WEBVTT 00:00:06.755 --> 00:00:10.541 The webinar will last for about an hour. 00:00:11.198 --> 00:00:13.992 As attendees, you'll be muted throughout the presentation. 00:00:14.298 --> 00:00:21.659 If you have questions, please type them into the questions pane in your go-to 00:00:22.008 --> 00:00:25.009 webinars toolbar, which should be on the side of your screen. 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 00:00:31.770 --> 00:00:34.228 questions, which we will read aloud so our speakers can respond. 00:00:34.617 --> 00:00:37.419 The webinar is being recorded and will be available later this week for your 00:00:37.782 --> 00:00:39.049 reference. 00:00:39.474 --> 00:00:42.324 If you have any technical questions, please email Emily at 00:00:42.491 --> 00:00:49.079 ebrumit@cowatercongress.org. 00:00:49.989 --> 00:00:55.612 So now on to the topic at hand. Cyanotoxins, algoglams, nutrients and 00:00:56.236 --> 00:00:58.907 of course, how it affects Coloradoan's public health. 00:00:59.578 --> 00:01:03.642 Today, we will hear from, hopefully, three wonderful experts and leaders 00:01:04.083 --> 00:01:06.669 who will guide us through these topics. 00:01:07.088 --> 00:01:08.723 Djenette Khiari with the water research foundation. 00:01:08.904 --> 00:01:13.244 Steve Lundt, representing the Barr Milton Watershed association. 00:01:13.653 --> 00:01:16.074 And Troy Bauder with CSU extension. 00:01:16.393 --> 00:01:22.272 Steve has worked on lakes and reservoirs as a certified lake manager since 1999. 00:01:22.272 --> 00:01:26.906 Focusing on improving water quality through in-lake techniques and 00:01:27.186 --> 00:01:30.064 watershed projects. 00:01:31.551 --> 00:01:33.758 Today he will be talking with us about work reducing algolams at Barr lake. 00:01:34.073 --> 00:01:36.977 Which he has worked on along with other reservoirs downstream of Denver for 00:01:37.247 --> 00:01:38.455 the past 15 years. 00:01:38.928 --> 00:01:41.872 Troy Bauder is an Extension water quality specialist in the department 00:01:42.187 --> 00:01:45.313 of soil and crop sciences at Colorado State University. 00:01:45.681 --> 00:01:49.967 There he is responsible for conducting statewide educational and applied 00:01:50.165 --> 00:01:53.860 research programs for water quality, especially related to the protections 00:01:54.102 --> 00:01:57.597 of groundwater quality from impremest to agricultural chemicals. 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:01.856 His research and expertise include nutrients and irrigation management, 00:02:02.146 --> 00:02:04.009 which he'll be talking about today. 00:02:06.416 --> 00:02:07.855 Is Dejenette on the line? 00:02:09.056 --> 00:02:12.589 I am not seeing that Dejenette has been able to join us. 00:02:13.467 --> 00:02:15.469 As Kaitlyn mentioned, she had a power outage. 00:02:16.251 --> 00:02:21.877 So we are planning, um, Steve if you are OK with this plan. 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. 00:02:27.936 --> 00:02:29.440 Does that work for you? 00:02:29.709 --> 00:02:34.284 [laughing] I will do my best. I'll have to remember what she was going 00:02:34.693 --> 00:02:35.452 to talk about. 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 00:02:38.422 --> 00:02:40.576 fill in a little. 00:02:41.156 --> 00:02:43.443 Kaitlyn: So I'll just go through the slides and when you are ready for 00:02:43.793 --> 00:02:45.679 me to advance, just let me know. 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:49.443 So Djenette was going to offer an introduction to cyanobacteria 00:02:49.851 --> 00:02:54.039 and cyanotoxins. So Steve can kick us off. 00:02:55.111 --> 00:02:59.500 Steve: [laughing] This is a fun game, to wing someone else's presentation. 00:02:59.901 --> 00:03:05.831 The whole reason why we probably have all these people on this webinar is to. 00:03:05.831 --> 00:03:15.264 Because we all do care about our lakes, our reservoirs, our rivers and it boils 00:03:15.392 --> 00:03:17.607 down to managing nutrients that support algae bloom that then now 00:03:21.907 --> 00:03:23.686 have gotten into the realm of toxins. 00:03:24.987 --> 00:03:28.495 This idea of blue-green algae blooms that produce cyanotoxins has been around 00:03:28.769 --> 00:03:33.424 for quite a while. but it wasn't until about 2015, I believe, with Lake Erie 00:03:33.737 --> 00:03:36.938 and the Toledo incident where they had to close down their drinking water plant 00:03:37.274 --> 00:03:40.418 for, what was it, close to 1 million people. or a half a million people. 00:03:40.808 --> 00:03:44.511 So it really brought this topic to the surface for our country. 00:03:45.238 --> 00:03:49.484 and so since then we've been really focusing on cyantoxins. 00:03:49.778 --> 00:03:52.079 what does it mean to drinking water? 00:03:52.314 --> 00:03:55.306 what does it mean to recreation? and all that. 00:03:55.687 --> 00:04:00.339 Colorado and around the country, have been focusing on nutrient standards 00:04:00.684 --> 00:04:03.417 and have been trying to come up with appropriate numbers for phosphorus 00:04:03.763 --> 00:04:09.058 and nitrogen. And maybe the main focus has been on, obviously, to control algae 00:04:09.277 --> 00:04:12.451 blooms and to make sure all the uses for those waters are being met. 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 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. 00:04:23.075 --> 00:04:31.087 So there are a few key blue-green algae that are very common. 00:04:31.416 --> 00:04:39.107 There's microcystins, Anabana, Aphantzomenon and those blue-greens 00:04:39.107 --> 00:04:42.466 are very typical throughout our lakes and reservoirs around our country as 00:04:43.128 --> 00:04:44.605 well as the world. 00:04:44.942 --> 00:04:49.946 The world health organization, a few years back, you know, came up with 00:04:50.656 --> 00:04:53.176 some guidelines for the toxins that those produce. 00:04:53.684 --> 00:04:57.915 It's really been a hard topic because those blooms sometimes produce 00:04:58.201 --> 00:04:59.563 the toxins and sometimes they don't. 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 00:05:05.434 --> 00:05:08.622 when the toxins are the highest. So it's a really hard thing 00:05:08.916 --> 00:05:11.747 to understand about these toxins and the properties around them. 00:05:12.049 --> 00:05:21.444 But some of them, they impact the liver. They impact your nervous system. 00:05:21.983 --> 00:05:24.283 They also, you know there's even dermatologists that will give you 00:05:24.591 --> 00:05:29.517 skin rashes and so forth. And then there's some toxins that will kind 00:05:29.834 --> 00:05:33.970 of cover everything and just wreck havoc on your body and your system. 00:05:34.561 --> 00:05:43.977 A lot of times those toxins, have hurt animals like cattle and pets like dogs 00:05:44.302 --> 00:05:47.646 that will go down to a scum covered pond and drink from it. 00:05:47.974 --> 00:05:54.220 Typically humans are wise enough to know not to get into close contact or to drink 00:05:54.505 --> 00:05:58.876 water with cyanotoxins in it, with a bloom. 00:05:58.876 --> 00:06:03.827 But you can see from this chart, that some of the names of the toxins. 00:06:04.155 --> 00:06:06.875 Some of the primary organs that it goes after. 00:06:07.207 --> 00:06:12.065 and then the different species of algae for each of those toxins. 00:06:12.442 --> 00:06:17.273 Might talk later, for Barr Lake, we definitely have mirocystis, and 00:06:17.571 --> 00:06:20.817 Anabana. Those are the ones that I mainly have been monitoring. 00:06:21.158 --> 00:06:24.086 As well as Aphanzomenon. You can go to the next one. 00:06:24.426 --> 00:06:33.767 Microcystin, there's a whole sort of different kinds of these toxins. 00:06:35.409 --> 00:06:38.775 So there's microcystin-LR , but there's a whole series of different kinds of 00:06:38.950 --> 00:06:41.899 microcystin. So this is just a more common one. And then you can 00:06:42.260 --> 00:06:46.214 see the saxitoxin and the cylindrospermopsin and anatoxin-a. 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. 00:06:52.128 --> 00:06:56.764 When we had them tested for these four main categories, to see what we had 00:06:57.457 --> 00:07:02.987 in Barr Lake. And then also states around the country are starting to set up their 00:07:03.285 --> 00:07:08.254 monitoring program and how to sample for toxins and to give warning to people 00:07:08.689 --> 00:07:10.271 that are using it for drinking water, for recreation. 00:07:10.615 --> 00:07:15.178 So these are the main cyantoxins that we are concerned about. Next one. 00:07:15.910 --> 00:07:28.327 So in June 2015, EPA put out an advisory for drinking water. 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 00:07:34.901 --> 00:07:36.865 kind of figure out what that means for drinking water plants and how do you 00:07:37.258 --> 00:07:40.225 monitor, and where do you monitor and how do you go about this whole process. 00:07:40.586 --> 00:07:43.525 This whole new thing about another toxin to worry about. 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 00:07:47.217 --> 00:07:49.304 getting it out of your drinking water, how to prevent it. 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 00:07:53.810 --> 00:07:55.915 sent out into distribution lines, what do you do then? 00:07:56.157 --> 00:08:00.883 So states, Colorado and others have been working on that since 2015. 00:08:03.117 --> 00:08:10.369 And then you see recently, EPA sent out in the fall of 2016 the recreational waters. 00:08:11.289 --> 00:08:16.839 And this is more applied to Barr Lake and to maybe more reservoirs in Colorado 00:08:17.071 --> 00:08:21.066 where there's a lot more recreational contact and swimming involved. 00:08:21.393 --> 00:08:26.143 And you can see those toxins and those levels for recreational waters. 00:08:26.460 --> 00:08:29.834 The closing period for comments, I believe, just closed for that process. 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? 00:08:41.308 --> 00:08:46.200 I like this one actually. When I saw this, it definitely tells the story. 00:08:46.658 --> 00:08:51.290 Blue-greens are the only species of algae that can change their buoyancy. 00:08:51.664 --> 00:08:55.641 So that's why you see that one cartoon figure up there on the surface 00:08:56.076 --> 00:08:56.711 getting a suntan. 00:08:56.891 --> 00:09:00.015 It's blocking out the sunlight to any other species of algae that grow. 00:09:00.387 --> 00:09:05.318 So blue-greens have evolved over billions of years to really be able to 00:09:05.656 --> 00:09:10.307 do a good job of surviving in any kind of condition. 00:09:10.728 --> 00:09:11.863 They prefer the warmest water. 00:09:12.225 --> 00:09:16.271 They prefer the still water, so that's why they are more in lakes and reservoirs. 00:09:16.549 --> 00:09:17.884 And they can get to the surface. 00:09:18.280 --> 00:09:21.783 Obviously they can change their buoyancy and they go down at night. 00:09:22.139 --> 00:09:26.652 I've seen blooms literally come to the surface while I'm anchored in 00:09:27.015 --> 00:09:28.063 one spot monitoring a lake. 00:09:28.498 --> 00:09:30.820 They can go down and they can store phosphorus. 00:09:31.086 --> 00:09:33.761 They also have the ability to take nitrogen right out of the atmosphere 00:09:34.074 --> 00:09:37.267 and use that instead of ammonia or nitrate. 00:09:37.283 --> 00:09:41.374 So they are capable of using nitrogen right out of the atmosphere, which all the other 00:09:41.682 --> 00:09:46.310 species cannot do.so that's why they definitely can beat when nitrogen is low. 00:09:46.935 --> 00:09:54.285 They can still use that phosphorus that they stored up and they can use it 00:09:54.701 --> 00:09:55.970 from the air. 00:09:56.160 --> 00:09:58.363 So they have this kind of daily cycle of going down and coming back 00:09:59.993 --> 00:10:01.541 up to get to the sun and blocking everything out. 00:10:02.852 --> 00:10:05.971 Definitely, this occurs and has occurred at Barr Lake for many years. 00:10:07.019 --> 00:10:07.418 Next slide. 00:10:09.017 --> 00:10:11.593 I think I can get to my slides on this one too. 00:10:12.381 --> 00:10:13.762 We can skip this one. 00:10:14.712 --> 00:10:18.663 Definitely these are the sources of nutrients. If any body is dealing with 00:10:19.044 --> 00:10:21.996 lakes, with reservoirs, with water quality with drinking water, with waste water, 00:10:22.197 --> 00:10:27.899 these are the classic sources of nutrients. If any body's ever doing TMDL for nutrients 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 00:10:32.337 --> 00:10:36.526 background, you're going to be looking at fertilizer application whether it's lawns 00:10:36.790 --> 00:10:37.357 or agriculture. 00:10:37.940 --> 00:10:41.894 Definitely stormwater. And then reservoirs and lakes, you know when a lake has zero 00:10:42.285 --> 00:10:45.845 oxygen at the sediment, the phosphorus can recycle, dissolve out of the sediment 00:10:46.147 --> 00:10:49.560 and get recycled into the water. next slide. 00:10:50.483 --> 00:11:03.800 Nice pictures. Those are all the different sources. 00:11:04.249 --> 00:11:07.066 So, how much is too much? 00:11:07.358 --> 00:11:12.538 A lot of times for lakes and reservoirs I've seen where anything under 10 micro 00:11:13.103 --> 00:11:14.993 grams per litre, you should be really good. 00:11:15.305 --> 00:11:18.546 Anything that gets above 10, above 20, then you're going to start running into 00:11:18.909 --> 00:11:24.025 signs of nutrofication and water quality issues with algae. 00:11:24.443 --> 00:11:29.483 So dealing with lakes, I kind of keep those numbers in mind. 00:11:29.929 --> 00:11:33.212 We can keep going , I think , to the next one. 00:11:37.063 --> 00:11:40.712 So you can see here, you know, if total phosphorus is below 10 then it should 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 00:11:45.764 --> 00:11:48.206 with my talk, you'll see where we are at Barr Lake. 00:11:48.648 --> 00:11:53.941 I'm at, right now, typically 250 at Barr Lake and I'm ecstatic. 00:11:54.395 --> 00:11:56.998 I'm happy because it's a lot better than where it used to be. 00:11:57.725 --> 00:12:00.890 So these numbers are all relevant, they are just sort of guidelines too, so just 00:12:01.147 --> 00:12:03.689 keep that in mind. Next slide. 00:12:07.249 --> 00:12:12.391 Source control strategies. There's a lot of things you can do in the reservoir to 00:12:12.822 --> 00:12:15.669 keep intraloading, to keep the phosphorus in the sediment. 00:12:15.856 --> 00:12:18.365 There's a lot of things you can do at point sources like wastewater treatment 00:12:18.365 --> 00:12:20.828 plants. They are starting to treat for phosphorus, tertiary treatment. 00:12:21.602 --> 00:12:25.876 There's a lot of in lake techniques. You can skim the algae off. 00:12:26.797 --> 00:12:29.474 That's sort of a band-aid approach. Not really getting at the source of the 00:12:29.676 --> 00:12:33.709 problem, which is the phosphorus. Many states, there's about 12 00:12:33.941 --> 00:12:39.133 states that have state-wide phosphorus controls on lawn fertilizers. 00:12:39.893 --> 00:12:42.736 We don't have one here in Colorado, but definitely that's the way. 00:12:43.027 --> 00:12:46.006 You can no longer buy phosphorus in detergents in laundry soap. 00:12:47.961 --> 00:12:52.488 That has definitely helped since 1970's with the Great Lakes and around the 00:12:52.712 --> 00:12:56.625 country is controlling phosphorus in the products that everybody uses. 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. 00:13:07.866 --> 00:13:09.513 Prefer to get to my talk here soon. [laughter] 00:13:09.845 --> 00:13:14.731 Looks like we are getting close to the end here. Obviously her organization 00:13:15.012 --> 00:13:17.656 has put out a lot of good information and hopefully you can contact Dejenette and 00:13:17.927 --> 00:13:22.126 get more information from the great things that she does. at the water resource 00:13:22.365 --> 00:13:24.720 foundation. How was that? 00:13:25.356 --> 00:13:28.660 Kaitlyn: thank you so much Steve, that was awesome! 00:13:29.076 --> 00:13:29.839 Steve: Sure. 00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:33.206 Kaitlyn: Thanks, for stepping in for Djenette. I'm going to go ahead and 00:13:33.299 --> 00:13:36.216 pass the controls to you for your presentation. 00:13:36.534 --> 00:13:37.941 Steve: Sure. 00:13:39.009 --> 00:13:40.042 Thank you. 00:13:40.568 --> 00:13:45.150 Are we good? Alright. 00:13:45.301 --> 00:13:51.834 Round 2 here. I first want to say I just really appreciate this opportunity to talk 00:13:52.081 --> 00:13:53.774 about Barr Lake specifically. 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 00:14:00.802 --> 00:14:03.170 quality has changed over those 15 years. 00:14:04.352 --> 00:14:08.771 And so much like the talk before, going to talk about nutrients and how algae 00:14:08.901 --> 00:14:13.484 responds and I have definitely seen improvements in Barr Lake. 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. 00:14:21.449 --> 00:14:28.508 First off, cultural eutrophication it's sort of, it's a fancy way, a term of 00:14:28.815 --> 00:14:34.451 saying people mess up a lake by sending it too much nutrients all at once. 00:14:35.446 --> 00:14:39.978 Especially at Barr Lake. Barr Lake probably gets a million years' worth of phosphorus 00:14:40.618 --> 00:14:43.002 in just a few months when it fills up every year. 00:14:43.655 --> 00:14:49.717 So the process of lakes that can handle over time, thousands of years, millions 00:14:50.058 --> 00:14:54.910 of years, can transition from a ligatrophic lake to a mesatrophic 00:14:55.095 --> 00:14:58.378 to a hypotrophic lake where it's very very productive. 00:14:58.736 --> 00:15:04.575 That can occur in a reservoir in a matter of years. So that's the process 00:15:04.809 --> 00:15:07.928 that we all talk about and that we're worried about with cyanotoxins. 00:15:08.332 --> 00:15:12.590 In the news, we usually hear about the problems. Where it's toxins, fish kills. 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 00:15:17.309 --> 00:15:20.449 these algae blooms. But again, it's mislabled. Those are just symptoms, 00:15:20.835 --> 00:15:23.939 the true problem, is that it always goes back, every single time to too 00:15:24.343 --> 00:15:27.837 much phosphorus and nitrogen, too quickly to a body of water. 00:15:29.824 --> 00:15:32.226 To introduce you to Barr Lake, this is an aerial photo of Barr Lake. 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 00:15:36.350 --> 00:15:37.778 your window as you are looking at the mountains. 00:15:38.333 --> 00:15:42.890 Just north of the rocky mountain arsenal wildlife refuge. 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:46.859 There's also, you can see the community. There's definitely a lot of developments and 00:15:47.488 --> 00:15:51.964 growth in the area. It's not quite as popular as Cherry Creek and Chatfield, 00:15:52.145 --> 00:15:54.303 but this reservoir is quite different. 00:15:54.601 --> 00:15:58.448 It's been around for a little over 100 years. About as old as Denver, almost. 00:15:58.595 --> 00:16:08.047 The other thing is, is that, it fills up every winter and the main use over 00:16:08.384 --> 00:16:09.204 the years has been agriculture. 00:16:09.645 --> 00:16:12.818 While Cherry Creek and Chatfield and Bear Creek have been flood control. 00:16:12.917 --> 00:16:17.843 Barr Lake has been around a long time and a lot of water goes out 00:16:18.214 --> 00:16:19.578 there to be sent out to grow crops. 00:16:20.116 --> 00:16:24.183 And so the residence time is only 8 months. Basically, fills in the winter and releases 00:16:24.473 --> 00:16:26.523 during the summer and does this annual cycle. 00:16:26.919 --> 00:16:31.240 It is twice the size of volume as Cherry Creek so it is pretty big. 00:16:31.576 --> 00:16:39.713 It's had a state park since 1975. And the main uses now are recreation, 00:16:39.986 --> 00:16:43.998 aquatic life, agriculture and drinking water that was added about 00:16:44.249 --> 00:16:45.851 15 or so years ago. 00:16:46.991 --> 00:16:49.679 The main source of water to Barr Lake is from the South Platte river. 00:16:49.965 --> 00:16:54.019 There's a 19 mile ditch, the Burlington Ditch that diverts water from the 00:16:54.469 --> 00:16:58.014 South Platte River. Typically, it sweeps the entire river. So any water you see 00:16:58.306 --> 00:17:01.657 downtown by the confluence at Cherry Creek or by REI, that's going out a 00:17:02.051 --> 00:17:06.114 couple of miles to almost the riverside cemetery and gets diverted and 00:17:06.380 --> 00:17:07.359 sent to Barr Lake. 00:17:07.778 --> 00:17:10.407 So travel time, if you were standing Downtown Denver, water going down 00:17:11.468 --> 00:17:14.587 the south platte, it probably gets to Barr Lake in about a day and a half. 00:17:15.847 --> 00:17:20.553 A lot of times, people think Barr Lake is way out northeast. People don't see 00:17:20.934 --> 00:17:23.910 it that much, but it is definitely connected to the urban Denver area. 00:17:24.158 --> 00:17:30.930 The ditch can also send water around Barr Lake to several other agricultural 00:17:31.183 --> 00:17:38.171 reservoirs. So here's the watershed. Back in the 90's it collected a lot of 00:17:38.375 --> 00:17:41.439 water quality data in Barr Lake as well as Milton Reservoir. 00:17:41.914 --> 00:17:44.472 And determined that both were exceeding the pH standard which 00:17:44.472 --> 00:17:46.762 is the upper limit is 9 and so they were going above 9. 00:17:46.944 --> 00:17:56.136 So it got put on a 303 D-List. And similar to Bear Creek, and Chatfield 00:17:58.145 --> 00:18:00.855 and Cherry Creek, the state helped organize a watershed association. 00:18:01.746 --> 00:18:04.817 We call it the Barr-Milton watershed association because we focus on both 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 00:18:09.654 --> 00:18:11.440 would bring all the stakeholders together. 00:18:11.747 --> 00:18:19.003 And help write a TMDL for pH. Which meant obviously, pH is a symptom, 00:18:19.229 --> 00:18:21.102 so you go back to phosphorus. 00:18:21.393 --> 00:18:26.999 So it's actually a phosphorus TMDL. To determine how you can achieve 00:18:27.323 --> 00:18:28.027 the pH standard. 00:18:28.907 --> 00:18:31.860 The big story for this watershed, obviously, is the number of people 00:18:32.228 --> 00:18:33.875 living just upstream of Barr Lake. 00:18:34.265 --> 00:18:38.851 It's literally about 1 in 2 coloradoans, live upstream of Barr. Which means, 00:18:39.001 --> 00:18:43.349 obviously, cultural eutrophication again and excessive amount of 00:18:43.630 --> 00:18:45.254 phosphorus that goes out to Barr Lake. 00:18:46.868 --> 00:18:50.269 This is sort of a timeline. This is a timeline of the phosphorus out at 00:18:50.603 --> 00:18:53.485 Barr Lake, prior to 1960's for about 50 years. 00:18:53.485 --> 00:18:57.074 As long as there was water in the South Platte coming out of Denver, 00:18:57.332 --> 00:18:58.755 they didn't care what was in it. 00:18:58.755 --> 00:19:02.857 Quantity trumped quality, so they sent water, anything to Barr Lake to 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. 00:19:07.224 --> 00:19:10.699 But that finally caught up to them and it was labeled as the country's largest 00:19:11.064 --> 00:19:15.035 inland sewage bloom back in the 50's and 60's. 00:19:15.408 --> 00:19:18.454 And so you can see the phosphorus concentrations are enormous. 00:19:18.528 --> 00:19:24.402 Then there was in the mid-60's there was a better job of consolidating wastewater 00:19:24.698 --> 00:19:27.469 treatments. and built a new treatment plant that was downstream of the 00:19:27.894 --> 00:19:33.903 burlington ditch. And then by 1975 it became a state park. EPA actually 00:19:34.335 --> 00:19:37.689 came out and sampled it three times in the mid 70's. 00:19:37.913 --> 00:19:41.175 So you can see where the concentrations were in the 70s, just over 1 milligram 00:19:41.496 --> 00:19:43.099 per litre phosphorus. 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. 00:19:48.258 --> 00:19:52.669 And we collected a lot more data and that resulted in showing about half of the 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:55.544 phosphorus now, about 660 micrograms per litre. 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, 00:20:04.828 --> 00:20:06.067 because look where we came from. 00:20:06.206 --> 00:20:12.582 From 10,000 micrograms per litre to 250. reason why this happened was there was 00:20:12.582 --> 00:20:17.681 the 2013 flood that happened in September and it came down sand creek and washed 00:20:17.899 --> 00:20:22.980 out a pipeline that used to send treated effluent from metro wastewater uphill 00:20:23.278 --> 00:20:25.284 and put it into the burlington ditch. 00:20:25.918 --> 00:20:32.131 That pipeline was washed away. so since 2013 there's been no treated effluence 00:20:32.347 --> 00:20:36.212 being pumped up into the ditch to go to Barr Lake. 00:20:36.554 --> 00:20:41.307 So by, sort of, an act of God. It has definitely helped water quality. 00:20:41.882 --> 00:20:47.223 The TMDL process, the goal is to get to less than 100 micorgrams/litre in 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 00:20:51.156 --> 00:20:55.501 it by half again. So now we're in the phase of implementing the TMDL. 00:20:55.745 --> 00:21:03.388 From the TMDL, we estimated the annual load of phosphorus, 70,000kg would go 00:21:03.760 --> 00:21:08.465 out to Barr Lake. About 90% of that came from point sources, which was wastewater 00:21:08.744 --> 00:21:12.852 treatment plants and permitted stormwater MS4 folks. 00:21:13.770 --> 00:21:18.709 then there was background, and background is what's coming from Chatfield, Cherry Creek 00:21:19.093 --> 00:21:22.408 and Bear Creek. Those reservoirs release water into our watershed and so then 00:21:23.201 --> 00:21:24.450 we have to account for that. 00:21:24.821 --> 00:21:28.278 And then about 4,000kg comes internally from the reservoir. 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. 00:21:36.923 --> 00:21:39.786 And then, you can see, it's a little more balanced distribution from the different 00:21:39.979 --> 00:21:44.822 sources. One thing to note though, in this process, we learned that even if 00:21:45.019 --> 00:21:47.262 you removed every single person in the watershed, all the streets, all the 00:21:47.432 --> 00:21:52.961 stormwater, removed all the point sources, you'd still be left with the 00:21:53.370 --> 00:21:56.434 3,000 coming in from upstream watersheds and the 4,000 in the reservoir. 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 00:22:02.373 --> 00:22:06.941 standard. And so it just means that every single source needs to be addressed. 00:22:09.059 --> 00:22:10.250 So how are we going to do this? 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 00:22:14.791 --> 00:22:17.133 to get down below 100 micrograms per litre. 00:22:17.672 --> 00:22:21.858 First off, wastewater treatment plants are moving to tertiary treatment. 00:22:22.516 --> 00:22:25.770 Metro wastewater, Littleton/Englewood, and Centennial are the three upstream 00:22:27.671 --> 00:22:29.013 wastewater treatment plants to Barr Lake. 00:22:31.025 --> 00:22:40.112 Stormwater also. Denver, just last year I believe, increased their stormwater bills. So they 00:22:40.381 --> 00:22:43.575 now have plans for major improvements in north Denver. 00:22:44.493 --> 00:22:48.580 Platte Park Hill is one of those big stormwater projects that will eventually 00:22:49.016 --> 00:22:50.558 help water quality in Barr Lake. 00:22:51.908 --> 00:22:58.017 We've also looked at studies for internal loading. Not quite as expensive, but still 00:22:58.410 --> 00:23:00.836 going to cost some money. 00:23:01.349 --> 00:23:04.970 we also have to treat the phosphorus that's coming out, from upstream in 00:23:05.561 --> 00:23:07.774 our watershed. So we somehow have to intercept that. 00:23:09.854 --> 00:23:11.710 And then of course we do public education. 00:23:17.944 --> 00:23:24.129 Here's a chart of our phosphorus. This is sort of a monthly timeframe 00:23:24.361 --> 00:23:25.652 of the 15 years I've been sampling. 00:23:25.856 --> 00:23:28.618 You can see the phosphorus comes in with the water in the winter and slowly 00:23:28.653 --> 00:23:32.410 drops out. and then increases again in the summer, maybe during internal loading. 00:23:33.334 --> 00:23:34.975 and then it gets lowest in October. 00:23:37.733 --> 00:23:42.496 Along with that, you get chlorphyill A. Chart here shows there's a big diatom 00:23:42.748 --> 00:23:44.687 growth in the spring time. 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. 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. 00:23:55.196 --> 00:23:59.719 Because as soon as 4th of July comes around and the big recreational season, 00:23:59.978 --> 00:24:00.784 and the growing season. 00:24:01.317 --> 00:24:04.789 Typically we would get the big blue-green algae bloom, the first one, the microcystis 00:24:04.789 --> 00:24:08.345 algae bloom. And the kind of crash and bloom, crash and bloom. And we have 00:24:08.543 --> 00:24:11.342 another big one Aphantzomenon in late September. 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. 00:24:19.601 --> 00:24:23.949 When I first started in '02 sampling this was pretty much every summer what it 00:24:24.133 --> 00:24:27.587 would look like. It would be monoculture of algae bloom that would go over 00:24:27.587 --> 00:24:34.365 the entire lake. And eventually get crusty and scab over and cause odor issues 00:24:34.901 --> 00:24:36.768 and stuff. And you can see the bottom picture. 00:24:37.010 --> 00:24:40.540 The people that would mostly recreate would be people fishing from shore 00:24:40.540 --> 00:24:46.526 and they would just tolerate it and avoid those scums the best that they could. 00:24:47.399 --> 00:24:52.324 More recently, since the 2013 flood, there has been a big noticeable change. 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 00:24:58.130 --> 00:25:02.642 not white and foamy. And then you can see last, middle of July, when we should 00:25:02.934 --> 00:25:07.246 be having a big bloom, we have really nice water quality compared to 00:25:07.246 --> 00:25:08.497 previous years. 00:25:10.541 --> 00:25:14.811 We did, because of the 2015 issues around the cyanotoxins. We decided to 00:25:15.142 --> 00:25:19.157 say "Ok let's just kind of explore this and get some strip tests from Abraxis 00:25:19.460 --> 00:25:25.396 and do some testing out there." I tested the open water as well as near shore. 00:25:26.821 --> 00:25:31.992 Open water never had any indication of the cyanotoxins. The only time I got 00:25:32.267 --> 00:25:36.461 it was when I would sample the shoreline where we see this green line of 00:25:36.496 --> 00:25:37.657 blue-green algae. 00:25:38.170 --> 00:25:43.226 Water quality's pretty good. It's not like the other pictures where it's completely 00:25:43.557 --> 00:25:44.353 crusted over. 00:25:44.709 --> 00:25:52.858 There was still a small less intense algae bloom. It was typically microcystis and 00:25:52.997 --> 00:25:54.088 some Aphantzomenon. 00:25:54.809 --> 00:25:58.498 but when we sent off those samples to green water, we did get a hit on 00:25:58.770 --> 00:26:03.178 microcystin. We did not have any Anatoxin-A, saxitoxin, or 00:26:03.426 --> 00:26:06.586 cylindrospermopsin. It was mainly because of the microcystis. 00:26:07.372 --> 00:26:11.811 But Barr Lake, key note is, that even though it's classfied as primary full 00:26:11.952 --> 00:26:16.122 contact use. The rules out there for the state park is that there is no swimming, 00:26:16.382 --> 00:26:21.008 no swim beach, even dogs are not allowed to wade into the water. 00:26:21.056 --> 00:26:25.661 The main thing is just boating and recreating, fishing from shore. 00:26:25.915 --> 00:26:30.250 Now clearly, people get into the water they roll their kayaks this was a camp 00:26:30.444 --> 00:26:32.301 here that would take kayaks out and learn how to roll kayaks. 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 00:26:39.278 --> 00:26:43.355 educating people year round at Barr Lake to be algae aware. 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. 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 00:26:55.639 --> 00:26:59.086 general, water quality, phosphorus and the watershed. 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 00:27:07.739 --> 00:27:09.285 I think we'll be good. 00:27:09.662 --> 00:27:14.522 Obviously there's dollar signs to this. so if aquatic life is happy then the 00:27:14.800 --> 00:27:15.612 fish will be happy. 00:27:16.092 --> 00:27:19.423 We'll be spending less money on fixing the problem than just maintaining the 00:27:19.736 --> 00:27:20.924 proper conditions out there. 00:27:21.441 --> 00:27:24.873 Recreation's a big deal. And then of course we grow a lot of food and 00:27:25.133 --> 00:27:25.982 it's a water supply. 00:27:26.519 --> 00:27:30.688 So those are definitely all these. What's unique about our lake is that 00:27:30.847 --> 00:27:31.834 these uses are equally important. 00:27:32.696 --> 00:27:36.323 And if we achieve the right amount of nutrients coming from the watershed, 00:27:36.615 --> 00:27:41.356 then we believe the blooms will be less intense, not as long and that the 00:27:41.526 --> 00:27:43.707 reservoir will be a healthy system. 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 00:27:49.333 --> 00:27:51.419 for listening to me for the last half hour. 00:27:54.318 --> 00:27:58.312 Kaitlyn; Thank you so much Steve. We are going to switch to Troy. 00:27:58.633 --> 00:28:03.326 Troy I just made you a presenter and I believe you just un-muted yourself. 00:28:03.824 --> 00:28:04.594 So thank you. 00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:16.824 Troy: Good morning every body. Is my sound and screen working ok? 00:28:17.620 --> 00:28:18.846 They sure are. 00:28:19.571 --> 00:28:20.923 Troy: Ok good deal. 00:28:21.346 --> 00:28:28.191 Moderator: You are not in presentation mode so we can still see your next slide. 00:28:28.695 --> 00:28:54.927 Troy: Let's try that. Did that help? 00:28:55.472 --> 00:29:00.804 Moderator: No, we can still see your next slide but feel free to carry on. 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 00:29:06.115 --> 00:29:11.833 I get there. We're going to switch from point sources, that Steve was talking 00:29:12.033 --> 00:29:13.580 about with Barr Lake. 00:29:14.110 --> 00:29:17.639 You know, system mostly impacted by point sources to non point source. 00:29:17.895 --> 00:29:23.430 My field is working with agricultural producers on reducing nutrient losses on their fields. 00:29:23.512 --> 00:29:29.304 I'll give you a little bit about the process. and where we are on that. 00:29:29.883 --> 00:29:34.449 So it's important to remember that ag nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorus are 00:29:34.670 --> 00:29:38.951 in other nutrients, but in this instance we are talking about N and P. 00:29:39.154 --> 00:29:43.657 Are absolutely required for productive agriculture. If we fail to replace or 00:29:44.006 --> 00:29:48.472 supplement nitrogen and phosphorus that's removed by our crop systems, 00:29:49.189 --> 00:29:53.848 ultimately not only will you result in low and unprofitable yields, 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. 00:30:02.287 --> 00:30:03.601 So it is important for sustainable agriculture. 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 00:30:13.633 --> 00:30:18.004 and then of course the potential to reduce the potential for movement to 00:30:18.486 --> 00:30:19.863 surface and groundwater. 00:30:21.365 --> 00:30:32.053 So recently, in 2012, Colorado passed a nutrient policy called regulation 85. 00:30:33.903 --> 00:30:38.052 For agriculture it's still a non point source kind of voluntary approach 00:30:38.727 --> 00:30:47.228 to help incentivize producers to utilize, voluntarily, BMPs around nitrogen and 00:30:47.427 --> 00:30:49.113 phosphorus control in their operations. 00:30:49.904 --> 00:31:00.383 and we partnered with CDPHE, to produce some resources and outreach program 00:31:00.569 --> 00:31:04.020 which we are calling Colorado Ag Water Quality and this is our logo. 00:31:04.600 --> 00:31:10.414 And you'll find all these resources at that URL, coloradoagnutrients.org. 00:31:10.998 --> 00:31:18.085 the purpose of this outreach effort is to get the word out to growers about 00:31:18.177 --> 00:31:21.328 how reg 85 could potentially affect them. 00:31:22.095 --> 00:31:27.380 and right now it's a non point source voluntary policy for agriculture, but 00:31:27.659 --> 00:31:31.435 they are going to reevaluate that in 2022 to see if we've made progress 00:31:31.543 --> 00:31:37.363 on BMP implementation, adoption and water quality as it relates to non 00:31:37.771 --> 00:31:39.251 point source in agriculture. 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 00:31:43.783 --> 00:31:51.150 there that do a really nice job of having the stakeholders, producers and people 00:31:51.490 --> 00:31:57.556 that represent them talk about how nutrient, using nutrients in agriculture 00:31:57.754 --> 00:31:59.213 is important to them. 00:31:59.457 --> 00:32:04.897 and practices they can use to prevent non point source pollution. 00:32:05.090 --> 00:32:07.015 I'd encourage you to go check that out. 00:32:08.407 --> 00:32:13.795 So the approach that I encourage and we do in our program is what I call 00:32:14.034 --> 00:32:16.263 participatory research and outreach. 00:32:16.768 --> 00:32:19.975 Around getting growers to implement BMPs voluntary. 00:32:20.618 --> 00:32:25.221 And some of the concepts that we work with are nutrient management with 00:32:25.492 --> 00:32:26.502 the 4R concept. 00:32:26.902 --> 00:32:30.744 We encourage BMPs around conservation tillage and the soil resource. 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 00:32:38.377 --> 00:32:45.239 crop production relies on agriculture's managing that water source improved 00:32:45.552 --> 00:32:48.050 irrigation systems and advanced irrigation scheduling. 00:32:48.434 --> 00:32:50.689 and i'll talk about that a little bit more in a couple of slides. 00:32:51.252 --> 00:32:56.946 and then finally, we definitely want to work with our growers on the agronomic 00:32:57.246 --> 00:33:00.504 and economic feasibility of these practices to help them understand 00:33:00.939 --> 00:33:02.765 how they can help the bottom line. 00:33:04.806 --> 00:33:10.919 so early in the process of any localized or state wide stakeholder engagement 00:33:11.353 --> 00:33:14.398 around ag and water quality, it's important to get the stakeholders 00:33:14.682 --> 00:33:15.902 involved early in the process. 00:33:17.154 --> 00:33:22.960 And we've been doing that for many years. producer input; we want them to 00:33:23.071 --> 00:33:27.915 understand that buying into what is even defined as a best management practice. 00:33:28.657 --> 00:33:32.617 and then demonstrate their effectiveness and their agronomic practicality. 00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:37.190 and then try to follow up with tools and resources that our producers can use 00:33:37.391 --> 00:33:41.424 and understand and help them manage their nutrients and water better. 00:33:43.982 --> 00:33:48.446 So a little bit about BMP effectiveness on the ground. 00:33:48.605 --> 00:33:53.098 I talked about the 4R concept that's kind of become fairly popular recently in 00:33:53.253 --> 00:33:58.414 agriculture. And that is applying the right nutrient at the right amount, or rate, 00:33:59.048 --> 00:34:01.269 at the right place within the soil. 00:34:02.018 --> 00:34:09.075 Either spatially or within the plane of the root zone, at the right time. Trying 00:34:09.198 --> 00:34:11.847 to time our nutrients when the crops need them the most. 00:34:12.344 --> 00:34:18.089 So the uptake efficiency will be be higher. and the right source. 00:34:19.120 --> 00:34:23.609 Sometimes we have different nutrient sources, whether it be compost or 00:34:24.190 --> 00:34:28.458 commercial fertilizer. It might be better for the conditions on the 00:34:28.657 --> 00:34:30.924 ground or the farmer's situation. 00:34:32.598 --> 00:34:37.247 When these practices are properly implemented, they do in most cases 00:34:37.474 --> 00:34:42.310 increase nutrient use efficiency by the crop and thus prevent the potential for 00:34:42.557 --> 00:34:43.965 movement in most environments. 00:34:45.144 --> 00:34:48.166 However, as I mentioned before, in Colorado in our irrigated 00:34:48.449 --> 00:34:54.569 environment we know that most of our losses are with water, soluableized 00:34:54.769 --> 00:34:56.109 or attached to sediments. 00:34:56.476 --> 00:35:02.521 For these 4R's to work we need improved irrigation management to take place 00:35:02.806 --> 00:35:08.266 at the same time. In each of nutrients type we don't manage our water, 00:35:08.612 --> 00:35:10.221 we could be defeating the purpose. 00:35:14.080 --> 00:35:16.269 So a little bit about irrigation management. 00:35:16.761 --> 00:35:19.308 Like I mentioned, it's really critical for quatifiable reductions at the 00:35:19.308 --> 00:35:23.233 field level. Particularly with nitrate leaching but also with runoff. 00:35:23.813 --> 00:35:30.163 and you can have improvements in system upgrades moving from a furrow to a 00:35:30.493 --> 00:35:36.240 pivot to a drip system. or you can improve your management in terms of scheduling 00:35:36.894 --> 00:35:39.024 your water at the right time and right amount. 00:35:39.436 --> 00:35:44.790 and together those two practices can go a long way for tightly managing your water 00:35:45.178 --> 00:35:52.650 and your nutrients. and a lot of this is occurring organically in the watershed. 00:35:53.146 --> 00:36:02.238 a good example I like to show is some google earth imagery, satellite imagery 00:36:02.551 --> 00:36:07.779 from around fort morgan. And if you go back to 1998 and look, 00:36:08.154 --> 00:36:13.244 and this is black and white imagery. you can see a grid work of rectangular and 00:36:13.557 --> 00:36:20.036 square fields out there as recently as only 20 years ago. 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 00:36:24.149 --> 00:36:30.337 most of those have been replaced with circles and center pivot irrigation systems 00:36:30.722 --> 00:36:35.159 and the opportunity to manage your water and your nutrients is much higher 00:36:35.436 --> 00:36:38.451 when you improve your efficiency of your system. 00:36:38.851 --> 00:36:43.615 a lot of this is happening already. growers are adopting these practices 00:36:43.856 --> 00:36:47.496 for a variety of reasons, but usually it's economics and labor. 00:36:47.914 --> 00:36:53.045 I mentioned we like to provide tools that growers can use to manage their nutrients 00:36:53.605 --> 00:36:54.268 and their water. 00:36:55.020 --> 00:36:59.920 and recently we released an online irrigation scheduler called WISE. 00:37:00.629 --> 00:37:05.140 This is a couple screen shots from that particular product. 00:37:05.722 --> 00:37:09.679 you can find that at wise.colostate.edu. 00:37:10.216 --> 00:37:15.248 it's a very user friendly, convenient irrigation scheduling platform at 00:37:15.694 --> 00:37:18.428 erams at colorado state university. 00:37:18.648 --> 00:37:21.086 again tying our nutrients to our water management. 00:37:22.927 --> 00:37:27.101 the other thing that i mentioned that is important for agriculture for adoption 00:37:27.367 --> 00:37:31.395 of BMPs is to show results and water quality is part of that. 00:37:31.853 --> 00:37:37.797 growers need to know that if they use these practices it will make a difference. 00:37:38.092 --> 00:37:43.027 on one side of your screen you can see some water quality coming off fields 00:37:43.262 --> 00:37:48.073 where we had just conventional tillage and on the other side of the screen 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 00:37:52.463 --> 00:37:55.442 left in place there. and how that residue is affecting the 00:37:55.657 --> 00:37:59.307 quality of the water coming off that plot compared to the other plot. 00:38:01.635 --> 00:38:06.226 and of course, the bottom line matters with growers. they are in business to 00:38:06.444 --> 00:38:12.239 make money. and so we try to provide them the costs and returns of 00:38:12.239 --> 00:38:19.766 adopting practices. our gross returns are represented largely by the yield on one 00:38:20.122 --> 00:38:25.326 side of your graph where you can see the dark brown bar of conventional, compared 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 00:38:32.696 --> 00:38:35.119 minimum till on this particular project. 00:38:35.814 --> 00:38:41.682 and where the gross returns showed the BMP was losing a little bit of money, 00:38:41.886 --> 00:38:46.846 when we looked at the net returns because of the costs of inputs for that particular 00:38:46.846 --> 00:38:51.191 practice, you can see that the gross returns were highest with the BMP 00:38:51.441 --> 00:38:52.876 practice of strip tillage. 00:38:53.362 --> 00:38:57.006 so the bottom line matters and it's important to work with growers so 00:38:57.257 --> 00:38:59.916 that they know how these practices are going to affect that for them. 00:39:01.895 --> 00:39:07.553 Some challenges that i see or have seen in my career, both looking locally and 00:39:07.797 --> 00:39:12.115 nationally in terms of what we're facing in nutrients and water quality. 00:39:12.561 --> 00:39:21.458 in colorado, where water rights and policy may be perceived from keeping 00:39:21.696 --> 00:39:24.688 growers from implementing certain, maybe, irrigation practices. 00:39:25.214 --> 00:39:28.599 a lot of times that's more perception than reality but it's still out there. 00:39:29.367 --> 00:39:32.604 In many parts of the country we have some nutrient balances and watersheds, with 00:39:32.968 --> 00:39:36.233 high density of animal feeding that are off. 00:39:36.614 --> 00:39:39.055 we have more N and P coming in than is going out as product. 00:39:40.402 --> 00:39:45.797 I see places where perhaps our baseline concentrations are greater than the 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 00:39:49.082 --> 00:39:53.367 difficult with non point source implementation to meet those targets. 00:39:54.968 --> 00:39:59.275 And then the idea, we know that a lot of our water quality problems are localized. 00:40:00.042 --> 00:40:07.690 And how do you target a watershed or an area of agriculture without making the 00:40:08.008 --> 00:40:13.045 producers feel like they are being targeted, as, at the problem with 00:40:13.254 --> 00:40:18.775 finger pointing. Funding is always an issue. not all of these BMPs are cost 00:40:19.684 --> 00:40:20.582 neutral or positive. 00:40:20.959 --> 00:40:26.146 so getting funding through NRCS cost shares or other places to help implement 00:40:26.408 --> 00:40:27.837 these is an issue. 00:40:28.344 --> 00:40:32.847 and then finally, when it comes to showing these are working. obtaining non point 00:40:33.085 --> 00:40:38.809 source water quality and adoption data is going to be necessary to show agriculture's 00:40:39.084 --> 00:40:40.452 doing it's part moving forward. 00:40:42.537 --> 00:40:47.914 just to finish up here. like i said, supplemental nutrients are definitely 00:40:48.166 --> 00:40:54.168 necessary for sustainable agriculture. you can't continue to grow profitable crops 00:40:54.398 --> 00:40:56.648 without supplementing what they are removing from the system. 00:40:56.992 --> 00:41:01.182 They have a lot of BMPs that can help mitigate that loss in movement in 00:41:01.410 --> 00:41:02.184 water resources. 00:41:02.430 --> 00:41:07.246 A lot of these growers are using already and I think we can improve upon what 00:41:07.363 --> 00:41:09.815 we are doing as we learn more information. 00:41:10.484 --> 00:41:16.077 Incentives, tools and resources are all critical to help growers adopt BMPs. 00:41:16.531 --> 00:41:19.557 and i think we can all work together to do a better job with that. 00:41:20.426 --> 00:41:25.557 It's definitely important to engage growers early and often in this process 00:41:26.129 --> 00:41:30.263 and not only the growers but their representatives and commodity groups 00:41:30.945 --> 00:41:32.474 and the people that advise them. 00:41:36.764 --> 00:41:42.950 and that is what I had to share this morning. I appreciate your attention and 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. 00:41:51.073 --> 00:41:57.093 Kaitlyn: It looks like we have a few questions coming in, so i think Emily 00:41:57.316 --> 00:42:03.873 will read those and Troy and Steve can see if they have responses. 00:42:05.342 --> 00:42:07.892 Emily: Yeah, so we have a few questions. 00:42:09.599 --> 00:42:14.133 The first question comes from Lisa Buchanan and she asks, "How difficult 00:42:14.373 --> 00:42:19.012 was it to get buy in for upstream treatment for Barr Lake?" 00:42:22.098 --> 00:42:28.436 Steve: Well, buy-in. So starting in 2002 we formed this watershed group that 00:42:28.534 --> 00:42:35.584 brought together the point source dischargers as well as the users of the 00:42:35.584 --> 00:42:38.786 lake and the owners of the lake and the people that use it for drinking water. 00:42:39.669 --> 00:42:45.493 So our goal from the very beginning was to have the consensus- driven 00:42:45.698 --> 00:42:48.314 process with this board of directors and this watershed group. 00:42:48.474 --> 00:42:52.861 We didn't want to have finger pointing and going down lawsuit routes and 00:42:53.120 --> 00:42:57.144 have twenty models trying to explain the system. 00:42:57.509 --> 00:43:01.978 so from the very beginning when we formed our watershed group and we put in 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. 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 00:43:13.901 --> 00:43:15.200 and you got a seat on the board. 00:43:15.700 --> 00:43:21.217 And so the people, the dischargers, the upstream folks that were definitely 00:43:21.496 --> 00:43:25.522 going to be part of the TMDL as an allocation for phosphorus, wanted 00:43:25.697 --> 00:43:26.641 to be at the table. 00:43:26.993 --> 00:43:31.403 so you joined and then we all agree, that you know. We all understand this 00:43:31.843 --> 00:43:37.020 is an effort by everybody and that everyone's going to be paying for 00:43:37.255 --> 00:43:40.157 treatment plant upgrades, everyone's going to be paying for drinking 00:43:40.395 --> 00:43:41.264 water upgrades. 00:43:41.935 --> 00:43:47.438 Everybody will hopefully be enjoying Barr Lake and so we really tried to come 00:43:47.717 --> 00:43:53.419 together as one group and always make decisions based on 100% consensus. 00:43:53.987 --> 00:43:57.340 We literally do our voting with thumbs up or thumbs down. if we don't have 00:43:57.708 --> 00:43:59.964 everyone's thumbs up then we continue to work on it. 00:44:02.044 --> 00:44:04.147 Emily: thank you so much. we have a couple more questions. 00:44:05.364 --> 00:44:13.666 The next one is directed at Steve. "Steve did you alum to fix P in sediment? 00:44:14.039 --> 00:44:16.746 If so, what was the result and cost? Thanks" 00:44:18.557 --> 00:44:23.685 Steve: Sure. So alum is a very common whole lake treatment process. People 00:44:23.845 --> 00:44:25.149 have been using since the 70's. 00:44:25.476 --> 00:44:29.925 We have not used alum in Barr Lake. We have people, we've had some reports 00:44:30.237 --> 00:44:33.811 saying that alum would be a great way to bind up and keep that phosphorus 00:44:34.103 --> 00:44:36.486 bound up in the sediment. The in-canal treatment, 00:44:36.819 --> 00:44:39.869 treating the upstream phosphorus that comes into our watershed and then 00:44:40.008 --> 00:44:41.129 comes through and comes down the ditch. 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. 00:44:46.007 --> 00:44:51.808 mix it with alum, separate the phosphorus, and then send that water into Barr Lake. 00:44:52.297 --> 00:44:56.241 We did use alum a little bit in, there was that picture of those corrals, those 00:44:56.339 --> 00:44:59.966 columnar corrals they did some studying of what would happen to cholophill A 00:45:00.172 --> 00:45:03.916 and phosphorus if phosphorus did get below 100. 00:45:04.305 --> 00:45:07.781 Because we've never seen it below 300. so we had to do some artificial 00:45:08.129 --> 00:45:12.237 testing out there. and we did use alum to strip out the phosphorus in the water 00:45:12.237 --> 00:45:15.208 column. just so we could see how the lake responds. 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 00:45:20.042 --> 00:45:23.030 matter of how many gallons of alum you want to put in to remove the amount 00:45:23.282 --> 00:45:24.131 of phosphorus. 00:45:26.167 --> 00:45:32.723 Emily: thanks. The next question comes from Ken Clark. "What are the 00:45:33.040 --> 00:45:37.624 opportunities. What opportunities are there for translating or scaling, agricultural 00:45:37.908 --> 00:45:40.583 BMPs to urban landscape practices?" 00:45:46.301 --> 00:45:47.612 Let me know if you want me to repeat the question. 00:45:48.864 --> 00:45:51.992 Troy: Go ahead and start Steve. 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 00:45:58.910 --> 00:46:04.162 translations of nutrient management with fertilizers, the same concept can be 00:46:04.394 --> 00:46:06.707 applied to what we do with urban lawns. 00:46:07.120 --> 00:46:14.821 And so, a lot of times, its a matter of keeping the fertilizer on your lawn. 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. 00:46:19.686 --> 00:46:25.063 Don't do it just before a storm event, washes on your driveway and goes 00:46:25.268 --> 00:46:28.697 into a storm drain. Maybe do some soil testing and maybe you don't need 00:46:28.929 --> 00:46:30.343 phosphorus to grow a lawn. 00:46:30.730 --> 00:46:33.834 Phosphorus is, as I understand, is for seed production and flowering. People 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 00:46:38.485 --> 00:46:38.873 anything else? 00:46:39.431 --> 00:46:46.478 Troy: Just would ditto that. Again when you look at CSU Extension's 00:46:46.686 --> 00:46:50.170 recommendations for lawns, we don't really even recommend phosphorus. 00:46:50.546 --> 00:46:56.302 We prefer folks stick with nitrogen and for a low maintenance lawn that's 00:46:56.488 --> 00:47:02.512 really at around 1 pound per 1,000 square foot per year. 00:47:03.748 --> 00:47:07.946 Again making sure you put the right rate on, not too much, at the right time. 00:47:08.554 --> 00:47:10.328 and we have recommendations for those too. 00:47:10.900 --> 00:47:15.504 And the biggest one is just keeping it off impermeable surfaces. 00:47:17.708 --> 00:47:25.602 Emily: Great, thanks. So the next question is directed at Troy. From Kelly Denataly. 00:47:26.488 --> 00:47:29.924 "Do you think the rollback of the Obama administration's clean water rules 00:47:30.206 --> 00:47:34.413 will change the attitudes of ag producers towards implementing BMPs?" 00:47:36.627 --> 00:47:42.166 Troy: Hmm. [chuckle] Good one Kelly. I don't think so. 00:47:42.478 --> 00:47:52.019 Particularly in Colorado, since we do have somewhat of a statewide policy with reg 85 00:47:52.253 --> 00:47:55.526 and some of the other policies with non point source with agriculture. 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 00:48:04.633 --> 00:48:09.818 direct contact between agriculture and a stream, I don't think so. 00:48:10.222 --> 00:48:18.084 I think that there are a lot of economic incentives especially around fertilizer to 00:48:18.379 --> 00:48:28.056 apply the 4R concept to what they're doing that what I worry perhaps more 00:48:28.376 --> 00:48:36.279 about is cuts to conservation programs within agencies such as USDA-NRCS 00:48:36.484 --> 00:48:42.910 and research potential cuts as has been proposed to the ag research service, 00:48:43.401 --> 00:48:47.051 agricultural research service within USDA and our land grant system. 00:48:47.529 --> 00:48:53.958 because that's where we develop a lot of the information that we can translate to 00:48:54.336 --> 00:48:59.087 producers about, you know, the best way to manage their nutrients. 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 00:49:06.370 --> 00:49:13.200 attitudes with growers than I am with the proposed cuts to our research and land 00:49:13.368 --> 00:49:19.186 grant and outreach organizations that work directly with producers around the country. 00:49:22.272 --> 00:49:31.844 Emily: the next question comes to us from Kevin McBride. and he asks "how is the?" 00:49:32.464 --> 00:49:36.109 agricultural practice of high alt hay and ranching different from the row cropping 00:49:36.717 --> 00:49:41.401 discussed? Is there extra nutrients appropriate BMPs?" 00:49:41.841 --> 00:49:47.427 Troy: I think I understand the question. What are some differences in Best 00:49:53.563 --> 00:49:57.742 management practices between high altitude mountain meadow production 00:49:58.105 --> 00:49:59.390 versus row crop production. 00:50:00.179 --> 00:50:06.055 They are not terribly different, it's just the opportunities perhaps to do things 00:50:06.416 --> 00:50:11.906 like placement like nutrients in the root zone or a little more limited in 00:50:12.205 --> 00:50:13.827 those established pastures. 00:50:14.398 --> 00:50:19.222 but there's other things that they can do up there. Timing makes a difference 00:50:19.632 --> 00:50:23.151 on when you apply fertilizer to a high altitude meadow system. 00:50:23.487 --> 00:50:29.850 we've done some research with Joe Brummer, in our department, a forage 00:50:30.165 --> 00:50:34.839 and high mountain meadow specialist, on timing fertilizer applications in the fall vs 00:50:35.019 --> 00:50:39.878 early spring vs late spring. and found that the earlier you can apply 00:50:40.077 --> 00:50:43.117 your nutrients before you apply your irrigation water in the spring, the less 00:50:43.344 --> 00:50:46.310 likely they are going to move out of those systems. 00:50:47.258 --> 00:50:49.825 I'd say the other difference is that those mountain meadows have a 00:50:50.069 --> 00:50:55.464 very short growing season and limited productivities, so they, a lot of times 00:50:55.819 --> 00:50:59.968 their productivity is not necessarily defined as much by how much fertilizer 00:51:00.280 --> 00:51:03.826 they apply. Is the short growing season whereas 00:51:04.100 --> 00:51:09.487 down here on the plains with row crop agriculture much longer growing season 00:51:09.700 --> 00:51:12.259 and typically much higher nutrient application rates. 00:51:14.186 --> 00:51:19.976 Emily: great thanks. The next question is for Troy from Lisa Buchanan. She asks 00:51:20.241 --> 00:51:24.759 "for areas where BMPs are being used, have you seen an improvement in downstream 00:51:24.949 --> 00:51:26.345 water quality is treated?"' 00:51:28.311 --> 00:51:31.480 Troy: Yeah that's a good question. I personally haven't done any, that 00:51:31.667 --> 00:51:37.157 many studies with surface water quality and BMP implementation on a 00:51:37.449 --> 00:51:42.350 watershed scale. The data I showed you was on the edge of field scale. 00:51:42.831 --> 00:51:49.095 and we definitely can show edge of field water quality improvements at 00:51:49.206 --> 00:51:55.274 edge of field in the work that I've done. nationally other folks have done 00:51:55.573 --> 00:52:00.798 watershed studies and it depends on the BMP systems and how well they were 00:52:01.063 --> 00:52:05.140 implemented and how well the BMP fit the agriculture in the area. 00:52:08.102 --> 00:52:11.983 Emily: thanks. we have time for one more question. This question comes 00:52:12.303 --> 00:52:17.542 from Jojo Laff and he asks "Troy in your experience what is the best way to 00:52:17.785 --> 00:52:21.993 agricultural members buy in for participation in voluntary programs?" 00:52:22.890 --> 00:52:27.059 "What do you believe are the best incentives for participation? Additionally, 00:52:27.360 --> 00:52:32.845 what is the best way to conduct public education on BMPs and the tools available?" 00:52:33.958 --> 00:52:35.583 Let me know if you want me to repeat any part of that. 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 00:52:42.929 --> 00:52:46.878 "what's the best way to agricultural producers involved and interested in 00:52:47.102 --> 00:52:50.665 learning about and implementing best management practices.?" 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 00:52:56.205 --> 00:53:00.115 showed with implementing center pivot irrigation instead of furrow irrigation 00:53:00.640 --> 00:53:04.192 are happening on their own because the incentives are already there. 00:53:04.352 --> 00:53:07.556 whether it's labor saving time or money or nutrients. 00:53:07.972 --> 00:53:13.114 The tougher ones I think are structural BMPS like filter strips 00:53:13.534 --> 00:53:19.031 and set backs and things like that may cost producers some time and money. 00:53:19.413 --> 00:53:24.364 I think those have, your incentives there are cost sharing and those kinds of things. 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 00:53:32.292 --> 00:53:36.864 represent them, whether they be commodity or livestock associations are really important. 00:53:36.932 --> 00:53:41.677 those folks are really engaged in the conversation and they want their 00:53:41.909 --> 00:53:43.806 producers to know what's going on. 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, 00:53:49.066 --> 00:53:50.267 that we can't talk to every body. 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. 00:53:58.499 --> 00:54:00.739 Can you repeat the second part of that question? 00:54:02.273 --> 00:54:06.897 Emily: The second part asks, "Additionally, what is the best way to conduct public 00:54:07.378 --> 00:54:10.010 education on BMPs and the tools available?" 00:54:12.557 --> 00:54:18.092 Troy: yeah, that is an interesting question. 00:54:18.306 --> 00:54:23.995 because we just went through this process with CDPHE and stakeholders over the past 00:54:24.304 --> 00:54:31.892 year with reg 85 and the example outreach program that I showed early in my 00:54:32.335 --> 00:54:40.570 presentation. And we've kind of evolved about how we presented information to 00:54:40.972 --> 00:54:45.558 producers. It used to be a lot of factsheets and bulletins and written materials. 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 00:54:52.508 --> 00:54:58.296 nd websites and providing them tools like irrigation schedulers or nutrient 00:54:58.351 --> 00:55:04.534 management planners that they can use. particularly stuff that they can pull 00:55:05.081 --> 00:55:08.291 up on their smartphone when they are up there on their tractor with their g 00:55:08.595 --> 00:55:11.379 uidance system taking them down the row. 00:55:13.187 --> 00:55:21.610 Definitely, technology and I think the other place, again, is getting to the 00:55:21.899 --> 00:55:23.042 people that talk to them. 00:55:23.442 --> 00:55:28.247 getting to the local extension people, getting to NRCS, getting to 00:55:28.610 --> 00:55:29.883 certified crop advisers. 00:55:30.786 --> 00:55:36.745 Fertilizer dealers, people who, input suppliers can reach so many more 00:55:37.014 --> 00:55:44.468 growers than we can. Emily: great thanks so much. 00:55:45.354 --> 00:55:50.211 I believe that concludes the question part and I will pass it over to Katelyn. 00:55:51.343 --> 00:55:55.056 Kaitlyn: thank you to both of our panelists. And Steve, thanks for 00:55:55.516 --> 00:56:01.930 taking over for Dejenette. We did record this webinar, so you all will receive an 00:56:02.271 --> 00:56:03.987 email with links to the recording. 00:56:04.668 --> 00:56:07.023 Or you can find it on either of our websites. 00:56:09.143 --> 00:56:12.573 We encourage you to take the next step by connecting with the Colorado foundation 00:56:12.860 --> 00:56:15.029 for water education and colorado water congress. 00:56:15.766 --> 00:56:18.122 You should see our websites on your screen. 00:56:20.186 --> 00:56:22.945 Thanks to the presenters for their time as well as the audience for 00:56:23.486 --> 00:56:25.776 their participation and those wonderful questions. 00:56:26.477 --> 00:56:29.321 This concludes our webinar, thank you.