoying Barr Lake and so we really tried to come 573 00:43:47,717 --> 00:43:53,419 together as one group and always make decisions based on 100% consensus. 574 00:43:53,987 --> 00:43:57,340 We literally do our voting with thumbs up or thumbs down. if we don't have 575 00:43:57,708 --> 00:43:59,964 everyone's thumbs up then we continue to work on it. 576 00:44:02,044 --> 00:44:04,147 Emily: thank you so much. we have a couple more questions. 577 00:44:05,364 --> 00:44:13,666 The next one is directed at Steve. "Steve did you alum to fix P in sediment? 578 00:44:14,039 --> 00:44:16,746 If so, what was the result and cost? Thanks" 579 00:44:18,557 --> 00:44:23,685 Steve: Sure. So alum is a very common whole lake treatment process. People 580 00:44:23,845 --> 00:44:25,149 have been using since the 70's. 581 00:44:25,476 --> 00:44:29,925 We have not used alum in Barr Lake. We have people, we've had some reports 582 00:44:30,237 --> 00:44:33,811 saying that alum would be a great way to bind up and keep that phosphorus 583 00:44:34,103 --> 00:44:36,486 bound up in the sediment. The in-canal treatment, 584 00:44:36,819 --> 00:44:39,869 treating the upstream phosphorus that comes into our watershed and then 585 00:44:40,008 --> 00:44:41,129 comes through and comes down the ditch. 586 00:44:41,378 --> 00:44:45,748 One process or a study we said was that we could divert that water out of the ditch. 587 00:44:46,007 --> 00:44:51,808 mix it with alum, separate the phosphorus, and then send that water into Barr Lake. 588 00:44:52,297 --> 00:44:56,241 We did use alum a little bit in, there was that picture of those corrals, those 589 00:44:56,339 --> 00:44:59,966 columnar corrals they did some studying of what would happen to cholophill A 590 00:45:00,172 --> 00:45:03,916 and phosphorus if phosphorus did get below 100. 591 00:45:04,305 --> 00:45:07,781 Because we've never seen it below 300. so we had to do some artificial 592 00:45:08,129 --> 00:45:12,237 testing out there. and we did use alum to strip out the phosphorus in the water 593 00:45:12,237 --> 00:45:15,208 column. just so we could see how the lake responds. 594 00:45:15,764 --> 00:45:19,751 It's about, when we did our study, it's about $1 per gallon and so it's just a 595 00:45:20,042 --> 00:45:23,030 matter of how many gallons of alum you want to put in to remove the amount 596 00:45:23,282 --> 00:45:24,131 of phosphorus. 597 00:45:26,167 --> 00:45:32,723 Emily: thanks. The next question comes from Ken Clark. "What are the 598 00:45:33,040 --> 00:45:37,624 opportunities. What opportunities are there for translating or scaling, agricultural 599 00:45:37,908 --> 00:45:40,583 BMPs to urban landscape practices?" 600 00:45:46,301 --> 00:45:47,612 Let me know if you want me to repeat the question. 601 00:45:48,864 --> 00:45:51,992 Troy: Go ahead and start Steve. 602 00:45:52,929 --> 00:45:58,474 Steve:The only thing I can sort of talk about a little bit is, some of those 603 00:45:58,910 --> 00:46:04,162 translations of nutrient management with fertilizers, the same concept can be 604 00:46:04,394 --> 00:46:06,707 applied to what we do with urban lawns. 605 00:46:07,120 --> 00:46:14,821 And so, a lot of times, its a matter of keeping the fertilizer on your lawn. 606 00:46:15,599 --> 00:46:19,164 so it's the 4R's applies to your lawn as well as a corn field in Weld county. 607 00:46:19,686 --> 00:46:25,063 Don't do it just before a storm event, washes on your driveway and goes 608 00:46:25,268 --> 00:46:28,697 into a storm drain. Maybe do some soil testing and maybe you don't need 609 00:46:28,929 --> 00:46:30,343 phosphorus to grow a lawn. 610 00:46:30,730 --> 00:46:33,834 Phosphorus is, as I understand, is for seed production and flowering. People 611 00:46:34,142 --> 00:46:38,140 just want a green lawn so that's the nitrogen part of it. Troy do you have 612 00:46:38,485 --> 00:46:38,873 anything else? 613 00:46:39,431 --> 00:46:46,478 Troy: Just would ditto that. Again when you look at CSU Extension's 614 00:46:46,686 --> 00:46:50,170 recommendations for lawns, we don't really even recommend phosphorus. 615 00:46:50,546 --> 00:46:56,302 We prefer folks stick with nitrogen and for a low maintenance lawn that's 616 00:46:56,488 --> 00:47:02,512 really at around 1 pound per 1,000 square foot per year. 617 00:47:03,748 --> 00:47:07,946 Again making sure you put the right rate on, not too much, at the right time. 618 00:47:08,554 --> 00:47:10,328 and we have recommendations for those too. 619 00:47:10,900 --> 00:47:15,504 And the biggest one is just keeping it off impermeable surfaces. 620 00:47:17,708 --> 00:47:25,602 Emily: Great, thanks. So the next question is directed at Troy. From Kelly Denataly. 621 00:47:26,488 --> 00:47:29,924 "Do you think the rollback of the Obama administration's clean water rules 622 00:47:30,206 --> 00:47:34,413 will change the attitudes of ag producers towards implementing BMPs?" 623 00:47:36,627 --> 00:47:42,166 Troy: Hmm. [chuckle] Good one Kelly. I don't think so. 624 00:47:42,478 --> 00:47:52,019 Particularly in Colorado, since we do have somewhat of a statewide policy with reg 85 625 00:47:52,253 --> 00:47:55,526 and some of the other policies with non point source with agriculture. 626 00:47:57,676 --> 00:48:04,420 You know, our state, is so semi-arid and we have so few places where we have 627 00:48:04,633 --> 00:48:09,818 direct contact between agriculture and a stream, I don't think so. 628 00:48:10,222 --> 00:48:18,084 I think that there are a lot of economic incentives especially around fertilizer to 629 00:48:18,379 --> 00:48:28,056 apply the 4R concept to what they're doing that what I worry perhaps more 630 00:48:28,376 --> 00:48:36,279 about is cuts to conservation programs within agencies such as USDA-NRCS 631 00:48:36,484 --> 00:48:42,910 and research potential cuts as has been proposed to the ag research service, 632 00:48:43,401 --> 00:48:47,051 agricultural research service within USDA and our land grant system. 633 00:48:47,529 --> 00:48:53,958 because that's where we develop a lot of the information that we can translate to 634 00:48:54,336 --> 00:48:59,087 producers about, you know, the best way to manage their nutrients. 635 00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:06,069 I don't think it's going to be, I'm less worried about perhaps, changes in 636 00:49:06,370 --> 00:49:13,200 attitudes with growers than I am with the proposed cuts to our research and land 637 00:49:13,368 --> 00:49:19,186 grant and outreach organizations that work directly with producers around the country. 638 00:49:22,272 --> 00:49:31,844 Emily: the next question comes to us from Kevin McBride. and he asks "how is the?" 639 00:49:32,464 --> 00:49:36,109 agricultural practice of high alt hay and ranching different from the row cropping 640 00:49:36,717 --> 00:49:41,401 discussed? Is there extra nutrients appropriate BMPs?" 641 00:49:41,841 --> 00:49:47,427 Troy: I think I understand the question. What are some differences in Best 642 00:49:53,563 --> 00:49:57,742 management practices between high altitude mountain meadow production 643 00:49:58,105 --> 00:49:59,390 versus row crop production. 644 00:50:00,179 --> 00:50:06,055 They are not terribly different, it's just the opportunities perhaps to do things 645 00:50:06,416 --> 00:50:11,906 like placement like nutrients in the root zone or a little more limited in 646 00:50:12,205 --> 00:50:13,827 those established pastures. 647 00:50:14,398 --> 00:50:19,222 but there's other things that they can do up there. Timing makes a difference 648 00:50:19,632 --> 00:50:23,151 on when you apply fertilizer to a high altitude meadow system. 649 00:50:23,487 --> 00:50:29,850 we've done some research with Joe Brummer, in our department, a forage 650 00:50:30,165 --> 00:50:34,839 and high mountain meadow specialist, on timing fertilizer applications in the fall vs 651 00:50:35,019 --> 00:50:39,878 early spring vs late spring. and found that the earlier you can apply 652 00:50:40,077 --> 00:50:43,117 your nutrients before you apply your irrigation water in the spring, the less 653 00:50:43,344 --> 00:50:46,310 likely they are going to move out of those systems. 654 00:50:47,258 --> 00:50:49,825 I'd say the other difference is that those mountain meadows have a 655 00:50:50,069 --> 00:50:55,464 very short growing season and limited productivities, so they, a lot of times 656 00:50:55,819 --> 00:50:59,968 their productivity is not necessarily defined as much by how much fertilizer 657 00:51:00,280 --> 00:51:03,826 they apply. Is the short growing season whereas 658 00:51:04,100 --> 00:51:09,487 down here on the plains with row crop agriculture much longer growing season 659 00:51:09,700 --> 00:51:12,259 and typically much higher nutrient application rates. 660 00:51:14,186 --> 00:51:19,976 Emily: great thanks. The next question is for Troy from Lisa Buchanan. She asks 661 00:51:20,241 --> 00:51:24,759 "for areas where BMPs are being used, have you seen an improvement in downstream 662 00:51:24,949 --> 00:51:26,345 water quality is treated?"' 663 00:51:28,311 --> 00:51:31,480 Troy: Yeah that's a good question. I personally haven't done any, that 664 00:51:31,667 --> 00:51:37,157 many studies with surface water quality and BMP implementation on a 665 00:51:37,449 --> 00:51:42,350 watershed scale. The data I showed you was on the edge of field scale. 666 00:51:42,831 --> 00:51:49,095 and we definitely can show edge of field water quality improvements at 667 00:51:49,206 --> 00:51:55,274 edge of field in the work that I've done. nationally other folks have done 668 00:51:55,573 --> 00:52:00,798 watershed studies and it depends on the BMP systems and how well they were 669 00:52:01,063 --> 00:52:05,140 implemented and how well the BMP fit the agriculture in the area. 670 00:52:08,102 --> 00:52:11,983 Emily: thanks. we have time for one more question. This question comes 671 00:52:12,303 --> 00:52:17,542 from Jojo Laff and he asks "Troy in your experience what is the best way to 672 00:52:17,785 --> 00:52:21,993 agricultural members buy in for participation in voluntary programs?" 673 00:52:22,890 --> 00:52:27,059 "What do you believe are the best incentives for participation? Additionally, 674 00:52:27,360 --> 00:52:32,845 what is the best way to conduct public education on BMPs and the tools available?" 675 00:52:33,958 --> 00:52:35,583 Let me know if you want me to repeat any part of that. 676 00:52:38,181 --> 00:52:42,664 Troy: So the best, or the first part of that question I heard, I think I heard was 677 00:52:42,929 --> 00:52:46,878 "what's the best way to agricultural producers involved and interested in 678 00:52:47,102 --> 00:52:50,665 learning about and implementing best management practices.?" 679 00:52:51,140 --> 00:52:55,274 It depends on the practice to be honest with you. I think a lot of practices, like I 680 00:52:56,205 --> 00:53:00,115 showed with implementing center pivot irrigation instead of furrow irrigation 681 00:53:00,640 --> 00:53:04,192 are happening on their own because the incentives are already there. 682 00:53:04,352 --> 00:53:07,556 whether it's labor saving time or money or nutrients. 683 00:53:07,972 --> 00:53:13,114 The tougher ones I think are structural BMPS like filter strips 684 00:53:13,534 --> 00:53:19,031 and set backs and things like that may cost producers some time and money. 685 00:53:19,413 --> 00:53:24,364 I think those have, your incentives there are cost sharing and those kinds of things. 686 00:53:24,724 --> 00:53:31,993 I think in terms of getting them to the table, you know, working through their groups that 687 00:53:32,292 --> 00:53:36,864 represent them, whether they be commodity or livestock associations are really important. 688 00:53:36,932 --> 00:53:41,677 those folks are really engaged in the conversation and they want their 689 00:53:41,909 --> 00:53:43,806 producers to know what's going on. 690 00:53:44,609 --> 00:53:48,739 Because there's so many producers and there's so few of us doing this kind of work, 691 00:53:49,066 --> 00:53:50,267 that we can't talk to every body. 692 00:53:51,047 --> 00:53:57,387 But getting people around the table is really important whether it be growers or the people that represent them. 693 00:53:58,499 --> 00:54:00,739 Can you repeat the second part of that question? 694 00:54:02,273 --> 00:54:06,897 Emily: The second part asks, "Additionally, what is the best way to conduct public 695 00:54:07,378 --> 00:54:10,010 education on BMPs and the tools available?" 696 00:54:12,557 --> 00:54:18,092 Troy: yeah, that is an interesting question. 697 00:54:18,306 --> 00:54:23,995 because we just went through this process with CDPHE and stakeholders over the past 698 00:54:24,304 --> 00:54:31,892 year with reg 85 and the example outreach program that I showed early in my 699 00:54:32,335 --> 00:54:40,570 presentation. And we've kind of evolved about how we presented information to 700 00:54:40,972 --> 00:54:45,558 producers. It used to be a lot of factsheets and bulletins and written materials. 701 00:54:46,206 --> 00:54:52,143 and that kind of thing. and it's certainly going more high tech with short videos a 702 00:54:52,508 --> 00:54:58,296 nd websites and providing them tools like irrigation schedulers or nutrient 703 00:54:58,351 --> 00:55:04,534 management planners that they can use. particularly stuff that they can pull 704 00:55:05,081 --> 00:55:08,291 up on their smartphone when they are up there on their tractor with their g 705 00:55:08,595 --> 00:55:11,379 uidance system taking them down the row. 706 00:55:13,187 --> 00:55:21,610 Definitely, technology and I think the other place, again, is getting to the 707 00:55:21,899 --> 00:55:23,042 people that talk to them. 708 00:55:23,442 --> 00:55:28,247 getting to the local extension people, getting to NRCS, getting to 709 00:55:28,610 --> 00:55:29,883 certified crop advisers. 710 00:55:30,786 --> 00:55:36,745 Fertilizer dealers, people who, input suppliers can reach so many more 711 00:55:37,014 --> 00:55:44,468 growers than we can. Emily: great thanks so much. 712 00:55:45,354 --> 00:55:50,211 I believe that concludes the question part and I will pass it over to Katelyn. 713 00:55:51,343 --> 00:55:55,056 Kaitlyn: thank you to both of our panelists. And Steve, thanks for 714 00:55:55,516 --> 00:56:01,930 taking over for Dejenette. We did record this webinar, so you all will receive an 715 00:56:02,271 --> 00:56:03,987 email with links to the recording. 716 00:56:04,668 --> 00:56:07,023 Or you can find it on either of our websites. 717 00:56:09,143 --> 00:56:12,573 We encourage you to take the next step by connecting with the Colorado foundation 718 00:56:12,860 --> 00:56:15,029 for water education and colorado water congress. 719 00:56:15,766 --> 00:56:18,122 You should see our websites on your screen. 720 00:56:20,186 --> 00:56:22,945 Thanks to the presenters for their time as well as the audience for 721 00:56:23,486 --> 00:56:25,776 their participation and those wonderful questions. 722 00:56:26,477 --> 00:56:29,321 This concludes our webinar, thank you.