StreamSnow to

This was not your average week in school. No desks, no lectures, no history or math.

Instead, Telluride Mountain School students explored the local snowpack and issues

around water. Armed with probes and snow density devices, we visited Lizard Head Pass

to measure the amount of water within the snow. At the end of the day, we averaged the

amount of snowpack covering a certain amount of space. On the second day, we visited

the waste treatment plant in Lawson Hill to learn about how our wastewater is treated.

Water treatment professionals William Nichols, Peter Hayes, and Stan Kierstzyn showed us the tools and mechanisms they use every day.

Additionally, John Duncan, one of the owners of Telluride Outside, came to school and spoke to us about how the winter snowpack affects the

summer economy. At the end of all this, editor Deb Dion, broadcast journalist Stephen Barrett, and graphic designer Lindsey Welch met with

us to help us publish articles, podcasts and photos about what we learned.

Through this project we learned about water, journalism, and team building.

CONTENTSLetter from Editor - by Claire Ricks

Regional and Global Issues: Reaching the Limit - by Camilla Gardner

Water is Money - by Benny Thornycroft

Water Supply:

From Snowpack to the River - by Scout Engbring

Snowpack:

Snow... Tellurides Cold Commodity - by Theo Rolfs The Importance of Measuring Snowpack - by Micah Hesse

Water Treatment:

Bugs in Your Water - by Bella Hamm Keeping it Clean - by Sylvan Bald

Water Use and Conservation:

An Abundance of Water - by Noah Perkovich Three Ways to Conserve Water - by Miles Galbo

EDITORS LETTER

Two Weeks Full of Waterby Claire Ricks

These days, I have a hard time remembering to drink enough water. Sixty-four ounces a day, Im told, is ideal. In the morning, however, I dont even think about the fifty gallons I use in a twenty-minute shower. Let alone where it comes from and where it goes afterward. I rare-ly think about water. At least when its not mak-ing a beautiful river or at that beach where Id love to be. After this week, though, water use will be on my mind much more.

It started with three seniors, four sophomores, nine freshmenall in one foul-smell-ing room. And it wasnt because of the shmen this time. We were at the water treat-ment plant for our little town, Telluride. This is where all the toilet flushes, all the relaxing showers, everything that goes down any drain, ends up. Therefore, the smell. Here, water is treated and put back in the river. Bella Hamms Bugs in Your Water gives a different insight into the bacteria and bugs used to treat wastewater.

Turns out water moves in a cycle; the snowpack we all measured the day before, some of it melted, turned into runoff, made its way down in creeks and rivers, which ended up in my faucets, was used, went down the drain, traveled to the water treatment plant, was treated, and entered the river once again. Read Theo Rolf s article, Snow, Tellurides Cold Commodity to understand that the snowpack affects everyone throughout the year. Skiers in winter, farmers in the summer. And anyone who likes water.

People like John Duncan, the owner of Telluride Outside, gave us a narrative on how water affects his livelihood. Benny Thornycrofts podcast, Water is Money, outlines just how important snowpack is to the fishing and rafting guiding economy. Duncan runs a guiding company and if there is not enough water in the rivers from the snow-packs runoff, he cannot send people out in rafts. An entire industry shorted.

The Telluride Mountain Schools entire high school studied water, wrote about wa-ter, and took photographs of water. Two weeks full of water. And I must say, I think this was important if not vitalin the changing climate we are living in. Water is everything to humans. We live with water, and without water, we wouldnt be here. Now, in this day and age, most of our water use is unnecessary. Is it imperative that I use 3.5 gallons per toilet flush? And do I really need that shower to survive? Maybe. But I cant say that many high schoolers across the United States know exactly where their water comes from, where it goes after they use it, and what snowpack has to do with farming in the summer. At the Mountain School, though, we do.

An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the average person living in a slum in a developing country uses in an entire day. On a daily basis, women spend 200 million hours walking to a water source and collecting water for their families. For you and me, water is abundant. Living in a devel-oped nation, we take water for granted. It is rare that people have to work hard or travel far in order to gain access to clean, reliable drinking water.

So how can this be? How is it the case that people in under-developed coun-

tries can spend their days simply gathering water for survival, while across

the world, other people can go swimming at a water park and leave the tap

running for hours on end without a problem?

On earth there are approximately 326 million trillion gallons of water. That

may sound like a huge amount. However, of that water, 98 percent is found

in the oceans as salt water. That means only 2 percent of the worlds water is fresh drinkable water. Of that 2 percent, three-fourths of the fresh water is found in the polar ice caps, making if very difficult to access or obtain any

drinkable water from that sourcethe same way that our water in Telluride

is trapped in the snowpack all winter until it melts in the spring. That final

fourth, which is the equivalent of 0.04 percent of all the water on earth, can

be found in underground aquifers, natural lakes and rivers, or in the air.

It is this final 0.04 percent of all the water on earth that the 7 billion humans

worldwide depend on to fulfill their daily water needs. Today, 780 million peopleabout one in ninelack access to clean water. Unsanitary water conditions can lead to water-borne illness. Around the world, a child dies

every 20 seconds from a water-related disease, and water-related diseases

also kill more than 3 million people each year.

If you were living in Africa or Asia, you would have to walk on average

six kilometers to get safe, clean drinking water. In most places, it is women

and children who are in charge of collecting the water. This precious time

gathering water takes away from time that could be spent working at an

income-generating job, caring for family members, or attending school.

Next time you turn on the tap, or take a long, hot shower, be thankful that you

did not have to walk many miles to access that water.

Reaching the limitthe Reality of wateR issues acRoss the globe by Camilla Gardner

PoDcast

Water is Money: Successful Runoff Allows for a Successful TownBy Ben Thorneycroft

In Telluride, when the snowpack and spring runoff are perfect, both winter and summer tourism booms. But there are a lot of variables that must fall into place for this to happen. Rafting Away: Telluride Mountain

School students take a raft down the San Juan.

Can you imagine living in a world where getting water to survive required most of our time and de-votion? People living in a somewhat wealthy community have easy access to fresh, sanitary water. What most people dont realize is how dramatically their lives would change if it werent so easy to get. In places like northern Africa, people have to walk mile upon mile just to get water that is suitable to drink. Luckily for us, living in Tellu-ride, water supply is not a problem. This is because we live in a place where we see on average 175.5 inches of snow fall per year in the winter. When you add up all of the space that gets covered in snow, it makes up 50 to 80 percent of Tellurides water supply. Now, obviously some snow is denser than other snow, meaning it has more water content, but either way, it provides the majority of the water for Telluride. The snow covers most of San Miguel County and drains into our filtration systems to be pro-cessed to its cleanest state.

The town of Telluride gets its water from two main sources: from snowmelt after the winter, and rain during the summer. The snowmelt and the rain flow into Mill Creek and the Stillwell portal, where the water is retrieved for use. Mill Creek, the main water supply, is located on the northwestern slope of the valley, up by the Jud Weibe trail. The water is channeled into a lake where it is left to settle. There, the water is sent through microfiltration systems that filter out the parasites and bacteria. Then chlorine is added for a final cleansing that gets it to a safe turbidity, which is a fancy term for the solid matter in the water. The second source, the Still-well Portal, is used more during the summer and is located high above the Jud Wiebe. This water is filtered differ-ently, using something called a titanium oxide filter, which sucks the arsenic out of the water. The state law requires that water cannot have more than five parts per billion of arsenic. The water pro-duced by these systems has half that, so it is confirmed as safe to drink.

From Snowpack to the RiverA Look at Tellurides Water CycleBy Scout Engbring

Learning From an Expert: Theo, Noah and Peter walk up Lizard Head Pass to dig a snow pit in order to find the density of the snow.

The water from the two places is combined and put into the pipes that supply the houses we live in. We know that the average family of four uses up to 400 gallons of water a day. This may vary due to water access and number of people to a household. This number is combined with the water used by businesses in Telluride and water usage is also greatly increased by tourism.After it is consumed or used, the water flows through pipes out to the water treatment plant located at Society Turn. At this site the water goes through many different systems and machines that make it somewhat clean. Every day,

about 700,000 gallons of water are used. Out of this, 400,000 gallons are treated at this plant and put back into the cycle. The plant runs 24/7 and takes out the most toxic elements in the water. Where does it go from there? Back into the San Miguel River, to start its cycle all over again. Although fresh water is easy to get for us living in Telluride, there is a lot of time and work put into making it drinkable. After it is used, there is even more work to be done to return the water to the cycle.

continuedLuckily for us, living in

Telluride, water supply is not a problem. This is because we live in a place where we see on average 175.5 inches of snow fall per year in the winter. When you add up all of the space that gets covered in snow, it makes up 50 to 80 percent of Tellurides water supply.

From Snowpack to the RiverA Look at Tellurides Water Cycle

A sink shows the way we use water in everyday life. It shows we have enough water supply to use it constantly.

Whats your favorite word to describe snow? Mine is blissful.

Many of us, when we think about snow, picture a powder day filled

with face shots. The snowpack, though, affects people much more

than powder skiing. In Telluride, the towns economy relies on a

good snowpack. Without it, there would be no tourists, no ski area,

and no rivers. In towns like Telluride, the snowpack plays a bigger

role than you might think; it affects everyone from the powder

skier to the farmer.

Snowpack is how much snow we have, and how stable it is, record-

ed on a 30-year average. With only two big storms in the early part

of our winter, our early snowpack was low. By January, the snow-

pack was recorded at only 49% of the average. When Telluride has

a low snowpack, not only is it bad for the skiing but it also affects

the spring runoff. A low snowpack means low runoff, which means

low river levels, which affects businesses such as raft guides.

When looking at the snowpack, it is not only important to look at

the depth, but also the stability. Early this season our snowpack

was not only low, but unstable. The bad early season snowpack left

us with a heck of a lot of facets and depth hoars. Facets and depth

hoars are huge crystals that form when its dry and really cold.

Depth hoars can be as big as ones hand. They make the snowpack

incredibly unstable.

To imagine how depth hoars affect the snowpack, picture a table

with a ton of wine bottles on it. Then, put a piece of plywood on

the wine bottles and tilt that table up to an angle. All the bottles and

wood will fall off. This is what our snowpack was like in January.

The table represents the ground, the wine bottles represent the

depth hoars, and the plywood, the new snow.

In February, it snowed 40 inches in one week and then another

26 inches the next. This one big storm cycle brought the average

snowpack from 49% to 98% of the 30- year average. The new

snow also caused the weak layers to slide out underneath, which

is dangerous in the short term, but will make for a more stable

snowpack in the long term.

The snowpack is not just important for winter skiers. It is actually

just as important when it melts. Farmers depend on snowpack.

Guide companies do, too. If there is low runoff, the rafting business

may have a shorter season. A low runoff will also negatively im-

pact farmers who will have less water to grow their crops.

Snowpack affects you, whether you know it or not. Tellurides

tourist economy depends on people visiting Telluride to ski and

go outdoors. A low snowpack not only affects our winter economy

but our summer economy as well. Remember when we had water

restrictions and were not allowed to have fireworks in July? That

was due to a low spring snowpack combined with less than average

early summer rainfall.

Snowpack is a serious matter in a mountain town like Telluride. We

all depend on it for our livelihood, and our jobs.

Snow...TellurideS cold commodiTyTHE SIGNIFICANCE OF TELLuRIDES SNOW PACK GOES FAR BEyOND A FACE SHOT

by Theo Rolfs

PoDcastThe Importance of Measuring Snowpack

The Snowpack Affects Everyone From Powder Lovers to Businessmen

By Micah HesseHave you ever wondered what people mean when they say snowpack?

Telluride Mountain School students not only know how to measure the snowpack, but also the

snow density. Heres why it matters.

Teacher Andy Shoff shows the different temperatures in the snow.Students at Telluride Mountain School look at the different temperatures of

the snow and then find the density of the snow.

Peter ingles

shows students

how to use the

snow water den-

sity device, as he

taught mountain

Schoolers about

snow density.

Keeping it Cleanby Sylvan BaldSince Telluride is at the headwaters, we control how much water goes back into the river. Our local water treatment plant is crucial for the vitality of those who live downstream.

PODC

AST

Telluride Mountain School visits the wastewater treatment plant.

On a scorching day in July, you are hik-ing the steep, color-ful, and sunlit Cornet Creek trail in Tellu-ride. Its hot, youre sweating, and you for-got a drink, and be-cause of your tedious uphill activity, your buns are burning, and youre thirsty. Darn! Fortunately, you look to your side to see an enticing, flowing mass of fresh water. Per-fect to drink, huh? Not quite.

I never really thought about, or even cared, where the water I use comes from or what made purified water purified. Water is water, and its as simple as that. But I was wrong. Water contains many microorganisms, vitamins, and bacteria which may be harmful to the human body.

I will admit, ever since my class made a visit to Tellurides water treatment plant in Lawson Hill, I will never look at water the same way. Not only am I more aware of how fortunate I am to have clean water, but I am also much more aware of how that water is cleaned in the first place.

Basically, our water here in Telluride is sanitized by teeny, tiny microorganisms, ordont freak outbugs. These bugs eat away the bacteria in the water that are dangerous to our health. They rid the water of parasites and chemicals that can deteriorate a human body.

The bugs are placed in the water by the plants supervisors, and are managed by large and expensive machines that keep them moving throughout processes of the water treatment cycle.

Believe it or not, there are many different bugs, all of which kill different types of bacteria. The water treatment plant, howev-er, doesnt focus on the type of bugs put into the water, but on the amount of them. As the ski season starts up, or the music and film festivals begin, the town of Telluride is visited from people all around the United States. As the population in the town increases, so does the amount of fresh water being used. More water means more bugs. The experts working in the plant, such as Bill Goldsworthy, manage the amount of bugs as the population fluctuates.

See? Bugs arent so bad! They are helpful and essential to our drinking water, but must be placed in an environment suited for them and managed by professionals. So the next time you grab a glass of water, remember the microscopic organisms that made that possibleand if youre hiking Cornet Creek trail, dont forget to bring some of that treated water with you.

William Nichols gives a tour of the nearby waste water treatment plant.

Bugs in your waterby Bella Hamm

Living near the Continental Divide at the top of the watershed makes water seem so abundant. Telluride sees water as an infinite resource and can easily take it for granted. Just north of Telluride at 10,222 feet is Lizard Head Pass. It is the headwater for the Dolores River and the San Miguel River. Telluride residents are fortunate to live at the top of the watershed with clean water, whereas downriv-er, people confront greater challenges collecting and treating water for everyday uses.

Telluride has a small population. The town collects all of its water from streams and wells that fill up every spring. Its two main sourc-es of water are Mill Creek, which is a year-round surface water source, and Stillwell Portal, a ground water source that provides the town with water from May to September. In addition, the town is currently pursuing a third surface water source, Blue Lake, and-plans to use it as raw water storage.

Each of these water sources is treated at the site where it is collect-ed. Any water collected at Mill Creek is cleaned at the Mill Creek Water Treatment Plant for town use. Similarly, water collected at the Stillwell Portal is treated at the site. Water from Blue Lake will be treated nearby at the Pandora Water Treatment Plant.Telluride has a very good system for water collection and treatment compared to other sites around the Rocky Mountains. Water is collected above town and few pumps are needed to transport it to town. The Stillwell Plant costs almost nothing, pennies for every 1,000 gallons treated and transported.

Bill Goldsworthy, the water and wastewater superintendent of Telluride, says of the cost of treating water, I would say the tech-nology exists to treat almost any water, depending on how much money you wanted to spend, but it would probably surprise you how inexpensive it is to treat the water we treat.

Telluride is very unique in that it has clean, fresh surface and ground water in places that do not need to pump or use lots of energy to get it.

During a drought, large cities have a much harder time getting enough clean water than does a small town. One reason is that any water below the headwaters is much dirtier. Also, cities need to use raw-water storage reservoirs to store water when it is not abundant. Right now, Telluride, unlike many places, only takes water as it is flowing by. Adding raw-water storage capabilities will also be useful because water can be used another day.

Bill Goldsworthy stated this best by saying, Today, if you save a gallon of water through conservation, that gallon of water will be downstream tomorrow and gone just as if you had used it. With Blue Lake, that gallon will remain in the lake so you can use it tomorrow if needed.

An AbundAnce of wAter

TELLuRIDE HAS IT EASIER THAN MOST

by Noah PerkovichPoDcast

Three Ways to Conserve Water:Conserving Water in Telluride Can Have Dramatic Effects DownstreamBy Miles Galbo

Although water is abundant in Telluride, it shouldnt be taken for grant-

ed. Learn not only how, but also why we should conserve.

Leaky faucets are one of the main ways we waste water.

Our Greatest Resource.Water is a key compo-nent of everyday life. You can use it in many ways, such as drinking from a water fountain.